Des canyons aux étoiles…
Encyclopedia
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
composer
Composer
A composer is a person who creates music, either by musical notation or oral tradition, for interpretation and performance, or through direct manipulation of sonic material through electronic media...
Olivier Messiaen
Olivier Messiaen
Olivier Messiaen was a French composer, organist and ornithologist, one of the major composers of the 20th century. His music is rhythmically complex ; harmonically and melodically it is based on modes of limited transposition, which he abstracted from his early compositions and improvisations...
. It was written to a 1971 commission by the American Alice Tully
Alice Tully
Alice Bigelow Tully was a U.S. singer, music promoter and philanthropist.Alice Tully was born in Corning, New York. She spent her high school years at the famous Westover School in Middlebury, Connecticut. Tully began her career as a mezzo-soprano, then became a soprano. She studied in Paris and...
for a work to celebrate the bicentenary of the United States Declaration of Independence
United States Declaration of Independence
The Declaration of Independence was a statement adopted by the Continental Congress on July 4, 1776, which announced that the thirteen American colonies then at war with Great Britain regarded themselves as independent states, and no longer a part of the British Empire. John Adams put forth a...
. It was first performed in 1974.
While preparing the work, Messiaen visited Utah
Utah
Utah is a state in the Western United States. It was the 45th state to join the Union, on January 4, 1896. Approximately 80% of Utah's 2,763,885 people live along the Wasatch Front, centering on Salt Lake City. This leaves vast expanses of the state nearly uninhabited, making the population the...
in 1972, where he was inspired by the landscape and its birds, and particularly Bryce Canyon
Bryce Canyon National Park
Bryce Canyon National Park is a national park located in southwestern Utah in the United States. The major feature of the park is Bryce Canyon which, despite its name, is not a canyon but a giant natural amphitheater created by erosion along the eastern side of the Paunsaugunt Plateau...
and its colours (Messiaen had bi-directional sound-colour synaesthesia; see also modes of limited transposition
Modes of limited transposition
Modes of limited transposition are musical modes or scales that fulfill specific criteria relating to their symmetry and the repetition of their interval groups...
). The work is also notable for its use of modern instrument techniques.
The ensemble is scored for piano
Piano
The piano is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. It is one of the most popular instruments in the world. Widely used in classical and jazz music for solo performances, ensemble use, chamber music and accompaniment, the piano is also very popular as an aid to composing and rehearsal...
solo, horn
Horn (instrument)
The horn is a brass instrument consisting of about of tubing wrapped into a coil with a flared bell. A musician who plays the horn is called a horn player ....
solo, xylorimba
Xylorimba
The xylorimba is a pitched percussion instrument corresponding to a xylophone with an extended range ....
solo and glockenspiel
Glockenspiel
A glockenspiel is a percussion instrument composed of a set of tuned keys arranged in the fashion of the keyboard of a piano. In this way, it is similar to the xylophone; however, the xylophone's bars are made of wood, while the glockenspiel's are metal plates or tubes, and making it a metallophone...
solo. The small string section
String section
The string section is the largest body of the standard orchestra and consists of bowed string instruments of the violin family.It normally comprises five sections: the first violins, the second violins, the violas, the cellos, and the double basses...
consists of 6 violin
Violin
The violin is a string instrument, usually with four strings tuned in perfect fifths. It is the smallest, highest-pitched member of the violin family of string instruments, which includes the viola and cello....
s, 3 viola
Viola
The viola is a bowed string instrument. It is the middle voice of the violin family, between the violin and the cello.- Form :The viola is similar in material and construction to the violin. A full-size viola's body is between and longer than the body of a full-size violin , with an average...
s, 3 cello
Cello
The cello is a bowed string instrument with four strings tuned in perfect fifths. It is a member of the violin family of musical instruments, which also includes the violin, viola, and double bass. Old forms of the instrument in the Baroque era are baryton and viol .A person who plays a cello is...
s, and 1 double bass
Double bass
The double bass, also called the string bass, upright bass, standup bass or contrabass, is the largest and lowest-pitched bowed string instrument in the modern symphony orchestra, with strings usually tuned to E1, A1, D2 and G2...
with fifth-string lower extension. The woodwind requires 1 piccolo
Piccolo
The piccolo is a half-size flute, and a member of the woodwind family of musical instruments. The piccolo has the same fingerings as its larger sibling, the standard transverse flute, but the sound it produces is an octave higher than written...
, 2 flute
Flute
The flute is a musical instrument of the woodwind family. Unlike woodwind instruments with reeds, a flute is an aerophone or reedless wind instrument that produces its sound from the flow of air across an opening...
s, 1 alto flute
Alto flute
The alto flute is a type of Western concert flute, a musical instrument in the woodwind family. It is the next extension downward of the C flute after the flûte d'amour. It is characterized by its distinct, mellow tone in the lower portion of its range...
, 2 oboe
Oboe
The oboe is a double reed musical instrument of the woodwind family. In English, prior to 1770, the instrument was called "hautbois" , "hoboy", or "French hoboy". The spelling "oboe" was adopted into English ca...
s, 1 cor anglais
Cor anglais
The cor anglais , or English horn , is a double-reed woodwind instrument in the oboe family....
, 2 bassoon
Bassoon
The bassoon is a woodwind instrument in the double reed family that typically plays music written in the bass and tenor registers, and occasionally higher. Appearing in its modern form in the 19th century, the bassoon figures prominently in orchestral, concert band and chamber music literature...
s, 1 contrabassoon
Contrabassoon
The contrabassoon, also known as the double bassoon or double-bassoon, is a larger version of the bassoon, sounding an octave lower...
, 1 E-flat clarinet
E-flat clarinet
The E-flat clarinet is a member of the clarinet family. It is usually classed as a soprano clarinet, although some authors describe it as a "sopranino" or even "piccolo" clarinet. Smaller in size and higher in pitch than the more common B clarinet, it is a transposing instrument in E, sounding a...
, 2 B-flat clarinet
Clarinet
The clarinet is a musical instrument of woodwind type. The name derives from adding the suffix -et to the Italian word clarino , as the first clarinets had a strident tone similar to that of a trumpet. The instrument has an approximately cylindrical bore, and uses a single reed...
s and 1 bass clarinet
Bass clarinet
The bass clarinet is a musical instrument of the clarinet family. Like the more common soprano B clarinet, it is usually pitched in B , but it plays notes an octave below the soprano B clarinet...
. In addition to the sixth movement's horn
Horn (instrument)
The horn is a brass instrument consisting of about of tubing wrapped into a coil with a flared bell. A musician who plays the horn is called a horn player ....
solo, the brass
Brass
Brass is an alloy of copper and zinc; the proportions of zinc and copper can be varied to create a range of brasses with varying properties.In comparison, bronze is principally an alloy of copper and tin...
section also consists of 2 horn
Horn (instrument)
The horn is a brass instrument consisting of about of tubing wrapped into a coil with a flared bell. A musician who plays the horn is called a horn player ....
s, 2 trumpet
Trumpet
The trumpet is the musical instrument with the highest register in the brass family. Trumpets are among the oldest musical instruments, dating back to at least 1500 BCE. They are played by blowing air through closed lips, producing a "buzzing" sound which starts a standing wave vibration in the air...
s in c, 1 trumpet in d, 2 trombone
Trombone
The trombone is a musical instrument in the brass family. Like all brass instruments, sound is produced when the player’s vibrating lips cause the air column inside the instrument to vibrate...
s, and 1 bass trombone. The large percussion section, divided for 5 percussionists, consists of Messiaen's own invented instrument the geophone
Geophone (percussion instrument)
The geophone is a percussion instrument, invented by the French composer Olivier Messiaen for use in his large composition for piano and orchestra entitled Des canyons aux étoiles…...
, 1 wind machine
Wind machine
The wind machine is a specialist musical instrument used to produce the sound of wind. One type uses an electric fan with wooden slats added to produce the required sound...
, 1 thunder sheet
Thunder sheet
A thunder sheet is a thin sheet of metal used to produce sound effects for musical or dramatic events. The device may be shaken, causing it to vibrate, or struck with a mallet....
, 1 gong
Gong
A gong is an East and South East Asian musical percussion instrument that takes the form of a flat metal disc which is hit with a mallet....
, 1 set of tuned gongs, 1 set of tubular bells
Tubular Bells
Tubular Bells is the debut record album of English musician Mike Oldfield, released in 1973. It was the first album released by Virgin Records and an early cornerstone of the company's success...
, 1 pair of maracas
Maracás
Maracás is a town and municipality in the state of Bahia in the North-East region of Brazil.-References:...
, 1 whip
Whip (instrument)
In music, a whip or slapstick is a percussion instrument consisting of two wooden boards joined by a hinge at one end. When the boards are brought together rapidly, the sound is reminiscent of the crack of a whip. It is often used in modern orchestras, bands, and percussion ensembles.There are...
, 1 bass drum
Bass drum
Bass drums are percussion instruments that can vary in size and are used in several musical genres. Three major types of bass drums can be distinguished. The type usually seen or heard in orchestral, ensemble or concert band music is the orchestral, or concert bass drum . It is the largest drum of...
, 1 triangle
Triangle
A triangle is one of the basic shapes of geometry: a polygon with three corners or vertices and three sides or edges which are line segments. A triangle with vertices A, B, and C is denoted ....
, 1 wood block
Wood block
A woodblock is essentially a small piece of slit drum made from a single piece of wood and used as a percussion instrument. It is struck with a stick, making a characteristically percussive sound....
, 1 set of wooden wind chimes
Wind Chimes
"Wind Chimes" is a song composed by Brian Wilson and Van Dyke Parks for the American rock band The Beach Boys. The original version of the song was written and recorded for the aborted 1966 album Smile. The band completely re-recorded the song for inclusion on their next album, Smiley Smile...
, 1 set of crotales
Crotales
thumb|right|Crotales are often used with other mallet percussionCrotales , sometimes called antique cymbals, are percussion instruments consisting of small, tuned bronze or brass disks. Each is about 4 inches in diameter with a flat top surface and a nipple on the base. They are commonly...
, 1 reco reco, and 1 tumba
Tumba (drum)
The tumba is a kind of long, thin drum, whose pitch depends on the part of the head being hit. Tumbas appear in Leroy Anderson's Jazz Pizzicato and Fiddle-Faddle , as well as the music of various Latin American dance bands and in Hans Werner Henze's opera The English Cat....
, among other percussion instruments.
The movements are as follows:
- Le désert ("The desert")
- Les orioles ("The oriolesNew World orioleNew World orioles, comprising the genus Icterus, are a group of birds in the blackbird family. They are not related to Old World orioles which are in the family Oriolidae, but are strikingly similar in size, diet, behaviour and in their strongly contrasting plumage, and are a good example of...
") - Ce qui est écrit sur les étoiles ("What is written in the stars")
- Le cossyphe d'Heuglin ("The white-browed robin-chatWhite-browed Robin-chatThe White-browed Robin-chat is a species of bird in the Muscicapidae family.It is found in Angola, Botswana, Burundi, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Republic of the Congo, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ethiopia, Gabon, Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, Rwanda, Somalia, South...
") - Cedar Breaks et le don de crainte ("Cedar BreaksCedar Breaks National MonumentCedar Breaks National Monument is a U.S. National Monument located in the U.S. state of Utah near Cedar City. Cedar Breaks is a natural amphitheater canyon, stretching across , with a depth of over . The elevation of the rim of the canyon is over above sea level.The eroded rock of the canyon is...
and the gift of awe") - Appel interstellaireAppel interstellaireAppel Interstellaire is the 6th movement of the piece Des canyons aux étoiles… by French composer Olivier Messiaen.The title is followed by quotes:...
("Interstellar call") - Bryce Canyon et les rochers rouge-orange ("Bryce Canyon and the red-orange rocks")
- Les ressucités et le chant de l'étoile Aldebaran ("The resurrected and the song of the star AldebaranAldebaranAldebaran is a red giant star located about 65 light years away in the zodiac constellation of Taurus. With an average apparent magnitude of 0.87 it is the brightest star in the constellation and is one of the brightest stars in the nighttime sky...
") - Le moqueur polyglotte ("The mockingbirdNorthern MockingbirdThe Northern Mockingbird, Mimus polyglottos, is the only mockingbird commonly found in North America. This species was first described by Linnaeus in his Systema naturae in 1758 as Turdus polyglottos....
") - La grive des bois ("The wood thrushWood ThrushThe Wood Thrush, Hylocichla mustelina, is a North American passerine bird. It is closely related to other thrushes such as the American Robin and is widely distributed across North America, wintering in Central America and southern Mexico...
") - Omao, leiothrix, elepaio, shama ("OmaoOmao (bird)The ʻŌmaʻo is an endemic species of robin-like bird found only on the island of Hawaii. Omao are closely related to the other endemic thrushes of the Hawaiian Islands, the Kamao, the Olomao, and the Puaiohi. Omao are found primarily in rainforest in the eastern and southeastern regions of the Big...
, leiothrix, ʻelepaio, shamaMagpie-robinThe magpie-robins or shamas are medium-sized insectivorous birds in the genera Copsychus and Trichixos...
") - Zion Park et la cité céleste ("Zion ParkZion National ParkZion National Park is located in the Southwestern United States, near Springdale, Utah. A prominent feature of the park is Zion Canyon, which is 15 miles long and up to half a mile deep, cut through the reddish and tan-colored Navajo Sandstone by the North Fork of the Virgin River...
and the celestial city")
The piano is treated as a solo instrument throughout the work, with the fourth and ninth movements being extended piano cadenzas, while the sixth movement Appel interstellaire is for horn alone. Messiaen specified that the work is in three sections: the first section contains movements 1-5, the second contains movements 6 and 7, and the third section contains movements 8-12.