Music 5120- Prof.

Trichy Sankaran

Final paper:
Messiaen and Indian Rhythm

David Occhipinti

The French composer Olivier Messiaen (1908-1992) exemplifies his study of

rhythm in his Technique of my Musical Language and in his seven volume treatise Trait
de rythme, de couleur, et d' ornithologie (Treatise of Rhythm, Colour and Birdsong)
where he demonstrates his exploration of Hindu rhythms, Greek rhythms, nonretrogradable rhythms, and augmented and diminished rhythms. Of all the musical
elements that comprises his music, Messiaen gives significant importance to rhythm. In
his conversations with Claude Samuel, Messiaen states, I feel that rhythm is the
primordial and perhaps essential part of music; I think it most likely existed before
melody and harmony, and in fact I have a secret preference for this element. I cherish this
preference all the more because I feel it distinguished my entry into contemporary
music. (Messaien and Samuel 1986, 67)
Introduction to Indian Rhythm
The one hundred and twenty de-tlas listed in the thirteenth century treatise
Sangitaratnakara, by Sarngadeva, provided an important starting point for Messiaens
introduction into Indian rhythm. As a student at the conservatory, he found this list in the
Encyclopdie de la Musique by Albert Lavignac (1924). In Messiaens conversations
with Claude Samuel, Messiaen revealed that he considered these talas to be the summit
of human rhythmic creation. (Messaien and Samuel 1986, 76) Accordingly, many of
these rhythms can be found, exactly or modified, in his music. Two of his most
performed compositions today are discussed in this paper, and used rhythms from the
deci-talas. These are the Turangalila Symphony [1949 revised 1990] and the Quartet
for the End of Time (1941).
In Messiaen's own seven volume music theory treatise Trait de rythme, de couleur, et d'
ornithologie (Treatise of Rhythm, Colour and Birdsong) he displays his knowledge and
research of the talas and raga modes that he discovered during his student days at the
conservatory. It was a stroke of luck, he declared in his conversations with Claude
Samuel, I accidentally came across Sarngadevas treatise and the famous list of 120

de-tlas; that list was a revelation. I immediately sensed that this was an extraordinary
find; I studied it, copied it, contemplated and re-approached it from every possible angle,
for years, in order to grasp its hidden meaning. (Messaien and Samuel 1986, 77)
In Messiaens Treatise he lists all one hundred and twenty talas with translations of the
Sanskrit into French (Messaien 1994, 271) and sometimes includes their spiritual
connection as well.
The Sanskrit names of the talas were translated for him by a Hindu friend named Tarun
Kumar Ghosal. Messiaen was a devout catholic and certainly acknowledged the weight
of the spiritual connection to the talas. Their meanings were not lost on the composer
who said, I have studied at great length the one hundred and twenty de-tlas by
Srngadeva, so much so that I ended up discovering the different rhythmic rules that
derive from them, as well as the religious, philosophical, and cosmic symbols they
contain. Most of the rhythms based on the numbers five or fifteen are dedicated to Shiva;
theyre also dedicated to Parvati: wife, shakti and power of Shivas manifestation.
(Messaien and Samuel 1986, 77)
The number five appears to be significant in relationship to
Shiva as they appear in five temples of Shiva [Jambukeswarar
Temple, Thiruvanaikaval Srikalahasti temple, Annamalaiyar
Temple, Ekambareswarar Temple, Natarajar Temple] which
are held to be particularly important in South India, as being
manifestations of him in the five elemental substances: fire,
water, earth, air, sky. In Messiaens Treatise he notates ten
pentatonic (five-note) scales and describes them as in the
system of Shiva and that five is the number of Shiva.
(Messaien 1994, 247)
The five-limbed figure representing Ardhanarishvara, a
composite androgynous form of the Hindu god Shiva and his
consort Parvati is another reason the number five could be
related to Shiva.
Photo: 1 - statue of
Ardhanarishvara

Messiaen, in his treatise, notates the seventy-two raga modes

of the Mela Karta system by Venkatamaki and classifies

thirty-six of them as saddha-madhyama perfect fourth and thirty-six of them as pratimadhyama augmented fourth (Messaien 1994, 248-9). Messiaens Treatise shows he
also had extensive knowledge of Carnatak musical theories and listed the thirty-five
rhythms of the Saladi Sapta talas with their seven talas and five jatis. Along with their
names he included Western music notation of each tala (Messaien 1994, 331). As
evidenced in his Technique of my Musical Language, the composer was very interested in
non-retrogradeable rhythms, quite simply a group of durations that read identically from
left to right or from right to left, (Messaien and Samuel 1986, 76) and mentioned that
this was the case for all the Matsya talas.
Over his life, Messiaen produced numerous works incorporating Indian tala rhythms
beginning in 1935 in his piece for organ La Nativit du Seigneur and went onto include
them in Turangalila Symphony [1949 revised 1990], The Quartet for the End of Time
(1941), Canteyodjaya (1953 - for solo piano), Cinq Rechants (1948), Vingt Regards Sur
Lenfant Jesus for solo piano (1947), Livre DOrgue (1952).
Quartet for the End of Time
(Track #1 on CD)
Messiaen composed much of Quartet For the End of Time while he was a prisoner of war
in a German camp in 1940. According to Alex Ross in the Rest is Noise, the officers of
Stalag VIIIA were not truly devoted to Adolph Hitlers regime and advised the prisoners
not to escape because they would be safer there than in Vichy France (Ross 2007, 390). A
guard named Karl-Albert Brull supplied Messiaen with pencils and manuscript paper and
even placed him in an empty barracks so he could compose in peace. The title centers
around a biblical quotation from the seventh chapter of the Apocolypse: And the angel
which I saw stand by him that liveth for ever and ever.that there shall be time no
longer
The premiere performance took place in the prisoner of war camp, Stalag VIIIA, on
January 15, 1941 in a dreadful cold with Olivier Messiaen at the piano along with
cellist Etienne Pasquier, the violinist Jean Le Boulaire and the clarinetist Henri Akoka.
Messiaen described the experience of performing for five thousand prisoners from

different walks of life in such a bleak situation, never before have I been listened to with
such attention and understanding. (Rischin 2003, 5)
Three of the talas from the one hundred and twenty deci-talas that Messaien explores in
his Quartet for the End of Time for the 1st movement I. Liturgie de Cristal, are
ragavardhana [no.93], candrakala [no. 105] and lakskmica [no.88]. He uses the three talas
in succession and repeats them in the same order in the piano part throughout the first
movement. The combination of these three talas as used by Messiaen creates a cycle of
seventeen quarter notes [rgavardhana 19/16, candrakal 4/4 and lakskmica 17/16].
The metre is 3/4 throughout the movement and he begins this cycle on the 3rd beat of the
1st bar. The cycle is thus displaced one quarter note forward every four bars [4 bars of 3/4
+ 1 quarter note = 17 beats]. As a contrast he superimposes in the cello part a nonretrogradable rhythm of eighteen values using only five notes.1
He uses the same three talas in succession in his Turangalila Symphony [movements #4,
5, 7 and 10] and Cinq Rechant which also are discussed below.

Turangalila Symphony
The title Turangalila comes from tala #33 of the one hundred and twenty deci-talas.
Messiaen defines the term as a combination of life-force, life-energy and lila which
means divine-play.
Because of the density of this work it would be difficult to distinguish the talas described
below from a casual listening or glance at the score.
1

Score attached as Appendix A

In movement I (Track #2) the tala Ragavardhana (#93) is used in the 2nd violins and
violas at rehearsal #12. The time signature is 2/4 but the tala figure of 19/16 is displaced
in the bar every time it is repeated. The tala Dhenkhi (#58) is used as a pivot point to
create a new rhythm in the cymbal part during the same section.
In Movement II (Chant damour - Track #3) the talas Gajajhampa (#77) and Vijaya(#51)
are employed for the wood block part at rehearsal #25 starting on the second 16th note of
the 3rd bar.
The exact same succession of talas mentioned in Quartet for the End of Time,
ragavardhana [no.93], candrakala [no. 105] and lakskmica [no.88], happens in the 4th
movement (Chant damour 2) of the Turangalila Symphony. This time it occurs in the
woodblock part. Again the meter is 3/4, but the woodblock does not enter until measure
five on beat two. The rhythms occur until rehearsal #2 and re-occurs at rehearsal #14.2
In movement V (Joie du sang des etoiles - Track #4) the succession of the three talas
occurs in the cymbal part beginning in the 2nd bar at rehearsal #22 and re-occurs at #32.
In movement VII (Turangalila 2 - Track #5 at 2:22) at rehearsal #7 in the piano part we
hear the succession of the three talas as a canon with the left-hand beginning one beat
later.3
Occurring just before rehearsal #1 in the final movement, movement X (Final - Track
#6), we have again the succession of the three talas, ragavardhana [no.93], candrakala
[no. 105] and lakskmica [no.88], in the woodblock part.
Cinq Rechants
In his piece for twelve voices Messaien employs the talas Micra Varna (#26),
Simhavikrama (#8) and Laya in the first Rechant. 4
Throughout most of the work he uses spoken syllables emphasising the letters T and K.
While the use of this is easy to distinguish from Solkattu, one cannot escape the possible
reference of Solkattu and the ta-ka sound being an influence on the sound he used (track
#7 on the CD at 2:52 exemplifies the TK sound).
2

Score attached as Appendix B Track #3 on CD

Score attached as Appendix C Track #5 on CD (Rehearsal #7 begins at 2:22)
4
p.5 in the score
3

He uses the three talas that he also used in Quartet for the End of Time in his 2nd Rechant
during his 2nd couplet. The tenors have the talas while the bass part has the rhythm in
retrograde and the contralto is used in free counterpoint.
Messaien employs four talas in his fifth Rechant (Track #8), Gajajhampa [#77],
Simhavikrama [#8], candrakala [no. 105], and ragavardhana [no.93].
The Act of Giving
In his conversations with Claude Samuel, Messiaen regretfully mentions, I would have
liked to have known India. He praises the admirable acts (Messaien and Samuel 1986,
107) of Mother Teresa in Calcutta, and how he would have given up all his musical
works to have been as giving with the poor and the sick as she was.
As a composer, Olivier Messiaen not only contributed his musical works, but also gave
us a glimpse into his musical mind and his insight into Indian rhythm through The
Technique of my Musical Language and his seven volume Treatise of Rhythm, Colour
and Birdsong. The pages he left behind in these books provide a wealth of information on
Indian rhythm, many aspects of his compositional process, and are a generous gift to the
world of music.

Bibliography
1. Messiaen, Olivier. 1994. Trait de rythme, de couleur, et d' ornithologie (Treatise of
Rhythm, Colour and Birdsong in 7 volumes). Paris: ALPHONSE LEDUC, volumes I and
II
2. Messiaen. 1944. Technique of my Musical Language Paris: ALPHONSE LEDUC. 914
3. Messiaen, Olivier, and Samuel, Claude. 1986/1994. Music and Color Messiaen in
conversations with Claude Samuel. Translated by E. Thomas Glasow. Amadeus Press
Rischin, Rebecca. 2003. For the End of Time. Cornell: Cornell University Press.
Ross, Alex. 2007. The Rest is Noise. New York: Picador.
Sherlaw-Johnson, Robert. 1998. Rhythmic Technique and Symbolism Messiaens
Language of mystical love. Edited by Siglid Bruhn. Garland Publishing
Sankaran, Trichy. 2010. The Art of Konnakkol (Solkattu). Toronto: Lalith Publishers

Web Reference
Photo of statue of Ardhanarishvara:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Ardhanari.png

SCORE Excerpts:
Appendix A
Quartet for the End of Time; 1st movement I. Liturgie de Cristal. (Audio Track 1 on CD).
Messiaen, Olivier. 1941. Quatuor Pour La Fin Du Temps. Paris: Editions Durand. 1-6
Appendix B
Turangalila Symphony IV Chant damour 2 Excerpt (Audio Track 3 on CD)
Messiaen, Olivier. 1953. Turangalila Symphony. Paris: Editions Durand. 111-114.
Appendix C
Turangalila Symphony VII Chant damour 2 Excerpt (Audio Track 5 on CD 2:22)
Messiaen, Olivier. 1953. Turangalila Symphony. Paris: Editions Durand. 272-276.

Track listing on accompanying CD:

1. Quatuor pour la fin du Temps: 1. Liturgie de Cristal
2. Turangalila Symphony Excerpts: II. Chant damour 1
3. IV. Chant damour 2
4. V. Hoie du sang des etoiles
5. VII. Turangalila 2
6. X. Final
7. Cinq Rechants: I
8. Cinq Rechants: V
All compositions by Olivier Messiaen