The Harvard Concise Dictionary of Music notes that Messiaen was the “organist at the Church of the Trinity in Paris from 1931,” and that he “founded la jeune France with Jolivet, Baudrier, and Lesur” in 1936. This was a group of like-minded composers who, reacting against certain forms of abstract composition, sought to compose in a way which was more human, including spiritual and mystical influences.
His musical career was off to a good start when the war began in 1939/1940. He quickly became part of the French military, and was captured at Verdun in early 1940. He spent time as a POW in Germany. Among his fellow prisoners were several musicians, and Messiaen wrote a score for them, which, after some polishing, is known as Quatuor pour la fin du temps (Quartet for the End of Time).
He was released from the POW camp in 1941, having been a prisoner for slightly more than a year. He returned to France and resumed his musical career. Describing Messiaen’s music, Rollo Hugh Myers write:
The key to his method of composition is given in his treatise Technique de mon langage musical (1944) containing his theories on rhythm, modes, harmony, and structure problems. Among other pedagogical works are his Traite de rythme, begun in 1948, and Mode de valeurs et d’intensite, forming part of Quatre etudes de rythme (1949 - 1950), which, in opposition to the theories of Schönberg, propounds the theory of rhythmic modes not only for orthodox compositions but also as a guide for composing electronic music. Much of his music is inspired by Catholic theology, interpreted in a quasi-mystical manner, notably in Trois petites liturgies de la presence divine, for orchestra (1944); Vingt Regards sur l’Enfant Jesus (1944) and Visions de l’amen (1943), for piano; and Apparitions de l’eglise eternelle (1932) and Messe de la Pentecote (1950) for organ.
The Vingt Regards sur l’Enfant Jesus (Twenty Contemplations of the Christ-Child) is a collection of twenty short pieces for two pianists. A performance of the piece in its entirety lasts approximately two hours.
Messiaen famously included melodies from nature, mainly in the form of birdsongs, in some of his pieces. He also explored and mined the musical traditions of other cultures, as the Schüer Duden explains:
Bei vertiefter Auseinandersetzung mit nichteuropäischer Musik wird exotische Musik, statt bloßer Reiz zu sein, wesentlicher Bestandteil von Material und Musiksprache.
A large portion of his compositions are shaped by spiritual and mystical concerns, as Patrick Kavanaugh writes:
Messiaen gave two extended interviews on the subject of his faith to Almut Robler, who then wrote the excellent book, Contributions to the Spiritual World of Olivier Messiaen. The author gives a portrait of a man with strong convictions concerning his Savior: “Through Christ, the wonderful knowledge has been bestowed on us that this God, who’s beyond Time, to whom nothing out of time or space clings, that He who is completely different from everything and is contained in Himself — that He came in order to suffer with us.” At another time, Messiaen states, “The resurrection is the cause and the root of our hope.”
Messiaen taught at the Paris Conservatoire from 1942 and was active in music until his death in 1992.
