Olivier Messiaen's Influence in the Violoncello Works of Toru Takemitsu
type: CreativeWork
description: This monograph is an examination of Oliver Messiaen’s influence in the violoncello solo and chamber compositions of Tōru Takemitsu. A total of sixteen pieces: Le Son Calligraphie I (1958), Le Son Calligraphie III (1960), Scene (1959), Landscape (1960), Corona II (1962), Valeria (1969), Quatrain (1975), Quatrain II (1977), Waterways (1978), A Way Alone (1981), Orion for Violoncello and Piano (1984), Orion and Pleiades: Concerto for Violoncello and Orchestra (1984), Entre-Temps (1986), A Solitary Road (1988), Herbstlied (1993), and Between Tides (1993), are studied to determine the degree of Messiaen’s influence. The research is through a cellistic and musicological analysis including music theory, history, and performance practice. Messiaen’s three main compositional outlines, religious influences, human transcending to divine love, and inspiration from nature as well as more technical compositional techniques such as the use of microtones and the frequent use of stasis to create a sense of space are examined. These techniques range from the employment of textual layering, sophisticated rhythmic devices, to separating pitch from rhythm. Cellistic techniques include innovative fingering or passages, sustained harmonics, and the use of register. Each composition, as allowed, are also analyzed using Messiaen’s modes of limited transposition including any connected color to the modes as described by Jonathan W. Bernard in his article Messiaen’s Synaesthesia: The Correspondence between Color and Sound Structure in His Music. The monograph is divided into three separate chapters with two sections each, totaling six different sections. Chapter 1 contains the introduction and music history of traditional Japanese music including general attributes that tie in with French musical characteristics. Chapter 2 contains the biographies and musical characteristics of the composers Takemitsu and Messiaen. The final chapter (3) contains the analysis of all sixteen pieces listed above…
abstract: This monograph is an examination of Oliver Messiaen’s influence in the violoncello solo and chamber compositions of Tōru Takemitsu. A total of sixteen pieces: Le Son Calligraphie I (1958), Le Son Calligraphie III (1960), Scene (1959), Landscape (1960), Corona II (1962), Valeria (1969), Quatrain (1975), Quatrain II (1977), Waterways (1978), A Way Alone (1981), Orion for Violoncello and Piano (1984), Orion and Pleiades: Concerto for Violoncello and Orchestra (1984), Entre-Temps (1986), A Solitary Road (1988), Herbstlied (1993), and Between Tides (1993), are studied to determine the degree of Messiaen’s influence. The research is through a cellistic and musicological analysis including music theory, history, and performance practice. Messiaen’s three main compositional outlines, religious influences, human transcending to divine love, and inspiration from nature as well as more technical compositional techniques such as the use of microtones and the frequent use of stasis to create a sense of space are examined. These techniques range from the employment of textual layering, sophisticated rhythmic devices, to separating pitch from rhythm. Cellistic techniques include innovative fingering or passages, sustained harmonics, and the use of register. Each composition, as allowed, are also analyzed using Messiaen’s modes of limited transposition including any connected color to the modes as described by Jonathan W. Bernard in his article Messiaen’s Synaesthesia: The Correspondence between Color and Sound Structure in His Music. The monograph is divided into three separate chapters with two sections each, totaling six different sections. Chapter 1 contains the introduction and music history of traditional Japanese music including general attributes that tie in with French musical characteristics. Chapter 2 contains the biographies and musical characteristics of the composers Takemitsu and Messiaen. The final chapter (3) contains the analysis of all sixteen pieces listed above…
author: Montandon, Susannah Violet
keywords: Messiaen, Takemitsu, Violoncello
date published: 2015-01-01T08:00:00Z
date modified: 2026-07-24T02:58:50Z
provider: Lousiana State University
publisher: Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations
type: WebPage
source organization: Music

PropertyValue
property ID: DOI
value: 10.31390/gradschool_dissertations.1009