Typology of the chronotope in Olivier Messiaen’s piano pieces

Abstract

The study presents a musicological analysis of the piano pieces by the twentieth-century French artist Olivier Messiaen in the context of the space-time concept. The embodiment of the sacred imagery in the compositions for pianists as the key aspect in the determinant categorical sphere is considered. The paper is focused on the aspects of musical chronotope in O. Messiaen’s instrumental pieces as an innovative factor that determines the idiosyncratic aspects of his musical language and signature style. By identifying the concept of time as the leading one in Messiaen’s artistic heritage, the paper outlines the presence of different types of time in his piano pieces. The philosophical attitudes of Hryhorii Skovoroda and Olivier Mes- siaen on human cognition of God are presented. Based on this philosophical interpretation of the laws of the universe, it is proved that the compositions considered feature different types of time: real, absolute, and cosmological time.The piano compositions are typologized through these three time variants. It is substantiated that the compositions “La Dame de Shalott”, “The Sadness of a Great White Sky”, “Eight Prel- udes”, “Burlesque Fantasia”, “Piece for the Tomb of Paul Dukas”, “Rondeau”, and “Prelude” are in the category of real time. It is established that they are characterized by the original musical language of the artist, in which numerous thematic repetitions and a tendency to slow tempos are evident.The pieces that reflect the musical peculiarities of absolute time are considered: “Visions de “l’Amen”” and “Twenty Contemplations of the Infant Jesus”. It is substantiated that these pieces convey the knowledge of the Divine universe through the system of leitmotifs.The cosmological time is outlined through the piano pieces “Cantéyodjayâ”, “Four Rhythmic Etudes”, “Catalogue of Birds”, “Garden Warble”r, and “Little Sketches of Birds”. The author’s own rhythmic system, based on Carnatic rhythms, is evident in them. This group of compositions concerns pieces based on pantheism. O. Messiaen conveys the Divine harmony using a rich palette of decorations, dynamic sound colors that reproduce birdsong.