Hope, Adam (2013) Re-assessing the centrality of theology in the music of Olivier Messiaen in the post-serial period: symbolic representation in 'Reveil des oiseaux' (1953). (MA(R) thesis), Kingston University, .

Abstract

This dissertation examines in detail the relationship between the music of Olivier Messiaen (1908-1992) and the Roman Catholic theology that he practised and studied. Specifically, this includes the theological systems of St. Thomas Aquinas, St. Augustine of Hippo and other significant Roman Catholic theologians. I will argue that Messiaen’s musical aesthetic is directly linked to the theological principles that underpinned his faith; this dissertation seeks to determine the depth of that relationship and to what extent it influenced Messiaen’s compositional process. In the first part of the work, I focus on establishing a clear theological context through a study of Messiaen’s assertions about his theological system from a selection of the writings and interviews that he left behind. In the second part of the work I provide a case study of Re’wz'l des oiseaux (1953), demonstrating the application and distribution of theological ideology in the structural properties of a work that appears at first glance to be theologically amorphous. The case study reveals that in the musical aesthetic of Re’vez'l ales oiseaux, the devices used to structure the music were not designed to express a subjective religious disposition, but were clearly designed in accordance with Messiaen’s perception of reality and the related metaphysical principles on time, space and the origins of the universe. These principles combine to illustrate a theological view of the universe that Messiaen crafted in musical form. I combine a study of Messiaen’s creative process with his sensitivity to theological principles, and in doing so reveal a broader relationship between theology and musical structure in Re’veil des oiseaux.

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