''La Transfiguration de Notre Seigneur Jésus-Christ'' ("The Transfiguration of Our Lord Jesus Christ") is a work written between 1965 and 1969 by

Olivier Messiaen Olivier Eugène Prosper Charles Messiaen (, ; ; 10 December 1908 – 27 April 1992) was a French composer, organist, and ornithologist who was one of the major composers of the 20th century. His music is rhythmically complex; harmonical ...

. It is based on the account found in the

synoptic gospels The gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke are referred to as the synoptic Gospels because they include many of the same stories, often in a similar sequence and in similar or sometimes identical wording. They stand in contrast to John, whose con ...

of Jesus' transfiguration. The writing is on a very large scale; the work requires around 200 performers. The forces required include a mixed

choir A choir ( ; also known as a chorale or chorus) is a musical ensemble of singers. Choral music, in turn, is the music written specifically for such an ensemble to perform. Choirs may perform music from the classical music repertoire, which s ...

, seven instrumental soloists and a large

orchestra An orchestra (; ) is a large instrumental ensemble typical of classical music, which combines instruments from different families. There are typically four main sections of instruments: * bowed string instruments, such as the violin, viola, c ...

; only being surpassed by his opera

Saint François d'Assise ''Saint François d'Assise : Scènes Franciscaines'' (English: Franciscan Scenes of Saint Francis of Assisi), or simply ''Saint François d'Assise'', is an opera in three acts and eight scenes by French composer Olivier Messiaen, who was also i ...

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 had not composed music for voices for 17 years, since his solo choral work ''Cinq rechants''. Warmer tonal harmonies reappeared in this work, in contrast to the harmonies he had been using for other works of the period. Messiaen makes extensive use of

birdsong Bird vocalization includes both bird calls and bird songs. In non-technical use, bird songs are the bird sounds that are melodious to the human ear. In ornithology and birding, songs (relatively complex vocalizations) are distinguished by func ...

throughout the piece, including the songs of the

greater honeyguide The greater honeyguide (''Indicator indicator'') is a bird in the family Indicatoridae, paleotropical near passerine birds related to the woodpeckers. Its English and scientific names refer to its habit of guiding people to bee colonies. C ...

Alpine chough The Alpine chough (), or yellow-billed chough (''Pyrrhocorax graculus'') is a bird in the crow family, one of only two species in the genus '' Pyrrhocorax''. Its two subspecies breed in high mountains from Spain eastwards through southern Europ ...

accentor The accentors are a genus of birds in the family Prunellidae, which is endemic to the Old World. This small group of closely related passerines are all in the genus ''Prunella''. All but the dunnock and the Japanese accentor are inhabitants of th ...

superb starling The superb starling (''Lamprotornis superbus'') is a member of the starling family of birds. It was formerly known as ''Spreo superbus''. Distribution This species has a very large range and can commonly be found in East Africa, including Ethiop ...

Baltimore oriole The Baltimore oriole (''Icterus galbula'') is a small icterid blackbird common in eastern North America as a migratory breeding bird. It received its name from the resemblance of the male's colors to those on the coat-of-arms of 17th century ...

rock thrush The rock thrushes, ''Monticola'', are a genus of chats, medium-sized mostly insectivorous or omnivorous songbirds. All are Old World birds, and most are associated with mountainous regions. Taxonomy The genus was erected by the German naturali ...

, blue mockingbird and

peregrine falcon The peregrine falcon (''Falco peregrinus''), also known as the peregrine, and historically as the duck hawk in North America, is a cosmopolitan bird of prey ( raptor) in the family Falconidae. A large, crow-sized falcon, it has a blue-grey ...

Performance history

The first public performance was on June 7, 1969, in Lisbon,

Serge Baudo Serge Baudo (born 16 July 1927) is a French conductor, the son of the oboist Étienne Baudo. He is the nephew of the cellist Paul Tortelier. Baudo was conductor of the Orchestra of Radio Nice from 1959 to 1962. He then served as permanent conduct ...

was the conductor. The United States premiere was on March 27–30, 1972 in Washington, DC with the National Symphony Orchestra and the Westminster Choir;

Antal Dorati Antal may refer to: * Andal, 8th-century poet saint of South India * Antal (given name) * Antal (surname) Antal is clan (gotra) of Jats found mainly in Punjab besides it is also surname of Hungarian origin.Notable people with the surname include: ...

was the conductor. It was recorded the following month with Dorati conducting the same forces for

Decca Records Decca Records is a British record label established in 1929 by Edward Lewis. Its U.S. label was established in late 1934 by Lewis, Jack Kapp, American Decca's first president, and Milton Rackmil, who later became American Decca's president. ...

. The US West Coast premiere was in 1981 in San Francisco, with the

Berkeley Symphony Berkeley most often refers to: *Berkeley, California, a city in the United States **University of California, Berkeley, a public university in Berkeley, California *George Berkeley (1685–1753), Anglo-Irish philosopher Berkeley may also refer t ...

and the Contra Costa Chorale under the direction of

Kent Nagano Kent George Nagano GOQ, MSM (born November 22, 1951) is an American conductor and opera administrator. Since 2015, he has been Music Director of the Hamburg State Opera and was Music Director of the Montreal Symphony Orchestra from 2006 to 202 ...

. Preparation for this performance was supervised by Messiaen himself.

Structure

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

Bible The Bible (from Koine Greek , , 'the books') is a collection of religious texts or scriptures that are held to be sacred in Christianity, Judaism, Samaritanism, and many other religions. The Bible is an anthologya compilation of texts o ...

, particularly

Matthew Matthew may refer to: * Matthew (given name) * Matthew (surname) * ''Matthew'' (ship), the replica of the ship sailed by John Cabot in 1497 * ''Matthew'' (album), a 2000 album by rapper Kool Keith * Matthew (elm cultivar), a cultivar of the Chi ...

's account of the Transfiguration. Also included are some parts of

Thomas Aquinas Thomas Aquinas, OP (; it, Tommaso d'Aquino, lit=Thomas of Aquino; 1225 – 7 March 1274) was an Italian Dominican friar and priest who was an influential philosopher, theologian and jurist in the tradition of scholasticism; he is known wi ...

's ''

Summa Theologica The ''Summa Theologiae'' or ''Summa Theologica'' (), often referred to simply as the ''Summa'', is the best-known work of Thomas Aquinas (1225–1274), a scholastic theologian and Doctor of the Church. It is a compendium of all of the main th ...

''. First Septenary * I. ''Récit évangélique'' (

Gospel Gospel originally meant the Christian message (" the gospel"), but in the 2nd century it came to be used also for the books in which the message was set out. In this sense a gospel can be defined as a loose-knit, episodic narrative of the words a ...

) * II. ''Configuratum 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 montagne'' (

Chorale Chorale is the name of several related musical forms originating in the music genre of the Lutheran chorale: * Hymn tune of a Lutheran hymn (e.g. the melody of " Wachet auf, ruft uns die Stimme"), or a tune in a similar format (e.g. one of the ...

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 appeared) * 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 orchestra. *Woodwind: 2

piccolo The piccolo ( ; Italian for 'small') is a half-size flute and a member of the woodwind family of musical instruments. Sometimes referred to as a "baby flute" the modern piccolo has similar fingerings as the standard transverse flute, but the s ...

s, 3 flutes, 3

oboe The oboe ( ) is a type of double reed woodwind instrument. Oboes are usually made of wood, but may also be made of synthetic materials, such as plastic, resin, or hybrid composites. The most common oboe plays in the treble or soprano range. ...

cor anglais The cor anglais (, or original ; plural: ''cors anglais''), or English horn in North America, is a double-reed woodwind instrument in the oboe family. It is approximately one and a half times the length of an oboe, making it essentially an al ...

, piccolo clarinet in E-flat, 3 clarinets,

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 (meaning it is a transposing instrument on which a written C sounds as B), but it plays notes an octave ...

, 3 bassoons,

contrabassoon The contrabassoon, also known as the double bassoon, is a larger version of the bassoon, sounding an octave lower. Its technique is similar to its smaller cousin, with a few notable differences. Differences from the bassoon The reed is cons ...

*Brass: 6 horns, piccolo trumpet in D, 3

trumpet The trumpet is a brass instrument commonly used in classical and jazz ensembles. The trumpet group ranges from the piccolo trumpet—with the highest register in the brass family—to the bass trumpet, pitched one octave below the standar ...

s in C, 3

trombone The trombone (german: Posaune, Italian, French: ''trombone'') is a musical instrument in the brass family. As with all brass instruments, sound is produced when the player's vibrating lips cause the air column inside the instrument to vibrat ...

s, bass trombone,

tuba The tuba (; ) is the lowest-pitched musical instrument in the brass instrument, brass family. As with all brass instruments, the sound is produced by lip vibrationa buzzinto a mouthpiece (brass), mouthpiece. It first appeared in the mid-19th&n ...

saxhorn The saxhorn is a family of valved brass instruments that have conical bores and deep cup-shaped mouthpieces. The saxhorn family was developed by Adolphe Sax, who is also known for creating the saxophone family. The sound of the saxhorn has a c ...

, contrabass

*Soloists: flute solo, clarinet solo,

xylorimba The xylorimba (sometimes referred to as xylo-marimba or marimba-xylophone) is a pitched percussion instrument similar to an extended-range xylophone with a range identical to some 5-octave celestas or 5-octave marimbas, though typically an oct ...

vibraphone The vibraphone is a percussion instrument in the metallophone family. It consists of tuned metal bars and is typically played by using mallets to strike the bars. A person who plays the vibraphone is called a ''vibraphonist,'' ''vibraharpist, ...

marimba The marimba () is a musical instrument in the percussion family that consists of wooden bars that are struck by mallets. Below each bar is a resonator pipe that amplifies particular harmonics of its sound. Compared to the xylophone, the timbr ...

cello The cello ( ; plural ''celli'' or ''cellos'') or violoncello ( ; ) is a Bow (music), bowed (sometimes pizzicato, plucked and occasionally col legno, hit) string instrument of the violin family. Its four strings are usually intonation (music), t ...

solo,

piano The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a musica ...

solo *Choir: 20 sopranos, 10 sopranos, 20 contraltos, 20 tenors, 10 baritones, 20 basses *Strings: 32

violin The violin, sometimes known as a ''fiddle'', is a wooden chordophone (string instrument) in the violin family. Most violins have a hollow wooden body. It is the smallest and thus highest-pitched instrument (soprano) in the family in regular ...

s, 14

viola ; german: Bratsche , alt=Viola shown from the front and the side , image=Bratsche.jpg , caption= , background=string , hornbostel_sachs=321.322-71 , hornbostel_sachs_desc=Composite chordophone sounded by a bow , range= , related= *Violin family ...

s, 12

s, 10

double bass The double bass (), also known simply as the bass () (or #Terminology, by other names), is the largest and lowest-pitched Bow (music), bowed (or plucked) string instrument in the modern orchestra, symphony orchestra (excluding unorthodox addit ...

es *Percussion: I: triangle, bells, güiro, 3 small Turkish cymbals, suspended cymbal, clash cymbals; II: crotales, claves, wood-block, 6 temple blocks, 1 pair of maracas, luminophone, clash cymbals; III: tubular bells; IV: 7 gongs; V: 3 tam-tams; VI: suspended cymbal, 3 toms, bass drum

Bibliography

*Bruhn, Siglind (2008). ''Messiaen's Interpretations of Holiness and Trinity: Echoes of Medieval Theology in the Oratorio, Organ Meditations, and Opera.'' Hillsdale, NY: Pendragon Press, pp. 67-110. ISBN 978-1-57647-139-5. *Dingle, Christopher (2007). The Life of Messiaen. Cambridge & New York: Cambridge University Press. . *Dingle, Christopher, & Nigel Simeone (eds) (2007). Olivier Messiaen: Music, Art and Literature. Aldershot: Ashgate. . *Samuel, Claude (tr. E. Thomas Glasow) (1994). Olivier Messiaen: Music and Color: Conversations with

Claude Samuel Claude Samuel (23 June 1931 – 14 June 2020) was a French music critic and radio personality. Biography Born in Paris, after medical studies and graduating as a dental surgeon, Samuel chose to devote himself to classical music journalism. He ...

. Portland, Oregon: Amadeus Press. . *Sherlaw Johnson, Robert (1975). Messiaen. Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press. .

References

Deutsche Grammophon Deutsche Grammophon (; DGG) is a German classical music record label that was the precursor of the corporation PolyGram. Headquartered in Berlin Friedrichshain, it is now part of Universal Music Group (UMG) since its merger with the UMG family o ...

''La Transfiguration'' CD Booklet
About the Music/Programme Notes—Olivier Messiaen (1908–92)—La Transfiguration de Notre Seigneur Jésus-Christ (1965–9)
notes for Prom 14, BBC Proms 2008, 2008-07-27,

Julian Anderson Julian Anderson (born 6 April 1967) is a British composer and teacher of composition. Biography Anderson was born in London. He studied at Westminster School, then with John Lambert at the Royal College of Music, with Alexander Goehr at Camb ...

. Retrieved 2008-07-28. *Maas, Sander van. (2009). ''The Reinvention of Religious Music''. Fordham University Press. . {{DEFAULTSORT:Transfiguration de Notre Seigneur Jesus-Christ, La Compositions by Olivier Messiaen 1969 compositions Choral compositions Compositions for symphony orchestra