List of compositions by Olivier Messiaen

Messiaen in 1930

This is a list of compositions by Olivier Messiaen.

Published during his lifetime

• Le banquet céleste, organ (1928, a recomposition of a section from his unpublished orchestral piece Le banquet eucharistique^[1])
• Préludes, piano (1928–29)
• Diptyque, organ (1930)
• La mort du nombre ("Number's death"), soprano, tenor, violin and piano (1930)
• Les offrandes oubliées ("The forgotten offerings"), orchestra (1930)
• Trois mélodies, song cycle (1930)
• Le tombeau resplendissant, orchestra (1931)
• Apparition de l'église éternelle ("Apparition of the eternal church"), organ (1932)
• Fantaisie burlesque, piano (1932)
• Hymne au Saint Sacrament ("Hymn to the Holy Sacrament"), orchestra (1932, lost 1943, reconstructed from memory 1946^[2])
• Thème et variations, violin and piano (1932)
• L'ascension ("The Ascension"), orchestra (1932–33; organ version including replacement movement, 1933–34)
• La Nativité du Seigneur ("The Lord's nativity"), organ (1935)
• Pièce pour le tombeau de Paul Dukas, piano, (1935)
• Vocalise, voice and piano (1935)
• Poèmes pour Mi, song cycle (1936, orchestral version 1937)
• O sacrum convivium!, choral motet (1937)
• Chants de terre et de ciel ("Songs of earth and heaven"), song cycle (1938)
• Les corps glorieux ("Glorious bodies"), organ (1939)
• Quatuor pour la fin du temps ("Quartet for the end of time"), violin, cello, clarinet, piano (1940–41)
• Rondeau, piano (1943)
• Visions de l'Amen ("Visions of the Amen"), two pianos (1943)
• Trois petites Liturgies de la Présence Divine ("Three small liturgies of the Divine Presence"), women's voices, piano solo, ondes Martenot solo, orchestra (1943–44)
• Vingt regards sur l'enfant-Jésus ("Twenty gazes on the Christ-child"), piano (1944)
• Harawi: Chants d'amour et de mort, ("Harawi: Songs of love and death") song cycle (1944)
• Turangalîla-Symphonie, piano solo, ondes Martenot solo, orchestra (1946–48)
• Cinq réchants, 12 singers (1948)
• Cantéyodjayâ, piano (1949)
• Messe de la Pentecôte ("Pentecost mass"), organ (1949–50)
• Quatre études de rythme ("Four studies in rhythm"), piano (1949–50)
  1. Île de feu 1
  2. Mode de valeurs et d'intensités
  3. Neumes rhythmiques
  4. Île de feu 2
• Le merle noir ("Blackbird"), flute and piano (1952^[3])
• Livre d'orgue, organ (1951–52)
• Réveil des oiseaux ("Dawn chorus"), solo piano and orchestra (1953)
• Oiseaux exotiques ("Exotic birds"), solo piano and orchestra (1955–56)
• Catalogue d'oiseaux ("Bird catalogue"), piano (1956–58)
  • Book 1
    • i Le chocard des alpes ("Alpine chough")
    • ii Le loriot ("Golden oriole") (loriot and Loriod are homophones)
    • iii Le merle bleu ("Blue rock thrush")
  • Book 2
    • iv Le traquet stapazin ("Black-eared wheatear")
  • Book 3
    • v La chouette hulotte ("Tawny owl")
    • vi L'alouette lulu ("Woodlark")
  • Book 4
    • vii La rousserolle effarvatte ("Reed warbler")
  • Book 5
    • viii L'alouette calandrelle ("Short-toed lark")
    • ix La bouscarle ("Cetti's warbler")
  • Book 6
    • x Le merle de roche ("Rock thrush")
  • Book 7
    • xi La buse variable ("Buzzard")
    • xii Le traquet rieur ("Black wheatear")
    • xiii Le courlis cendré ("Curlew")
• Chronochromie ("Time-colour"), orchestra (1959–60)
• Verset pour la fête de la dédicace, organ (1960)
• Sept haïkaï ("Seven haikus"), solo piano and orchestra (1962)
• Couleurs de la cité céleste ("Colours of the Celestial City"), solo piano and ensemble (1963)
• Et exspecto resurrectionem mortuorum ("And I await the resurrection of the dead"), wind, brass and percussion (1964)
• La Transfiguration de Notre Seigneur Jésus-Christ ("The Transfiguration of Our Lord Jesus Christ"), large 10-part chorus, piano solo, cello solo, flute solo, clarinet solo, xylorimba solo, vibraphone solo, large orchestra (1965–69)
• Méditations sur le mystère de la Sainte Trinité ("Meditations on the mystery of the Holy Trinity"), organ (1969)
• La fauvette des jardins ("Garden warbler"), piano (1970)
• Des Canyons aux étoiles… ("From the canyons to the stars…"), solo piano, solo horn, solo glockenspiel, solo xylorimba, small orchestra with 13 string players (1971–74)
• Saint-François d'Assise ("St. Francis of Assisi"), opera (1975–83)
• Livre du Saint Sacrament ("Book of the Holy Sacrament"), organ (1984)
• Petites esquisses d'oiseaux ("Small sketches of birds"), piano (1985)
• Un vitrail et des oiseaux ("Stained-glass window and birds"), piano solo, brass, wind and percussion (1986)
• La ville d'En-haut ("The city on high"), piano solo, brass, wind and percussion (1987)
• Un sourire ("A smile"), orchestra (1989)
• Concert à quatre ("Quadruple concerto"), piano, flute, oboe, cello and orchestra (1990–91, unfinished – completed by Loriod and Benjamin)
• Pièce pour piano et quatuor à cordes ("Piece for piano and string quartet") (1991)
• Eclairs sur l'au-delà ("Flashes on the beyond"), orchestra (1988–92)

Published posthumously

A number of works exist which were not published in Messiaen's lifetime, including the following, some of which have been published posthumously, and some of which are lost.

• La dame de Shallott, for piano (1917)
• La banquet eucharistique, for orchestra (1928)
• Variations écossaises, for organ (1928)
• Fantaisie, for violin and piano (1933, published 2007 – see this note on errors in the score)
• Mass, 8 sopranos and 4 violins (1933)
• Fête des belles eaux, for six ondes Martenots (1937)
• Musique de scène pour un Œdipe, electronic (1942)
• Chant des déportés, chorus and orchestra (1946)
• Timbres-durées, musique concrète (1952), realised by Pierre Henry in the radiophonic workshop of French radio, an experiment which Messiaen later deemed a failure^[4]
• Feuillets inedits, for piano and ondes Martenot (unknown, published in 2001)

References

• Peter Hill and Nigel Simeone (2005). Messiaen. Yale University Press, New Haven and London. ISBN 0-300-10907-5.
• Olivier Messiaen and Claude Samuel (tr. E. Thomas Glasgow) (1994). Conversations with Claude Samuel. Amadeus Press, Portland, Oregon. ISBN 0-931340-67-5.

Notes

1. Hill & Simeone (2005), p. 25
2. Hill & Simeone (2005), p. 120
3. Hill & Simeone (2005), pp. 199ff, outlines the chronology of Messiaen's compositions of 1951–52 Le merle noir and Livre d'orgue
4. Messiaen & Samuel (1994), p. 198

External links

• A comprehensive and annotated works list, hosted by the Boston University Messiaen Project.