Get 20M+ Full-Text Papers For Less Than $1.50/day. Start a 14-Day Trial for You or Your Team.

Learn More →

Birds, Beasts, and Bombs in Messiaen's Cold War Mass

Birds, Beasts, and Bombs in Messiaen's Cold War Mass Abstract Although Messiaen is commonly portrayed as having been disengaged from worldly affairs, his eyes fixed on heaven, many of his works can be shown to possess a subtext of political or social commentary that frames worldly issues in religious rhetoric. In a notable example, the Messe de la Pentecôte for organ (1950), Messiaen dramatizes the Cold War threat of nuclear apocalypse by contrasting a leitmotif he calls the Beast of the Apocalypse with evocations of birdsong that represent peace and freedom. Probably influenced by Picasso's use of birds as symbols of peace and by René Leibowitz's Sartrean calls for artistic commitment, the Mass ends with a chord he describes as an explosion. The work's subtext appears to warn against nuclear catastrophe and to advocate faith in the face of Cold War fear and anxiety. http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png Journal of Musicology University of California Press

Birds, Beasts, and Bombs in Messiaen's Cold War Mass

Fallon, Robert
Journal of Musicology , Volume 26 (2) – Apr 1, 2009
Download PDF
30 pages

Loading next page...
 
/lp/university-of-california-press/birds-beasts-and-bombs-in-messiaen-s-cold-war-mass-93cQ8sVAVU

References

References for this paper are not available at this time. We will be adding them shortly, thank you for your patience.

Publisher
University of California Press
Copyright
Copyright © by the University of California Press
ISSN
0277-9269
eISSN
1533-8347
DOI
10.1525/jm.2009.26.2.175
Publisher site
See Article on Publisher Site

Abstract

Abstract Although Messiaen is commonly portrayed as having been disengaged from worldly affairs, his eyes fixed on heaven, many of his works can be shown to possess a subtext of political or social commentary that frames worldly issues in religious rhetoric. In a notable example, the Messe de la Pentecôte for organ (1950), Messiaen dramatizes the Cold War threat of nuclear apocalypse by contrasting a leitmotif he calls the Beast of the Apocalypse with evocations of birdsong that represent peace and freedom. Probably influenced by Picasso's use of birds as symbols of peace and by René Leibowitz's Sartrean calls for artistic commitment, the Mass ends with a chord he describes as an explosion. The work's subtext appears to warn against nuclear catastrophe and to advocate faith in the face of Cold War fear and anxiety.

Journal

Journal of Musicology – University of California Press

Published: Apr 1, 2009

Keywords: Keywords birdsong , Cold War , Messe de la Pentecôte , Messiaen , nuclear

There are no references for this article.