BIRD’S EYE VIEW Messiaen based pieces on the songs of the garden warbler and the blackbird.
The curious synthesis of birdsong, Gregorian chant and Hindu rhythms can only signify the presence of groundbreaking French composer Olivier Messiaen. His unbranded spirit will consume Hyde Park and downtown this fall when the University of Chicago presents a ten-day music festival celebrating the man who would’ve turned 100 this December.
CHILD’S PLAY Self-taught on piano, Messiaen enrolled in the Paris Conservatoire at age 11.
“This is the first of its kind for the university on this scale, and I’m a little scared,” curator Shauna Quill says with a laugh, as she discusses the stacked lineup that includes first-rate performances, symposia, classes and lectures October 2–11. As executive director of the University of Chicago Presents music series, Quill came on board in February 2007 and immediately got to work programming the unprecedented festival. She called upon scholars such as Messiaen maven Peter Hill…and Shakespeare scholar David Bevington? Yep. Lil’ Messiaen grew up staging one-act performances of Macbeth by his lonesome; the Bard’s influence on him is immeasurable.
The festival program is loaded with a rotund mix of composers who inspired Messiaen’s work and vice versa. Not-to-miss performers include organist Dame Gillian Weir, the Pacifica Quartet, Pierre-Laurent Aimard, the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, members from Grammy-winning contemporary sextet eighth blackbird and violinist Cho-Liang Lin. Yet the most attractive side of this fest might be its price tag. In a nod to poor local students, college kids pay $30 for access to performances. Others can pay individually for the ten gigs or save 30 percent with a $150 complete pass.
So why should you care? Well, Messiaen led a fascinating life. Captured by the Germans in World War II, the Frenchman composed Quartet for the End of Time in a stalag prison camp after meeting fellow prisoners—a violinist, a cellist and a clarinettist. He’s also had a huge influence on modern pop music: Radiohead’s Jonny Greenwood discovered Messiaen’s Turangalila Symphony as a kid and calls it his favorite piece of music. Turangalila’s haunting, ethereal primary instrument, the ondes Martenot (a cross between a keyboard and a theremin), pops up all over Radiohead ballads, including “How To Disappear Completely.” We asked a couple of local classical luminaries what Messiaen’s music means to them:
Seth Boustead, composer and artistic director of the Accessible Contemporary Music ensemble
“I remember being in high school and taking Vingt Regards sur l’Enfant-Jésus home from the library just so I could find out what this Messiaen guy was all about. I listened to it several times that day, trying to make sense of it. I fell asleep. But I had the most intense dreams. When I woke up, I still didn’t understand the music, but I was in awe of its power. This still pretty much describes my relationship with Messiaen’s music. Even the most casual listener cannot fail to be transported.”
Welz Kaufmann, president and CEO of Ravinia
“[Nonclassical fans can enjoy] the nature sounds, its trancelike quality and it being the ultimate in musical serenity. Once, the Quartet for the End of Time was played in Saint Paul [Minnesota] when I worked there. We received complaints from patrons who felt they should have paid less for the tickets because of the parts of the piece where some players are [silent].”
Keep this in mind if the hefty $150 price tag feels too steep during the quieter moments: The guy wrote the piece in a Nazi stalag. Who knows what the world would have missed had Messiaen been forever silenced.
The Messiaen Music Festival runs in multiple locations. Visit chicagopresents.uchicago.edu/messiaen for a complete lineup. Oct 2–11, $150, students $30.
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