Olivier Messiaen: Journalism 1935–1939

Stephen Broad

may 2016 · Routledge

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One of the foremost composers of the twentieth century, Olivier Messiaen wrote widely on his music and on his beliefs. This is the first edition of his early journalism and provides both the original French text and an English translation. The writing in this volume dates from the 1930s, before the composer gained the international reputation that he and his music now enjoy. The pieces he wrote range from reviews of individual performances to essays on particular works or composers and articles that discuss more general themes such as sincerity of expression in music. Many of the articles included in this collection are new to the Messiaen bibliography, and others are available here for the first time in English. A number are, as Broad describes them, 'quietly shocking' in that they force us to reappraise certain aspects of the composer such as his role in La Jeune France, and his wider participation in the debates of his time. This edition, therefore, represents a new source for understanding Messiaen and provides a fascinating glimpse of the composer in the early part of his career.

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Stephen Broad is Head of Postgraduate Programmes and Research at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland. A graduate of the universities of Glasgow and Oxford, he has made a special study of Messiaen's early life and writing. Originally from the Isle of Mull, he now lives in Perthshire.