Quatuor pour la fin du temps (the Quartet for the end of time), 1941
and
Le merle noir (Blackbird), 1952
The former was the first piece Messiaen wrote in which he indicated what birds were singing (Blackbird and Nightingale), and the latter is the first piece which is all about a bird. But in 1953 Messiaen upped his game with Reveil des Oiseaux, the Awakening of the Birds, or a Dawn Chorus if you like. It's the only piece Messiaen wrote which is based entirely on transcribed birdsong (38 different birds) with no other musical material. As big a fan I am of Messiaen, I reckon Reveil des Oiseaux is pretty hard to listen to, and Messiaen himself must have had his doubts, because he then scrapped the idea of writing total bird-music, and followed it up with a much better piece in 1956, Oiseaux Exotiques, Exotic Birds.
Messiaen's definition of 'exotiques' is clearly that of a birder new to the game who is starting to fall madly in love with birds - all of the featured birds are actually mega common in the countries where they are native, and in no way exotiques. In fact, going through Messiaen's bird-music in chronological order is the classic outline of a birder's career - initial curiosity about the natural world, a desire to learn more about the birds in your back garden, being stunned as you learn about big stupid colourful birds in far off lands, travelling all over the place to see/hear those big stupid colourful foreign birds, developing a selective interest in certain types of birds, and finally returning to your local birds that first got you hooked but with a refined sense of appreciation.
Oiseaux Exotiques is an absolutely fantastic piece. It's based on transcribed birdsongs that Messiaen heard in an aviary in Paris containing Asian birds, and also from a recording of North American birds. But he colours the music with his own totally unique harmonies and also scraps the idea of being 100% faithful to his transcriptions, transforming the birdsong into music which is more intelligible to a human audience, which was sort of important, you know, with an audience in a concert hall usually being made up of humans.
There are too many birds for me to embed files from Xeno-Canto, but it's definitely worth having a listen to a Greater Prairie Chicken and comparing it to Messiaen's.
And just one final thing. I think Messiaen got something wrong. The repeated mega-loud hammered notes of White-crested Laughing-thrush near the beginning and at the very end don't make any sense at all, they sound nothing at all like the bird. I think Messiaen heard a Coppersmith Barbet in that Paris aviary and didn't realise which bird was singing (Messiaen's bird expertise has been massively exaggerated). The problem is that to create a great dramatic ending, conductors usually conduct those final chords really slowly, much slower than Messiaen indicates they should be played in the score. When it's played at the speed Messiaen wants it to be played, then those chords are spot on for Coppersmith Barbet.
I've listed all the birds below, so follow along as you listen.
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- Common Mynah
- 0'41 White-crested Laughing-thrush (Coppersmith Barbet?)
- 1'03 piano solo. Common Mynah, Red-billed Mesia, Wood Thrush and Veery
- 2'32 Lesser Green Leafbird, Baltimore Oriole, Red-billed Mesia, California Thrasher
- 2'51 piano solo. Northern Cardinal
- 3'20 Lesser Green Leafbird, Baltimore Oriole, Red-billed Mesia, California Thrasher
- 3'46 piano solo. Northern Cardinal
- 4'17 Greater Prairie Chicken
- 4'55 central orchestral section. White-crested Laughing-thrush, Orchard Oriole, Cowbird (Messiaen doesn't specify which one), Red-whiskered Bulbul, Barred Owl, Olive-backed Thrush, Indigo Bunting, Rose-breasted Grosbeak, Hermit Thrush, White-crowned Sparrow, White-rumped Shama, Song Sparrow, Summer Tanager, Northern Mockingbird, Wild Turkey, Fox Sparrow, California Quail, Gambel's Quail, Whip-poor-will, Brown Thrasher, Black-headed Grosbeak, American Robin, Vesper Sparrow
- 8'38 Greater Prairie Chicken
- 9'30 piano solo. Grey Catbird and Bobolink
- 11'38 White-rumped shama
- 11'48 many of the species already heard the in central orchestral section, but now also including Carolina Wren, Horned Lark, Red-eyed Vireo, Warbling Vireo, Purple Finch, Yellow-throated Vireo, Lazuli Bunting, Blue-headed Vireo
- 13'09 piano solo. Northern Cardinal and Wood Thrush
- 13'40 Common Mynah
- 13'48 White-crested Laughing-thrush (Coppersmith Barbet?)
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