Discourse and Soliloquy: Compositional Techniques of Oliver Messiaen Exhibited in his Work for Chamber Ensemble and Solo Piano, <i>Oiseaux Exotiques</i>

Abstract

During the twentieth century there were countless innovations and revolutions in music composition and the very definition of music. During World War II, Olivier Messiaen pioneered new conceptions of musical time in his Quartet for the End of Time. Filled with reverence for God and meditations on the book of Revelation, Messiaen found it fit to include birdsong and explorations in color, two ideas that would permeate his compositional career. In Oiseaux exotiques, Messiaen replaced traditional scales and harmonies with the colors, rhythms, and shapes of birdsong. As a result of rejecting traditional limitations, Messiaen adapted natural patterns, such as those found in human speech, and traditional musical structures to bind his new material together in an understandable, relatable way. Likewise, he achieves communication in solo piano sections through the juxtaposition of musical events that convey information through their function within phrase architecture and those elements which communicate sensation and establish a point of repose and meditation within the work. Musicology, history, linguistics, and biology collectively illuminate Messiaen’s compositional techniques and make the work more accessible to the average listener.