Messiaen's explorations of love and death : musico-poetic signification in the "Tristan trilogy" and three related song cycles / by Siglind Bruhn.
| Author/creator | Bruhn, Siglind |
| Format | Book |
| Publication Info | Hillsdale, NY : Pendragon Press, 2008. |
| Description | 288 pages : illustrations, music ; 24 cm. |
| Subjects |
| Series | Dimension & diversity ; no. 9 Dimension & diversity ; no. 9. ^A394264 |
| Contents | Part I. Languages and metaphors of love. The ambiguities of desire. The beloved and God ; The song of songs: Eros versus longing for union with God ; Fin' amors and spirituality in the troubadour tradition ; Rougemont on religious aspects in medieval concepts of love ; Mystic readings of the Tristan myth ; An unlikely impetus -- Languages of devotion, magic, and awe. Visual and verbal inspirations ; Surrealistic juxtapositions and syllabic sound patterns ; Music's obligation as a language ; Modes of limited transposition ; Symmetries horizontal and vertical, visual and spiritual ; The "Boris motif" and the effet de vitrail ; Processes of expansion ; A word on colors, resonances, and birdsong transcriptions -- Part II. God present in all things. Poemes pour mi. Loving a woman and loving God ; Antiphons of sublimated conjugal love ; Nature and its jewels ; Moving on to the true home ; Whose servant? ; Messiaen's musical subtext in the Poemes pour mi -- Chants de terre et de ciel. Companion and guardian angel ; The innocent child ; A man's hell and heaven ; Messiaen's musical subtext in the Chants de terre et de ciel -- Trois petites Liturgies de la presence divine. Turning inward ; God present in Christ ; Omnipresent in love and grace ; Messiaen's musical subtext in the Trois petites Liturgies -- Part III. Fated love, a demanding path toward God. Harawi: chant d'amour et de mort. Green dove, limpid pearl ; Piroutcha and the violet of love ; Dancing, swirling, leaping stars ; The dazzling grandeur and solace of death ; Messiaen's musical subtext in Harawi -- Turangalila Symphony. A vengeful Venus and a five-dimensional "play of time" ; Two love songs ; Three cosmic projections ; Two contemplations of love's superhuman aspects ; Two hymns of joy ; Messiaen's musical subtext in the Turangalila Symphony -- Cinq rechants. The magic spaces of incipient love ; Isolde the healer ; The cave of splendid isolation ; Consummation ; Looking back ; Messiaen's musical subtext in the Cinq rechants -- Appendix: myths, stories, and poems featured in the "Tristan trilogy". Tristan and Isolde ; Other mythic tales of love, fate, and death ; Inhuman horrors and the fateful female ; The generous and welcoming lover. |
| Abstract | Messiaen's lifelong quest centered on the "colors" and rhythms of a music that would serve as a vehicle for his thoughts about time, his love of God, and his enthusiasm for birdsong. An additional topic about which he felt deeply is that of passionate, fated human love and its relationship to death on the one hand, the love of God on the other. During the years 1936-1948, he composed five cycles of vocal music to his own texts as well as the Turangalila Symphony, the monumental centerpiece of his "Tristan Trilogy." The focus of this study is the in-depth analysis and interpretation of these six works on love, with particular regard for their unusual wealth of poetic, sonic, and visual colors and imagery. The wonder of rainbows, the magic of exotic sounds, the fantasy of Surrealist representations, and the majestic inexorability of fate in myths of various times and cultures define Messiaen's lyrics as much as his idiosyncratic, highly symbolic musical language, which never fails to build bridges between this and another world. |
| Bibliography note | Includes bibliographical references (pages 277-280) and index. |
| LCCN | 2008008668 |
| ISBN | 9781576471364 |
| ISBN | 1576471365 |
Availability
| Library | Location | Call Number | Status | Item Actions |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Music | Music Stacks | ML410.M595 B785 2008 | ✔ Available | Place Hold |