French composer and organist, one of the most influential
teachers of this century. Messiaen was organist at the Sainte
Trinite cathedral, and composed a large body of organ music. His
harmonic idiom is always highly colorful, and rhythmically
ingenius. He was able to unify the rhythmic intensity of Igor
Stravinsky with the dodecaphonic technique of Arnold Schoenberg,
being one of the first instructors to carefully analyze their
music and pave the way for such students as Pierre Boulez and
Karlheinz Stockhausen. Messiaen was also one of the first
composers to apply serial principles to rhythmic organization,
though serial techniques are used only as one means among many
in his arsenal. He had a predilection for cyclic forms, often
using juxtaposed blocks of differing sonority in his larger
works. His thematic material is drawn primarily from two
sources: Catholic religious themes, and birdsong. To this is
added an advanced feeling for modality, building on the work of
Charles Tournemire. Messiaen composed in