Rhythm in the Music of Messiaen: An Algebraic Study and an Application in the "Turangalîla Symphony"

Abstract

Olivier Messiaen brought to his compositions a distinctive and diverse array of interests, experiences, and talents. A dedicated amateur ornithologist, he catalogued the songs of hundreds of birds from around the world and incorporated many of these songs into his music. A devout Catholic, he wrote a quantity of music on religious themes that is virtually without parallel in the twentieth century. As the teacher and later the husband of a prodigiously gifted pianist, Yvonne Loriod, he wrote piano music of transcendent difficulty. His fascination with numerology, prime numbers, palindromes, and other formations with special mathematical or symmetrical properties manifested itself in many ways in his music, as did his personal association of sounds with colors. Enamored also with exotic sounds and new technology, he wrote music featuring large batteries of tuned percussion instruments and electronic rarities such as the ondes martenot. Nei-