Messiaen & Stravinsky: notes

Otherworldly sounds

French composer Francis Poulenc (1899-1963) is best known to the general public for his light-hearted and humorous works. Yet it is the other side of his personality, his deep faith and spirituality, that inspired some of his greatest masterpieces. Even from a modernist like Stravinsky (1882-1971), whose Sacre du printemps caused a scandal at its premiere in 1913, one would not immediately expect a major religious work. But with his Symphony of Psalms in 1930, he composed one of his most haunting works.

Olivier Messiaen (1908-1992) did not hide his faith. As a devout Catholic, he saw music as the means par excellence to transmit the values of the Catholic faith. He shared this conviction in his earliest works, including the symphonic meditation Les Offrandes oubliées and the a cappella choral work O sacrum convivium. His compatriot Lili Boulanger (1893-1918) was also a staunch Catholic. Her Vieille prière bouddhique is a penetrating indictment of war and violence.