Page 127 - 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
P. 127
the role of the conservatoir e de par is in messiaen’s development ...
As a matter of fact, according to Murray and Balmer, Messiaen totally
occulted this year 1941. Because he probably wanted to hide that his release
from the prison camp, and consequently his return to France, were due to
the interpersonal skills of General Charles Huntziger.7 Huntziger was com-
mander-in-chief of the Vichy8 Infantry. Messiaen was elected to his first po-
sition at the Conservatoire, as a harmony teacher, on March 25, 1941, and
not in 1942. And this appointment was possible thanks to the ousting of
André Bloch. Bloch had been in post since 1927. However, he was Jewish.
Because of this, he was dismissed on December 18, 1940, as a consequence
of the first law on the status of Jews. Murray and Balmer specified:
Messiaen did not wait passively for his appointment: upon his arri-
val in Vichy in March 1941, he activated his networks and campa-
igned with important figures of the French musical life to obtain a
position he was already coveting before the war. And circumstances
made it accessible earlier than expected. To achieve his ends, like
all pretenders to an administrative position, he wrote a standard
letter: ‘I am not Jewish, my four grandparents are not Jewish, and
there is absolutely no Jewish blood in my family.’9
Let us take another example of the “re-writing” of his biography. Film-
maker Denise Tual commissioned the future Visions de l’Amen. The work
was completed in October 1942. But Messiaen made Denise Tual believe in
very fast work on composing the piece, much faster than it actually took
place. Indeed, the work was already prefaced as early as 1941.10 Let us focus
on Visions of Amen. For Messiaen, the future premiere of this work for two
pianos was also an opportunity to become better acquainted with a par-
ticular pupil of the Conservatoire, the one who would become his second
wife, the young pianist Yvonne Loriod.
In 1943, Messiaen was a brilliant 35 years old teacher. Yvonne Loriod
was a 19 years old piano pupil in the same place, the Paris Conservatory. It
was probably for her and himself, i.e. for their love, that Messiaen particu-
larly wrote Visions de l’Amen, for two pianos as “ for two lovers,” in a way.
Visions de l’Amen was also an opportunity for a trip together, a premiere in
London, during the war. How could two French citizens cross the Channel
and travel to London in 1943? That seems very surprising. Messiaen wrote a
7 Ibid., 157.
8 The capital of South France collaborating with Nazi Germany.
9 Ibid., 158–9.
10 Ibid., 153.
125
As a matter of fact, according to Murray and Balmer, Messiaen totally
occulted this year 1941. Because he probably wanted to hide that his release
from the prison camp, and consequently his return to France, were due to
the interpersonal skills of General Charles Huntziger.7 Huntziger was com-
mander-in-chief of the Vichy8 Infantry. Messiaen was elected to his first po-
sition at the Conservatoire, as a harmony teacher, on March 25, 1941, and
not in 1942. And this appointment was possible thanks to the ousting of
André Bloch. Bloch had been in post since 1927. However, he was Jewish.
Because of this, he was dismissed on December 18, 1940, as a consequence
of the first law on the status of Jews. Murray and Balmer specified:
Messiaen did not wait passively for his appointment: upon his arri-
val in Vichy in March 1941, he activated his networks and campa-
igned with important figures of the French musical life to obtain a
position he was already coveting before the war. And circumstances
made it accessible earlier than expected. To achieve his ends, like
all pretenders to an administrative position, he wrote a standard
letter: ‘I am not Jewish, my four grandparents are not Jewish, and
there is absolutely no Jewish blood in my family.’9
Let us take another example of the “re-writing” of his biography. Film-
maker Denise Tual commissioned the future Visions de l’Amen. The work
was completed in October 1942. But Messiaen made Denise Tual believe in
very fast work on composing the piece, much faster than it actually took
place. Indeed, the work was already prefaced as early as 1941.10 Let us focus
on Visions of Amen. For Messiaen, the future premiere of this work for two
pianos was also an opportunity to become better acquainted with a par-
ticular pupil of the Conservatoire, the one who would become his second
wife, the young pianist Yvonne Loriod.
In 1943, Messiaen was a brilliant 35 years old teacher. Yvonne Loriod
was a 19 years old piano pupil in the same place, the Paris Conservatory. It
was probably for her and himself, i.e. for their love, that Messiaen particu-
larly wrote Visions de l’Amen, for two pianos as “ for two lovers,” in a way.
Visions de l’Amen was also an opportunity for a trip together, a premiere in
London, during the war. How could two French citizens cross the Channel
and travel to London in 1943? That seems very surprising. Messiaen wrote a
7 Ibid., 157.
8 The capital of South France collaborating with Nazi Germany.
9 Ibid., 158–9.
10 Ibid., 153.
125
