Messiaen’s Méditations sur le Mystère de la Sainte Trinité 50 years later

Olivier Messiaen premiered Méditations sur le Mystère de la Sainte Trinité in 1972 at the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in D.C. This lesser-known work of Messiaen’s forms a unique halfway point between his early organ suites such as La Nativité and Les Corps Glorieux and his final summa for organ, Livre du Saint Sacrament. Drawing on influences from Wagner and Tournemire, Messiaen created a sort of cosmic Musikdrama for organ with this suite in its marriage of music and theology. This workshop will trace the Wagnerian influence in Messiaen’s use of leitmotifs, his creation of the langage communicable, the origins of Méditations as a concert of four improvisations, and look at how the suite fits into Messiaen’s output as a whole, specifically how it continues and differs from the French symphonic organ tradition.