The Life of Messiaen

Christopher Dingle (Assistant Course Director)

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Hardback

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English

Cambridge University Press
22 March 2007

Medieval & Renaissance music (c 1000 to c 1600); Individual composers & musicians, bands & groups

Series: Musical Lives

Olivier Messiaen stands as one of the most influential composers of the twentieth century and among the foremost religious artists of any era. When he died in 1992, the prevailing image was of a deeply religious man whose only sources of inspiration were God and Nature, and of a composer whose music progressed along an entirely individual path, impervious to contemporaneous events and the whims both of his fellow artists and the critics. The Life of Messiaen paints a more nuanced picture of the man and the musician, peering behind Messiaen's public persona to examine the private difficulties and creative struggles that were the true backdrop to many of his greatest achievements. Based upon the latest research, including previously overlooked sources, this book provides an excellent introduction to Messiaen's life and work, presenting a fascinating new perspective of a man whose story is more remarkable than the myths surrounding it.

By: Christopher Dingle (Assistant Course Director)
Imprint: Cambridge University Press
Country of Publication: United Kingdom
Dimensions: Height: 225mm, Width: 148mm, Spine: 23mm
Weight: 507g
ISBN: 9780521632201
ISBN 10: 052163220X
Series: Musical Lives
Pages: 274
Publication Date: 22 March 2007
Audience: College/higher education , General/trade , Primary , ELT Advanced
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Active

1. The burgeoning artist: 1908–1931; 2. Le jeune français: 1931–1939; 3. Occupying time: 1939–1945; 4. Songs of love and death: 1945–1948; 5. For now we see through a glass darkly: 1949–1952; 6. A natural retreat: 1951–1959; 7. The statue remains on its pedestal: 1960–1969; 8. A passion for opera: 1970–1983; 9. Tous les oiseaux des étoiles: 1984–1992.

Christopher Dingle is Assistant Course Director (BMus) at Birmingham Conservatoire. In addition to the acclaimed biography The Life of Messiaen (CUP), he is author of Messiaen's Final Works (Ashgate, forthcoming), and co-editor with Nigel Simeone of Olivier Messiaen: Music, Art & Literature (Ashgate, 2007). He is the organiser of the Messiaen 2008 International Centenary Conference at Birmingham Conservatoire, having conceived and organised the watershed Messiaen 2002 Conference at Sheffield University. His research interests also include the history and function of Music Criticism and Twentieth Century performance practice. He is on the review panel for BBC Music Magazine and contributes regularly to Tempo.

Reviews for The Life of Messiaen

'The best parts of this absorbing book are those where Dingle relates the music to Messiaen's religious faith and to the many difficulties he faced during his life ... many of the author's judgments on the music itself have made me want to go back and listen to works I know - or thought I knew.' BBC Music Magazine 'Christopher Dingle is a seasoned Messiaen insider with a good feel for narrative pacing, and for how much speculation can be risked alongside authentic documentary material.' Gramophone '... this neatly assembled and marvellously readable volume in the Cambridge Musical lives series. ... surprises with several new investigative strands and more than satisfies with a cogent and entertaining commentary ... a thoroughly researched, beautifully executed display if lightly-handled scholarship that makes one feel simultaneously admiring of such an all too rare facility and thoroughly envious of it.' Classical Music