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| French composer and organist, born in Avignon, and trained at the Paris Conservatoire. He studied composition and organ, respectively, with the French musicians Paul Dukas and Marcel Dupré (1886-1971). In 1931, shortly after he became organist of the Trinity Church in Paris, his first major work, the symphonic poem Les offrandes oubliées (Forgotten Offerings), was performed. In 1942 he began to teach at the Paris Conservatoire. Among his works, profoundly influenced by his Roman Catholic faith and highly experimental in rhythm, harmony, and sonority, are numerous compositions for organ; Quatuor pour la fin du temps (Quartet for the End of Time, 1941), a chamber work composed and first performed while Messiaen was in a prisoner-of-war camp; Visions de l'amen (1943), a seven-part work for two pianos; Turangalîla (1946-48), a ten-movement symphony incorporating a wide range of exotic percussion instruments; and La Transfiguration (1965-69), an oratorio for chorus, instrumental soloists, and orchestra. La fauvette des jardins (The Garden Warbler, 1972), for piano, is a synthesis of his styles, incorporating serialism and imitations of bird song. His first opera, St. François d'Assise, was successfully staged in 1983 at the Paris Opéra. His last work, performed after his death, by the New York Philharmonic in 1992, was Éclairs sur l'Au-Delà (Illuminations of the Beyond). |