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Musical Terms (8)

• accord de la résonance French
  Chord of resonance — Messiaen's term for chords built from the natural overtone series above a bass note, using major thirds, tritones, and major sevenths in specific configurations. Produces a luminous, bell-like sonority.
  Voice these chords with the bass well-grounded and the upper partials ringing freely. A slight emphasis on the top note draws out the treble shimmer Messiaen associated with gold, orange, and violet. Use pedal generously but clear cleanly before each new harmonic region.
• comme un oiseau French
  Like a bird — a performance direction indicating a passage should evoke birdsong: rapid, light, highly ornamented, rhythmically free, and sharp in articulation.
  Birdsong passages require a very bright, dry touch with minimal pedal. The speed should feel spontaneous, not metronomic. Messiaen's transcriptions are remarkably accurate — listening to recordings of the actual birds he notated will clarify the intended character of each passage.
• couleur French
  Colour — Messiaen experienced genuine synaesthesia, perceiving specific colours when hearing particular chords or modes. He notated colour associations in his scores and Traité, and these guided his harmonic choices structurally.
  Messiaen's scores and preface notes often include written colour descriptions alongside the music. These are structural markers, not just poetry. Understanding the colour-harmony relationships helps explain harmonic progressions and aids in voicing chords for maximum luminosity at the top.
• modes de transposition limitée French
  Messiaen's system of seven modes (scales) that can be transposed only a limited number of times before returning to the same pitch-class content. Mode 2 (the octatonic scale, alternating whole tones and semitones) and Mode 3 are most frequent in his piano music.
  These modes produce a distinctly ambiguous tonal gravity — neither firmly tonal nor freely atonal. Each mode carries a specific colour in Messiaen's synaesthetic perception; identifying which mode is active helps the performer understand harmonic regions as colour fields rather than functional progressions.
• rythme non rétrogradable French
  Non-retrogradable rhythm — a rhythmic palindrome that reads the same forwards and backwards. Central to Messiaen's rhythmic language, inspired by ancient Greek and Hindu metres. The symmetry is felt as stasis or suspended time rather than metric drive.
  Feel the internal symmetry of these rhythms rather than counting them as a simple sequence of beats. They expand outward from a central point. Practise by identifying the axis of symmetry and confirming that each duration mirrors its counterpart.
• très lent, celestial French
  Very slow, celestial — Messiaen's most characteristic slow tempo marking, typically applied to meditative passages of great stillness in which long melodic lines unfold above sustained resonances.
  Duration is the primary material in très lent passages. Avoid any sense of hurry — these are moments of expanded, contemplative time. Let harmonics accumulate with the sustain pedal, then clear decisively before each new harmonic area. The celestial quality depends on absolute tonal control and an absence of physical tension.
• valeur ajoutée French
  Added value — the addition of a short duration (a dot, an extra note, or a short rest) that disrupts an otherwise regular rhythmic pattern, creating asymmetry and preventing mechanical repetition. One of Messiaen's core compositional techniques.
  Look for the dot or short note that extends a rhythm by one small unit. Respect it precisely — rushing through added values destroys the intended asymmetry that animates Messiaen's rhythmic language.
• vif, joyeux French
  Lively and joyful — Messiaen's characteristic marking for ecstatic fast movements, particularly those depicting birds in full song or the joy of the Holy Spirit. The joy is cosmic and transcendent in character, not merely cheerful.
  Approach vif, joyeux passages with full energy and decisive rhythmic articulation. Never let excitement collapse into mere speed — the character is jubilant and absolute, not rushed. These passages often feature Messiaen's hardest technical demands and reward exaggerated dynamic contrasts.