Page 126 - Weiss, Jernej, ur. 2020. Konservatoriji: profesionalizacija in specializacija glasbenega dela ▪︎ The conservatories: professionalisation and specialisation of musical activity. Koper/Ljubljana: Založba Univerze na Primorskem in Festival Ljubljana. Studia musicologica Labacensia, 4
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konservator iji: profesionalizacija in specializacija glasbenega dela
Paris. He began by studying piano and, remarkably, percussion. Then he
studied other subjects for no less than 11 years. He did not leave until 1930,
after obtaining awards for harmony (in 1924), counterpoint, fugue (1926),
accompaniment (1927), organ, improvisation, music history (1929), and fi-
nally composition (1930). With these eight prices, he entered the pantheon
of the legendary students, the early and brilliant “prize collectors.” This in-
sured him later, as a teacher, the admiration of his students.
For Messiaen, the 1930’s were the decade outside the Conservatory. In
this time he remained chiefly an organ composer, who would admitted-
ly become “the most influential organ composer in the twentieth century.” 3
Then came the “strange war.” This “drôle de guerre” put France on its
knees in less than a year. Messiaen was taken prisoner at Stalag Görlitz VIII
A, in Silesia. He spent the winter of 1940–1941 there. Another entire book
is devoted on this very precise subject.4 Notably because there, he com-
posed and premiered his very famous Quartet for the End of Time, which
Jerzy Stankiewicz called “the masterpiece of chamber music of the twenti-
eth century.”.5
The problem of the year 1941
What happened next? It is hard to know precisely. According to Chris-
topher Murray and Yves Balmer, Messiaen would have continually “revi-
sited the story of his life.”6 That is to say: he sometimes had to lie about his
past, especially about this troubled period of history.
For example, after the war, the composer always claimed to have re-
turned to France, from his captivity in Germany, in 1942. However, his real
return took place in February 1941, one year before. The proof is precisely
given by the Conservatoire de Paris: he was appointed professor there on
March 25, 1941.
3 See Jon Gillock, Performing Messiaen’s Organ Music: 66 Masterclasses (Blooming-
ton: Indiana University Press, 2010), for an introduction.
4 Rebecca Rishin, Messiaen quartet (Ithaca NY: Cornell University Press, 2003).
5 See Jerzy Stankiewicz, “Ile wykonań Kwartet na koniec Czasu Oliviera Messiaena
odbyło się w Stalagu VIII A w Gorlitz? Nowe fakty i hipotezy 70 lat później,” in Res
facta nova: Teksty o muzyce współczesnej 12, no. 21 (2011).
6 Yves Balmer and Christopher Murray, “Olivier Messiaen et la reconstruction de son
parcours sous l’Occupation: le vide de l’année 1941,” in La musique à Paris sous l’Oc-
cupation, eds. Myriam Chimènes and Yannick Simon (Paris: Fayard/Cité de la Mu-
sique, 2013), 152.
124
Paris. He began by studying piano and, remarkably, percussion. Then he
studied other subjects for no less than 11 years. He did not leave until 1930,
after obtaining awards for harmony (in 1924), counterpoint, fugue (1926),
accompaniment (1927), organ, improvisation, music history (1929), and fi-
nally composition (1930). With these eight prices, he entered the pantheon
of the legendary students, the early and brilliant “prize collectors.” This in-
sured him later, as a teacher, the admiration of his students.
For Messiaen, the 1930’s were the decade outside the Conservatory. In
this time he remained chiefly an organ composer, who would admitted-
ly become “the most influential organ composer in the twentieth century.” 3
Then came the “strange war.” This “drôle de guerre” put France on its
knees in less than a year. Messiaen was taken prisoner at Stalag Görlitz VIII
A, in Silesia. He spent the winter of 1940–1941 there. Another entire book
is devoted on this very precise subject.4 Notably because there, he com-
posed and premiered his very famous Quartet for the End of Time, which
Jerzy Stankiewicz called “the masterpiece of chamber music of the twenti-
eth century.”.5
The problem of the year 1941
What happened next? It is hard to know precisely. According to Chris-
topher Murray and Yves Balmer, Messiaen would have continually “revi-
sited the story of his life.”6 That is to say: he sometimes had to lie about his
past, especially about this troubled period of history.
For example, after the war, the composer always claimed to have re-
turned to France, from his captivity in Germany, in 1942. However, his real
return took place in February 1941, one year before. The proof is precisely
given by the Conservatoire de Paris: he was appointed professor there on
March 25, 1941.
3 See Jon Gillock, Performing Messiaen’s Organ Music: 66 Masterclasses (Blooming-
ton: Indiana University Press, 2010), for an introduction.
4 Rebecca Rishin, Messiaen quartet (Ithaca NY: Cornell University Press, 2003).
5 See Jerzy Stankiewicz, “Ile wykonań Kwartet na koniec Czasu Oliviera Messiaena
odbyło się w Stalagu VIII A w Gorlitz? Nowe fakty i hipotezy 70 lat później,” in Res
facta nova: Teksty o muzyce współczesnej 12, no. 21 (2011).
6 Yves Balmer and Christopher Murray, “Olivier Messiaen et la reconstruction de son
parcours sous l’Occupation: le vide de l’année 1941,” in La musique à Paris sous l’Oc-
cupation, eds. Myriam Chimènes and Yannick Simon (Paris: Fayard/Cité de la Mu-
sique, 2013), 152.
124
