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La Transfiguration de Notre Seigneur Jésus-Christ

 

 
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La Transfiguration de Notre Seigneur Jésus-Christ
 
 
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La transfiguration de notre seigneur Jésus-Christ (The Transfiguration of Our Lord Jesus Christ) is a piece of music that was written between 1965 and 1969 by Olivier Messiaen
Olivier Messiaen

Olivier Messiaen was a French composer, organ , and ornithology. He entered the Conservatoire de Paris at the age of 11 and numbered Paul Dukas, Maurice Emmanuel, Charles-Marie Widor and Marcel Dupr? among his teachers....
. Its content is based on the event of Jesus transfiguring on a mountain
Transfiguration of Jesus

The Transfiguration of Jesus is an event reported by the Synoptic Gospels in which Jesus is transfigured upon a mountain . Jesus becomes radiant, speaks with Moses and Elijah, and is called "Son" by God....
 according to the report of the Synoptic Gospels
Synoptic Gospels

The synoptic gospels are three gospels in the New Testament the Gospel of Matthew, the Gospel of Mark, and the Gospel of Luke, that display a high degree of similarity in content, narrative arrangement, language, and sentence and paragraph structures....
. The music is on such a large scale that it requires about 200 people to perform it. The forces required include a mixed choir
Choir

A choir, chorale, or chorus is a musical ensemble of singers. Choral Music, in turn, is the music written specifically for a choir to perform....
, seven instrumental soloists and a large orchestra
Orchestra

An orchestra is an Musical ensemble, usually fairly large with string, brass, woodwind sections, and possibly a percussion section as well. The term orchestra derives from the name for the area in front of an theatre of ancient Greece reserved for the Greek chorus....
.

earing "an old priest deliver a sermon on the light and the filiation", Messiaen started to think about the Transfiguration story in the 1940s.






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La transfiguration de notre seigneur Jésus-Christ (The Transfiguration of Our Lord Jesus Christ) is a piece of music that was written between 1965 and 1969 by Olivier Messiaen
Olivier Messiaen

Olivier Messiaen was a French composer, organ , and ornithology. He entered the Conservatoire de Paris at the age of 11 and numbered Paul Dukas, Maurice Emmanuel, Charles-Marie Widor and Marcel Dupr? among his teachers....
. Its content is based on the event of Jesus transfiguring on a mountain
Transfiguration of Jesus

The Transfiguration of Jesus is an event reported by the Synoptic Gospels in which Jesus is transfigured upon a mountain . Jesus becomes radiant, speaks with Moses and Elijah, and is called "Son" by God....
 according to the report of the Synoptic Gospels
Synoptic Gospels

The synoptic gospels are three gospels in the New Testament the Gospel of Matthew, the Gospel of Mark, and the Gospel of Luke, that display a high degree of similarity in content, narrative arrangement, language, and sentence and paragraph structures....
. The music is on such a large scale that it requires about 200 people to perform it. The forces required include a mixed choir
Choir

A choir, chorale, or chorus is a musical ensemble of singers. Choral Music, in turn, is the music written specifically for a choir to perform....
, seven instrumental soloists and a large orchestra
Orchestra

An orchestra is an Musical ensemble, usually fairly large with string, brass, woodwind sections, and possibly a percussion section as well. The term orchestra derives from the name for the area in front of an theatre of ancient Greece reserved for the Greek chorus....
.

Background

On hearing "an old priest deliver a sermon on the light and the filiation", Messiaen started to think about the Transfiguration story in the 1940s. By the time he began to write the music, he hadn't composed music for voices for 17 years since his solo choral work Cinq Rechants. Warmer tonal harmonies reappeared in this work, compared with Messiaen's immediately preceding compositions.

Structure

The music is divided into 14 movements, grouped into two septénaires (sets of seven). It lasts for about one and a half hours. The texts are largely drawn from the Bible
Bible

The Bible is the central religious text of Judaism and Christianity. The exact Books of the Bible is dependent on the religious traditions of specific denominations....
, particularly Matthew
Matthew the Evangelist

Matthew the Evangelist , most often called Saint Matthew, is a Christian figure, and one of Jesus's Twelve Apostles. He is credited by tradition with writing the Gospel of Matthew, and is identified in that gospel as being the same person as Levi the publican ....
's account of the Transfiguration. Also included are some parts of Thomas Aquinas
Thomas Aquinas

Saint Thomas Aquinas, Dominican Order was a priest of the Roman Catholic Church in the Dominican Order from Italy, and an immensely influential philosopher and theologian in the tradition of scholasticism, known as Doctor Angelicus and Doctor Communis....
's Summa Theologica
Summa Theologica

The Summa Theologica is the most famous work of Thomas Aquinas although it was never finished. It was intended as a manual for beginners as a compilation of all of the main theology teachings of that time....
.

First Septenary
  • I. Récit évangélique (Gospel
    Gospel

    In Christianity, a gospel is generally one of the first four books of the New Testament that describe the birth, life, ministry, crucifixion, and resurrection of Jesus....
    )
  • II. Configuration corpori claritatis suae (To be like his glorified body)
  • III. Christus Jesus, splendor Patris (Jesus, reflection of the Father)
  • IV. Récit évangélique (Gospel)
  • V. Quam dilecta tabernacula tua (How lovely are your tabernacles)
  • VI. Candor est lucis aeternae (She is the reflection of eternal light)
  • VII. Choral de la sainte montaigne (Chorale
    Chorale

    A chorale was originally a hymn of the Lutheran church sung by the entire congregation. In casual modern usage, the term also includes classical settings of such hymns and works of a similar character....
     of the holy mountain)


Second Septenary
  • VIII. Récit évangélique (Gospel)
  • IX. Perfecte conscius perfectae generationis (Perfectly conscious of that perfect generation)
  • X. Adoptionem filiorum perfectam (The perfect adoption of sons)
  • XI. Récit évangélique (Gospel)
  • XII. Terribilis est locus iste (How awesome is this place)
  • XIII. Tota Trinitas apparuit (The whole Trinity appears)
  • XIV. Choral de la lumière de gloire (Chorale of the light of glory)


Instrumentation

It is scored for a mixed choir (10 voices per part), 7 instrumental soloists and a very large in scale orchestra.

7 instruments played by soloists, including:
  • Piano
    Piano

    The piano is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard instrument. Widely used in Western music for solo performance, ensemble use, chamber music, and accompaniment, the piano is also very popular as an aid to musical composition and rehearsal....
  • Flute
    Flute

    The flute is a musical instrument of the woodwind family. Unlike other woodwind instruments, a flute is a reedless wind instrument that produces its sound from the flow of air against an edge....
  • Clarinet
    Clarinet

    The clarinet is a musical instrument in the woodwind family. The name derives from adding the suffix -et meaning little to the Italian word clarino meaning a particular type of trumpet, as the first clarinets had a strident tone similar to that of a trumpet....
  • Cello
    Cello

    The violoncello is a bowed string instrument. A person who plays a cello is called a cellist. The cello is used as a solo instrument, in chamber music, and as a member of the string section of an orchestra....
  • Marimba
    Marimba

    The marimba is a musical instrument in the percussion instrument family. Keys or bars are struck with mallets to produce musical tones. The keys are arranged as those of a piano, with the accidentals raised vertically and overlapping the natural keys to aid the performer both visually and physically....
  • Xylorimba
    Xylorimba

    The xylorimba is a pitched Percussion instrument musical instrument corresponding to a xylophone with an extended range .Like xylophone and marimba, the xylorimba consists of a series of wooden bars laid out like a musical keyboard with a compass sufficiently large to embrace the low-sounding bars of the marimba and the highest-sounding ba...
  • Vibraphone
    Vibraphone

    The vibraphone, sometimes called the vibraharp or simply the vibes, is a musical instrument in the mallet subfamily of the percussion instrument family....


Woodwind
  • 5 Flute
    Flute

    The flute is a musical instrument of the woodwind family. Unlike other woodwind instruments, a flute is a reedless wind instrument that produces its sound from the flow of air against an edge....
    s
  • 4 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"....
    s
  • 5 Clarinet
    Clarinet

    The clarinet is a musical instrument in the woodwind family. The name derives from adding the suffix -et meaning little to the Italian word clarino meaning a particular type of trumpet, as the first clarinets had a strident tone similar to that of a trumpet....
    s
  • 4 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....
    s


Brass
  • 6 Horns
  • 4 Trumpet
    Trumpet

    The trumpet is a musical instrument with the highest Register in the brass instrument family. Trumpets are among the oldest musical instruments, dating back to at least 1500 BC....
    s
  • 4 Trombone
    Trombone

    The trombone is a musical instrument in the brass instrument family. Like all brass instruments, it is a lip-reed aerophone: sound is produced when the player?s vibrating lips cause the air column inside the instrument to vibrate....
    s
  • 2 Tuba
    Tuba

    The tuba is the largest and lowest pitched brass instrument. Sound is produced by vibrating or "buzzing" the lips into a large cupped Mouthpiece ....
    s


Percussion
  • Bass Drum
    Bass drum

    A bass drum is a large drum that produces a note of low definite or indefinite pitch . There are three general classifications of bass drums: the concert bass drum, the kick' drum, and the pitched bass drum....
  • cymbal
    Cymbal

    Cymbals are a modern percussion instrument. Cymbals consist of thin, normally round plates of various cymbal alloys; see cymbal making for a discussion of their manufacture....
    s (Crash and Suspended)
  • Triangle
    Triangle (instrument)

    The triangle is an idiophone type of musical instrument in the Percussion instrument family. It is a bar of metal, usually steel in modern instruments, bent into a triangle shape....
  • tamtam
    Gong

    A gong is an East Asia and South East Asian musical instrument that takes the form of a flat metal disc which is hit with a mallet.Gongs are broadly of three types....
     (High and low)
  • Wood block
    Wood block

    A wood block is essentially a small piece of slit drums made from a single piece of wood and used as a percussion instrument. It is struck with a stick, making a characteristically percussive sound....
    s
  • Tubular Bells
    Tubular Bells

    Tubular Bells is the debut vinyl record of English musician Mike Oldfield, released in 1973. The late Vivian Stanshall provided the voice of the "Master of Ceremonies" who reads off the list of instruments at the end of the first movement....


Strings
  • violin
    Violin

    The violin is a Bow string instrument with four strings usually tuned in perfect fifths. It is the smallest and highest-pitched member of the violin family of string instruments, which also includes the viola and cello....
    s (Typically 32 players)
  • viola
    Viola

    The viola is a bowed string instrument. It is the middle voice of the violin family, between the violin and the cello.The casual observer may mistake the viola for the violin because of their similarity in size, closeness in pitch range , and nearly identical playing position....
    s (Typically 14 players)
  • cello
    Cello

    The violoncello is a bowed string instrument. A person who plays a cello is called a cellist. The cello is used as a solo instrument, in chamber music, and as a member of the string section of an orchestra....
    s (Typically 12 players)
  • double bass
    Double bass

    The double bass or contrabass is the largest and lowest-pitched Bow string instrument used in the modern orchestra. It is a standard member of the string section of the orchestra and smaller string musical ensembles in European classical music....
    es (Typically 12 players)


Premiere

Public performance: June 7, 1969, Lisbon
Lisbon

Lisbon is the Capital and largest city of Portugal. It is also the seat of the Lisbon and capital of the Lisbon region. Its municipalities of Portugal, which matches the city proper excluding the larger continuous conurbation, has a municipal population of 564,477 in , while the Lisbon Metropolitan Area in total has around 2.8 million inha...
.