'Miroir Fluide': Messiaen, Debussy, and Cyrano's 'Synaesthetic' Bird

'MIROIR FLUIDE': MESSIAEN, DEBUSSY, AND CYRANO'S 'SYNAESTHETIC' BIRD
Author(s): Cheong Wai-Ling

Source: Music & Letters, Vol. 95, No. 4 (NOVEMBER 2014), pp. 603-647
Published by: Oxford University Press
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Music & Letters, Vol. 95 No. < © The Author (2014). Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved.
doi:lU.lU9ö/ml/gcuUöU, available online at www.ml.oxtordjournals.org
'MIROIR FLUIDE': MESSIAEN, DEBUSSY,

AND CYRANO'S 'SYNAESTHETIC' BIRD
By Cheong Wai-Ling*
In 2001, ALMOST A DECADE AFTER THE DEATH OF OLIVIER MeSSIAEN (1908-92), the sixth
volume of his Traité de rythme, de couleur, et d'ornithologie (hereafter Traité VI), a volume
devoted to the music of Claude Debussy, was at last published.1 Yvonne Loriod,
Messiaen's second wife, worked out the fifth and final chapter of this volume by
drawing on the notes Messiaen left in his own score copies.2 Loriod, who oversaw the
posthumous publication of Traité, contributed to many other parts of the treatise,
though similar acknowledgement notes are limited in number. Because this chapter
owes so much to what Messiaen jotted down in the score, it is particularly revealing
of his unpolished thoughts. For the same reason, however, the material is often
disorganized and hard to decipher. This is not so in the preceding chapters, the third
and fourth of which are dedicated to Debussy's only opera, Pelléas et Mélisande.
The first example of Messiaen analysing a complete piece by Debussy appears in
chapter 2 of the book, entitled 'Claude Debussy ou les rythmes de l'eau'.3 The analysis
of Debussy's 'Reflets dans l'eau' stands out, since all preceding analyses, those in
chapter 1, study only short passages extracted from different pieces. Messiaen also
stated unequivocally that his decision to launch a detailed analysis of 'Reflets dans
l'eau' was not fortuitous. For Messiaen, 'Reflets dans l'eau' was perhaps Debussy's
masterpiece among his contributions to the piano repertory: 'Le chef-d'oeuvre de
Debussy pour le piano est peut-être la première des six "Images": "Reflets dans l'eau".
Cette pièce—pour sa volupté harmonique, pour la subtilité de ses variations
rythmiques, et pour son écriture pianistique onctueuse et chatoyante—mérite une
*The Chinese University of Hong Kong. Email: cheongwl@cuhk.edu.hk. I would like to thank Michael
Friedmann, Kathryn Puffett, Jim Samson, and the anonymous reviewers for their invaluable comments and sugges
tions. This work was supported by the Research Grants Council (CUHK442010). A shorter version was presented at
the 2009 Joint Annual Conference of the Society for Musicology in Ireland and the Royal Musical Association.
1 Traité de rythme, de couleur et d'ornithologie, VI (Paris, 2001). This is the only volume of Traité set apart for a
composer. Elsewhere in Traité Messiaen also analyses music by other composers, but only Mozart and Stravinsky
have drawn comparable attention. In Technique de mon langage musical, 2 vols. (Paris, 1944; vol. i trans. John Satterfield
as The Technique of My Musical Language (Paris, 1956)) Debussy already stood out as the only composer to have
appeared in any chapter headings—'Harmony, Debussy, Added Notes'—but Messiaen's discussion of Debussy's
music in this chapter does not substantially exceed that of other composers (Rameau, Chopin, Wagner, Massenet,
Chabrier, Ravel). Music examples in Technique that are captioned with Debussy's work titles are all very short (ex. 85
shows only three notes from 'Reflets dans l'eau'; exx. 189, 223, and 224 show roughly one bar each from Pelléas et
Mélisande), and Messiaen's comments on them are just as terse. They certainly leave us with much to speculate on.
2 See Traité VI, p. 95n. 'Ce chapitre comporte les analyses d'Olivier Messiaen, entièrement écrites sur ses partitions
musicales, et recopiées scrupuleusement ici, par Yvonne Messiaen.' (This chapter contains analyses noted by Olivier
Messiaen entirely in the music scores and scrupulously reproduced here by Yvonne Messiaen.) English translations
are mine unless otherwise specified.
3 Messiaen's discussion of 'Reflets dans l'eau' is followed by that of 'Dialogue du vent et de la mer' and Prélude à
l'après-midi d'un faune, which ends the second chapter and leads to a detailed analysis of Pelléas et Mélisande in the third
and fourth chapters. Many more analyses of complete pieces follow in the fifth and final chapter.
603
analyse détaillée.'4 This study takes Messiaen's analysis of Debussy's 'Reflets dans l'eau'
in Traité VI as its point of departure. I argue that Messiaen's analysis, together with
the quotations that precede it, is richly encoded and can lead us, upon close examin
ation, to discover a web of relationships, one that not only involves Messiaen
and Debussy, but also Cyrano de Bergerac and Loriod, and even Pierre Boulez. In add
ition, the rigorous pitch-structural discourse throws light on how Messiaen's exploration
of a pentatonicized twelve-note space is informed by the systematic networking of
anhemitonic pentatonic collections,5 thereby uncovering pitch organization tactics
that are heavily permutation-based.
LETTRE VII BY CYRANO DE BERGERAC
The tribute paid by Messiaen to Debussy's 'Reflets dans l'eau' in

not followed directly by his analysis of it. Instead, he made a detour and
quotations, one by Cyrano de Bergerac and the other by Stéphane Mallar
Avant de l'entreprendre, je ne puis m'empecher de citer un texte de Cyrano de

1655 ), qui n'a pas la splendeur dorée et le rêve au delà des rêves de notre magic
durées, mais qui peut tout de même introduire les 'Reflets dans l'eau'... .'C
précipitent dans l'onde cent autres peupliers, et ces aquatiques ont été tellement
de leur chute qu'ils tremblent encore tous les jours du vent qui ne les touche pa
dirai-je de ce miroir fluide, de ce petit monde renversé qui place les chênes au-d
mousse et le Ciel plus bas que les chênes? ... Maintenant nous pouvons baiss
Ciel.... Le rossignol qui du haut d'une branche se regarde dedans croit être
rivière—mais lorsqu'il a dissipé sa frayeur, son portrait ne lui paraissant plu
combattre, il gazouille, il éclate, il s'égosille, et cet autre rossignol, sans rom
s'égosille en apparence comme lui et trompe l'âme avec tant de charmes qu'on se
ne chante que pour se faire ouïr de nos yeux ... '.6
Deuxième citation, plus proche des couleurs Debussystes, et qui peut s'appli
'Feuilles mortes' de notre auteur: 'Vers l'Azur attendri d'Octobre pâle et pur — Q
grands bassins sa langueur infinie — Et laisse, sur l'eau morte où la fauv
feuilles erre au vent et creuse un froid sillon, - Se traîner le soleil jaune d'u
('Soupir', Stéphane Mallarmé)7
Traité VI, p. 16. (Debussy's piano masterpiece is perhaps the first of the six Images: 'Reflets
piece—for its harmonic sensuousness, for the subtlety of its rhythmic variations, and for its sm
piano writing—deserves a detailed analysis.)
5 Henceforth 'anhemitonic pentatonic collection' is abbreviated as 'pentatonic collection'.
6 Messiaen did not specify the source of his quotation from Cyrano, but there is a word-for-word
between his quotation and Frédéric Lachèvre's 1846 version of Cyrano's Lettre VII: Cyrano de Bergera
ed. Frédéric Lachèvre, Nouvelle édition (revue sur les éditions originales et augmentée, pour la pre
itions et variants importantes du manuscript 4557 de la Bibliothèque Nationale) (Paris, 1846).
version, Œuvres comiques, galantes et littéraires de Cyrano de Bergerac, ed. P. L. Jacob (Paris, 1858), sho
discrepancies, as it reads 'la frayeur' instead of 'sa frayeur' and 'paraissant' instead of 'paraissant'.
Charles S. Fineman's version, ('Cyrano: Des miracles de rivière', Tale French Studies, 49 (1973), 1
claim reproduces the manuscript housed in the Bibliothèque nationale de France, lacks one crucial
quotation.
7 Traité VI, p. 16. (Before taking it [the analysis] up, I cannot resist quoting from Cyrano de Bergerac (1620-1655).
Although this passage lacks the glistening splendour and fantasy of our magician of sounds and durations, it can still
introduce the 'Reflets dans l'eau' 'One hundred poplars are throwing one hundred other poplars into the waters,
and these watery beings are so horror-struck by this fall that they yet tremble each day, moved by a wind that
touches them not. But what shall I say of this fluid mirror, of this little upside-down world which puts oak trees
beneath moss and Heaven lower than the oaks? Now we can lower our eyes to the Sky.... A nightingale, gazing at
himself in the water from his perch in a tree, believes he has fallen into the river. He is at the top of an oak and yet
fcara drowing But then, after dispelling his fear by feeling his feet and using his eyes again and taking his self-portrait
to be only another rival to fight, he warbles and chirps[,] and the other nightingale, too, chirps and warbles silently
604
Messiaen did not explain why he quoted from Cyrano's Lettre VII, but one obvious
reason seems to be that it plays with the mirror-like reflection of water, which fits well
the programmatic title of Debussy's 'Reflets dans l'eau'. Both dwell on the fascination
of reflection in water. There is scant evidence that Debussy attached any importance
to Cyrano's literary work. The only reference is, to my knowledge, a quotation from
the same Lettre, which serves as an epigraph to Verlaine's 'L'ombre des arbres dans la
rivière embrumée':8
Le rossignol qui du haut d'une branche se regarde dedans, croit être tombé dans la rivière.
Il est au sommet d'un chêne et toutefois il a peur de se noyer. Cyrano de Bergerac
L'ombre des arbres dans la rivière embrumée
Meurt comme de la fumée,
Tandis qu'en l'air, parmi les ramures réelles,
Se plaignent les tourterelles.
Combien ô voyageur, ce paysage blême
Te mira blême toi-même,
Et que tristes pleuraient dans les hautes feuillées,
Tes espérances noyées!9
Debussy retains Verlaine's epigraph in his 1885 song setting of the poem,10 but there
is little sign that it influenced his setting in any way As to the relationship between
Verlaine's poem and Cyrano's Lettre VII, by far the most obvious connection seems to
be between the first line of the poem 'L'ombre des arbres dans la rivière embrumée'
and selected titles that have in the course of time become associated with Lettre VII,
be it 'Sur l'ombre que faisoient des arbres dans l'eau' or 'Sur l'ombre des arbres dans
like him and deceives the soul with such charm that one believes it sings only to be heard by our eyes... The second
quotation is more Debussyan in colours, and it also fits well Debussy's 'Feuilles mortes': 'Toward October's pure,
pale, and compassionate skies - That mirror in pools their infinite languor - And, on dead water where anguished
leaves wander - Driven by wind, furrowing a hollow - Let the sun be drawn out in a long ray of yellow.') The
English translation of Cyrano's Lettre VII (excerpts quoted by Messiaen) is from Neefs and Fineman, 'Cyrano', 185—
6, except for the two points where the French text they consulted differs from Messiaen's quotation. In order to
make up for the discrepancies, I have replaced the phrase 'But what can one say of this fluid mirror' with 'But what
shall I say of this fluid mirror', and added the phrase 'deceives the soul with such charm that one believes it
sings only to be heard by our eyes'. It is also noteworthy that there are two internal cuts (see words crossed out
above) to Messiaen's quotations. The English translation of Mallarmé's Sigh is from Stéphane Mallarmé, Collected
Poems, trans. Henry Weinfield (Berkeley and Los Angeles, 1994), 22.
8 It comes last in Ariettes oublieés, the first among four groups of poems that constitute Verlaine's Romances sans
paroles (1874).
9 The following translation of Verlaine's 'L'ombre des arbres dans la rivière embrumée' is from One Hundred and
One Poems by Paul Verlaine, trans. Norman R. Shapiro (Chicago, 1999), 89:
The nightingale, looking into the stream from a high branch,
thinks he has fallen into it. He is perched atop an oak, yet
fears he may drown. Cyrano de Bergerac
Reflections in the fogbound rivulet,

Tree-shadows die like smoke. And yet,
Turtledoves perch atop the living trees,
Cooing their plaintive melodies.
How often, traveler, have you seen your blear
Image reflected in life's drear,
Bleak scene, while high above, midst bough and leaf,
Your drowned hopes, wailful, weep their grief!
10 It is also included in the only extant autograph of Debussy's 'L'ombre des arbres' housed in the Beinecke Rare
Book and Manuscript Library (Frederick R. Koch Collection) at Yale University. I am indebted to Roger Nichols
for this information.
605
l'eau'.11 The discrepancies between Verlaine's and Messiaen's quotations from Lettre VII
are also revealing. They overlap only inasmuch as the first half of the epigraph is con
cerned. Messiaen quoted much more extensively from Lettre VII to focus on Cyrano's
description of a nightingale's ill-mannered reaction to what it thought of as a rival.
Summing up, Debussy's 'Reflets dans l'eau' has only peripheral connections with
Cyrano's Lettre. Messiaen's remark that the second quotation, which is from Mallarmé's
'Soupir', is closer to Debussyan colours ('plus proche des couleurs Debussystes') also
suggests that he may have considered his quotation from Cyrano's Lettre VII less appro
priate, notwithstanding its emphasis on the reflection of water. Upon scrutiny,
however, Messiaen's quotation from the Lettre reveals itself to be exceptionally rich in
meanings and offers us a clue to an important correlation between Cyrano, Debussy,
and Messiaen that has hitherto escaped commentators' attention.12 In order to substan
tiate this point I shall begin by examining how Messiaen tailored Cyrano's Lettre VII
before I attempt to delve into the underlying reasons.
CYRANO'S LETTRE VII VS MESSIAEN'S QUOTATION: WHAT MESSIAEN INCLUDED AND

WHAT HE SKIPPED, AND WHY
A comparison of Cyrano's Lettre VII and Messiaen's quotation shows that the opening
phrases were excluded by Messiaen (see Appendix I). His quotation begins with the
poplars and their reflection in the water. 'Cent peupliers précipitent dans l'onde cent
autres peupliers, et ces aquatiques ont été tellement épouvantés de leur chute qu'ils
tremblent encore tous les jours du vent qui ne les touche pas.' There are a hundred
poplars and their reflection in the water doubles the number. The 'fallen' poplar
cause the water beings to panic; they tremble all day, even though the wind cannot
touch them. Having visited the poplars and the water beings' reaction to the reflected
images, Messiaen skips one sentence and in doing so avoids bringing in the first
person singular 'je', which appears also in the opening of Cyrano's Lettre VII and thus
had already been skipped by Messiaen. Because of these cuts, Messiaen's quotation
gives the impression of a scene where there's barely any trace of a human, even
though Cyrano originally figured prominently in his Lettre VII.
The next part of Cyrano's Lettre to be quoted by Messiaen is similarly about the phe
nomenon of reflection in water. 'Mais que dirai-je de ce miroir fluide, de ce peti
monde renversé qui place les chênes au-dessous de la mousse et le Ciel plus bas que les
chênes?' The fluid mirror effectively brings us an upside-down world, in which
the moss, the oak trees, and the sky appear inverted. Here the word 'je' appears in
Messiaen's quotation for the first and last time. Then comes a long gap before
Messiaen picks out the following words: 'Maintenant nous pouvons baisser les yeux
au Ciel... \13 The word 'baisser' is made bold in Messiaen's quotation but apparently
not in the original text. This eight-word fragment may have been included to mediat
between the preceding scene and the action that follows. That the observers lower
their eyes forges a nice balance with the following excerpt, in which they fix their
gaze on the bird up in the tree.
11 Verlaine's 'L'ombre des arbres' and Cyrano's Lettre VII are invested with utterly different meanings. The sorrow
and despair that fill Verlaine's 'L'ombre des arbres' are not salient features of Cyrano's wittily satirical Lettre VII.
12 Messiaen's quotation from 'Soupir' turns out to be much less revealing, in spite of Debussy's and Ravel's song
settings of it.
13 Note the use of 'nous', the plural form of 'je'.
606
One more gap, shorter than the previous one, intervenes before Messiaen settles
for his final quotation from Cyrano. This is by far the longest and, significantly, the
'noisiest' excerpt, which is also exceptional in containing two internal cuts:
Le rossignol qui du haut d'une branche se regarde dedans croit être tombé dans la rivière il est
au sommet d'un chcnc, et toutefois il a peur de se noyer—mais lorsque, après s'être affermi
de l'oeil et des picd3, il a dissipé sa frayeur, son portrait ne lui paraissant plus qu'un rival à
combattre, il gazouille, il éclate, il s'égosille, et cet autre rossignol, sans rompre le silence,
s'égosille en apparence comme lui et trompe l'âme avec tant de charmes qu'on se figure qu'il
ne chante que pour se faire ouïr de nos yeux ...14
WHY WAS MESSIAEN ATTRACTED TO CYRANO'S IRRITABLE BIRD?
What we read about here is a bird that closely interacts with the phenome
tion in water. When the pompous bird first catches sight of its reflection
it worries about its own safety, fearing that it might get drowned. Hav
from the shock and realizing that it is still high up in the tree and stand
being drowned, the bird then turns the reflected image into a rival. Now
defend its territory, the bird tries to sing its rival off. But the rival is ju
the noisy bird up in the tree, so it cannot possibly sing back. That it ends
true only in the visual sense. By pitting the audible birdsong against th
one, Cyrano creates a special genre of birdsong that is meant for the eye
the ears, and that is made possible by the reflection of water.
Messiaen could have skipped this bird episode if his sole interest had b
phenomenon of reflection in water. The poplars, the water beings, the
trees, and the sky should have sufficed. Moreover, given the fact that t
from Cyrano's Lettre VII is meant to pave the way for the ensuing analys
dans l'eau', would it not have been more appropriate to extract only the
and eschew this bird episode? 'Reflets dans l'eau' seems utterly incongru
thought of a bird, let alone a pompous one. Why then did Messiaen inclu
Is it because birds in general mattered a great deal to the composer who
career appropriating birdsong, and even had his tombstone carved in th
bird? But even if so, why this bird? Why was Messiaen (though not Debu
to Cyrano's irritable bird?
There is evidence that this noisy, bossy, self-important bird, which play
role in Cyrano's Lettre VII, could have been what attracted Messiaen to t
the first place (though it also happens to be number 7 in the set, and it i
that Messiaen was obsessed with the number 7 ). As shown in Appendix
quotation ends with the word 'eyes' (jeux), even though Cyrano's sen
end there. The next word, which appears after a semicolon, is the wo
had already been avoided twice. Messiaen's decision to cut short the quot
rather than any other point is again significant.
14 Traité VI, p. 16. (A nightingale, gazing at himself in the water from his perch in a tree, believes
the river. He is at the top of an oak and yet fears drowning. But then, after dispelling his fear by f
using his eyes again, and taking his self-portrait to be only another rival to fight, he warbles and c
other nightingale, too, chirps and warbles silently like him and deceives the soul with such charm t
sings only to be heard by our eyes...).
607
CYRANO'S TERRITORIAL BIRD VS MESSIAEN'S SYNAESTHETIC BIRD
That the bird managed to 'hear' its rival visually rather than aurally is of n
consequence in Cyrano's narrative. But it may have fired Messiaen's im
Cyrano's bird is plainly satirical in intent and the irony is that the bird tr
fight when no rival existed. Since the rival is of the bird's own making, whe
doubles its efforts, it ends up achieving nothing. For Messiaen, though,
episode is likely to be less territorial than personal. It is likely to be a bird
cently tells of the deeply mysterious phenomenon of synaesthesia, a delightfu
enables Messiaen to be a composer of a different order. This fusion of the t
is nonetheless a faculty that for non-synaesthetes (like most of us) remains
the realm of the imagination. Cyrano surely did not mean to provide Messi
synaesthetic feast, but the net result may have been just that.
Messiaen could have quoted from Cyrano's Lettre VII quite simply because
with Debussy's 'Reflets dans l'eau' the topic of reflection in water. But t
which Messiaen tailored the Lettre suggests that he might have been eve
tracted to the pompous bird and what can be construed as a faint hint at sy
in Cyrano's text. Messiaen could have cherished Cyrano's bird for its
alchemy of Debussy's and his own favourite illusory tricks—i.e. reflection i
and the blending of two senses. This helps explain his quotation of this
Cyrano's other writings on the topic of reflection in water, of which there ar
While we may have some success in answering the question as to why
quoted from Cyrano's Lettre VII to precede his first analysis of a complete
Debussy in Traité VI, I would like to argue further that we would be missin
large part of the complete picture if we stop here and ignore an obscure lin
'Reflets dans l'eau' and one particular birdsong piece by Messiaen, a piece th
view, could have been inspired by none other than Cyrano's Lettre VII and e
the irritable bird therein.
CATALOGUE D'OISEAUX AND 'LA BOUSCARLE'
The birdsong piece in question is 'La bouscarle', the ninth piece in a set o
constitute Messiaen's epoch-making solo piano work Catalogue d'oise
examine the obscure link between Debussy's 'Reflets dans l'eau' and
bouscarle', a discussion of Catalogue d'oiseaux and, more specifically, th
the set, is in order. Composed in 1956-8,16 Catalogue d'oiseaux has two
siaen's beloved birds and Loriod.17 Distributed among seven book
thirteen pieces of Catalogue d'oiseaux is named after a French bird
Messiaen, however, these pieces are not restrictively portrayals of ind
the habitat of the bird named in the title and other birds singing
featured in the music: 'Chants d'oiseaux des provinces de France. Ch
15 According to Neefs and Fineman, 'Cyrano's letters on illusion are numerous (in particular
l'aqueduc ou la fontaine d'Arcueil", the play on the river idea in his letter "Le Printemps", or
Paradise in L'Autre Monde)' (Neefs and Fineman, 'Cyrano', 187).
16 Peter Hill and Nigel Simeone trace the genesis of Catalogue d'oiseaux to 'a note [source unsp
evening of 6 October 1953 in the Black Forest near Baden-Baden'. See Peter Hill and Nigel Sim
Haven and London, 2005), 210-11.
17 As noted in the score of Catalogue d'oiseaux: 'L'oeuvre est par lui dédiée deux fois: à ses modèle
Yvonne LORIOD.' (The work is dedicated to the winged models and to the pianist Yvonne Lori
608
Table 1. An overview of the seven books of Catalogue d'oiseaux
no. 1 'Le Chocard des Alpes'

no. 2 'Le Loriot'
no. 3 'Le Merle bleu'
no. 4 'Le Traquet stapazin'
no. 5 'La Chouette hulotte'
no. 6 'L'Alouette lulu'
no. 7 'La Rousserolle effarvatte'
no. 8 'L'Alouette calandrelle'
no. 9 'La Bouscarle'
no. 10 'Le Merle de roche'
no. 11 'La Buse variable'
no. 12 'Le Traquet rieur'
no. 13 'Le Courlis cendre'
A piece is shaded if the bird named in the title (or the habitat of the bird)
appears in the drawing on the front cover of the book concerned
présenté dans son habitat, entouré de son paysage et des chants des autres oiseaux qui
affectionnent la même région.'18
There is nothing fortuitous about Messiaen's decision to build Catalogue d'oiseaux
around seven books and thirteen pieces. The prime numbers of 7 and 13 offer a fine
play of symmetry. The seven books of Catalogue d'oiseaux, which contain respectively 3,
1, 2,1, 2,1, and 3 pieces, are palindromic in design, since the 3,1, 2 pieces that precede
the centrepiece (the seventh piece in the set) and the 2, 1, 3 pieces that follow it are
quantitatively retrogrades of one another (see Table l).19
André Béguin's drawings of birds and their habitat reproduced on the front covers of
Catalogue d'oiseaux work out a different order of palindrome. This is accomplished in a
more subtle fashion, in ways that have so far escaped commentators' attention. Since
only seven drawings are included, in books that contain more than one piece of music
a choice has to be made as to whether it is the protagonist bird of the first, second, or
third piece that should appear on the cover page. As shown in Table 1 (shaded parts),
the choices made are likely to have been motivated by his concern for a symmetrical
layout, for the distribution of Béguin's seven drawings among the thirteen pieces of
Catalogue d'oiseaux clearly evinces a palindromic design.
Catalogue d'oiseaux, together with its immediate predecessors, the birdsong-based or
chestral works Réveil des oiseaux and Oiseaux exotiques, shows Messiaen single-mindedly
tracking a new path. Birdsong had appeared in most works from Quatuor pour la fin du
Temps (1940-1) onwards,20 but by now it assumes central rather than peripheral roles
and it will remain so until the end of the day. This is knowingly a risky path, as there
is little prospect that a prevalent use of birdsong in any composer's music will be
18 'Birdsongs from the French provinces. Each bird is presented in its habitat, surrounded by the landscape and the
singing of other birds that belong to the same region.' These remarks appear in the score directly under the work
title of Catalogue d'oiseaux pour piano.
19 Paul Kim Sung II, 'Olivier Messiaen's "Catalogue d'oiseaux" for Solo Piano: A Phenomenological Analysis and Per
formance Guide' (Ph.D. diss., New York University, 1989), 57.
20 Except the experimental works of the late 1940s, of which the Mode de valeurs et d'intensités is exemplary.
609
received favourably.21 The ascendency of birdsong in Messiaen's music is paralleled by
that of the solo piano as a major performing force. Having scored birdsongs copiously
for it in cadenza-like passages in Réveil des oiseaux and Oiseaux exotiques, Messiaen
moved on to compose his next birdsong piece for the solo piano, also for Loriod, the
two being virtually inseparable for him.
The birdsongs of Réveil des oiseaux, Oiseaux exotiques, and Catalogue d'oiseaux are ail
based on research work of one kind or another. These include listening to recordings,
visiting bird markets, and the onsite notation of birdsongs.22 As Messiaen became
more committed to fieldwork, he gradually grew to forsake second-hand sources.
In order to gain a first-hand knowledge of birdsong from different geographical
areas, Messiaen had the best of excuses to travel:
La rédaction musicale du Catalogue d'Oiseaux a été commencée en octobre 1956 et terminée

le 1er septembre 1958. Les voyages et séjours répétés, nécessaires pour la notation des chants
de chaque oiseau, ont été parfois très antérieurs à la composition des pièces. Ses indications
étant très précises, l'auteur a pu sans peine réveiller des souvenirs vieux de quelques heures
ou de plusieurs années.23
Only a trace of scenic elements (spring and sunrise) appears in the preface to Réveil
des oiseaux: we are told vaguely that it is one day in spring from midnight to midday
somewhere in France. Oiseaux exotiques, which introduces us to a myriad of exotic birds,
seems to have aroused in Messiaen an interest in the geographical location of birds
and prompted him to write more about their place of origin in the preface. His rendi
tion of music as travelogue first materializes in Catalogue d'oiseaux. In the descriptive
writings that preface the thirteen pieces of Catalogue d'oiseaux, picturesque elements
abound and detailed accounts of not just the birds, but also the locales appear promin
ently. Messiaen's concern extends beyond birdsong to include rock, cliff, willow,
poplar, fog, the fascinating colours of sunrise and sunset, and—not least—water.
Messiaen begins most of the prefaces to Catalogue d'oiseaux by remarking on when
and where he heard the birds sing.24 'La bouscarle' is no exception, and we are
informed thus: 'Derniers jours d'Avril. Saint-Brice, la Trache, Bourg-Charente, les
bords de la Charente, et les bords du Charenton (petit bras de rivière)'.25 Ajournai
21 Messiaen refers to birdsong as a 'difficulty' that challenges him as a composer in Conference de Kyoto: November 12,
1985 (Paris, 1988), 1.
22 Robert Fallon draws our attention to Messiaen's reliance on recordings for his appropriation of the exotic
birdsong of Oiseaux exotiques: 'The Record of Realism in Messiaen's Bird Style', in Christopher Dingle and Nigel
Simeone (eds.), Olivier Messiaen: Music, Art, and Literature (Aldershot and Burlington, Vt., 2007), 115-36. Hill and
Simeone make a similar point by referencing Fallon: 'Throughout summer 1954 Messiaen paid visits to the forest
around Orgeval. In the autumn, particularly when the recalcitrant boiler at villa du Danube was giving trouble, he
took to visiting Loriod's new apartment in the rue Marcadet where he would use her gramophone to listen to
discs of tropical birds. He also began to frequent the bird markets of Paris, noting the minahs and shamas that
would sing in Oiseaux exotiques.' See Hill and Simeone, Messiaen, 211.
23 (The composition of Catalogue d'oiseaux was commenced in October 1956 and completed on 1 September 1958. I
needed to travel repeatedly to notate birdsongs. The trips were sometimes undertaken much earlier than the compos
ition of the pieces. The birdsong notations were very precise and with them the author could easily recall memories
a few hours or several years old.) These remarks appear under the work title of Catalogue d'oiseaux pour piano in the
score.
24 The only exception is 'La chouette hulotte [tawny owl]', which is apparently among the fir
logue d'oiseaux to have been composed. See Hill and Simeone, Messiaen, 210. As for Oiseaux exot
have found it embarrassing to mention in the preface that the birdsongs are transcriptions of recor
carried out in Parisian bird markets.
25 (The last days of April. Saint-Brice, la Trache, Bourg-Charente, along the banks of the Charente, and a tributary
called Charenton.)
610
Ex. 1. 'La bouscarle', p. 1, bb. 1—3. Reproduced with the kind permission of Editions Alphonse
Leduc, Paris
Bouscarle
Modere (J1 = 108) Un peu vif = 138)

1 ■■ - y,
, 6» • » M tti
^1 if
ppp
jff (brusque et violent) Jjj
F B
"Seb.
like narrative follows (see Appendix II), in which his thoughts revolve around the birds:
their song, their physical appearance, and sometimes also their character.26 Apart
from the avian creatures, the scenery and the captivating light and colour effects
are also important topics in Messiaen's preface to 'La bouscarle'.27
THE MUSIC OF 'LA BOUSCARLE': BIRDSONG AND NON-BIRDSONG MATERIALS
To my knowledge, Messiaen's markings of birdsong and non-birdso

score constitute a reliable source, even though fragmentary repetit
not usually indicated. Among the many birds featured in this p
(Cetti's warbler) and the Martin-pêcheur (kingfisher) are grant
ance.28 The menacing call of the bourscarle interjects repeatedl
contrast, the Martin-pêcheur rarely sings. Messiaen seems to be mor
visual images of the Martin-pêcheur, as suggested by his markings
as 'flèche bleue-verte du Martin-pêcheur', 'vol nuptial du Marti
Martin-pêcheur plonge'.
In the two passages marked 'flèche bleue-verte du Martin-pêcheur
quick ascent of hexachords, which lines up in a systematic fashion al
grees of Messiaen's third mode of limited transposition, third transp
'mode 33'), is associated with a glimpse of this bluish-green bi
hexachordal series concerned is, importantly, the only chord series
3s in Traité VII (Ex. 3). The latter contains Messiaen's definitive
the modes of limited transposition. On pp. 122-3, under 'Tablea
mode 3 à transpositions limitées (4 fois transposable)', 0 Messiaen di
four transpositions of mode 3 (modes 31, 32, 33, and 34) as a sca
26 For example: 'une voix éclate avec violence dans les roseaux ou les ronces: c'est la bou
rageuse et invisible' (a voice bursts out raucously in the reeds and brambles: it's the bous
small, enraged, and invisible warbler).
27 'L'eau reflète les saules et les peupliers.' (The willows and poplars are reflected in the
Martin-pêcheur, qui tourne, exposant au soleil ses belles couleurs de myosotis, de sap
nuptial flight of the martin-pêcheur (kingfisher); its fine colours of the forget-me-not
shimmer in the sunlight.) Messiaen's prefaces may speak authoritatively, but they are not me
music. Note that selected species of birds sing in a sequence that differs from that described
28 Martin-pêcheur is a bird that Messiaen holds dear in 'La bouscarle', even though it is
the piece. I shall refer to different species of birds by their French rather than English n
become clear later.
29 Messiaen's mode 3 is intervallically the same as the set class 9-12.
(Tables and colours of the third mode of limited transposition—transposable four times.)
611
Ex. 2. 'La bouscarle', pp. 1 and 21. Reproduced with the kind permission of Editions Alphonse
Leduc, Paris
(fleche bleue-verte du Martin-pecheur)
Tres vif (J* = 200)

ft - ui* +t^
(Ped. sempre)
mode 3, third transposition
Ex. 3. Messiaen's mode 33 shown as a scale and as a series of hexachords ( Traité VII, p. 123 )
Reproduced with the kind permission of Editions Alphonse Leduc, Paris
Mode 3'
t|o t)" B«> ff° " " tt° It" t|c
Mode 33, en accords paralleles:
| itjiy 'n'1" ¥»'

bp tt^c^
j): tttiofl
""' hi".v
>1^ -fekfl
ttlfo° tt^' ^0° ^ rag*
hexachords. Messiaen's only writte

colours of mode 3, which vary accor
dominant colour effects of the chord
are 'bleu et vert', we are of course n
tematic Messiaen is in his description
In all the three passages marked '
16-17), Messiaen tone-paints the ag
chords at high speed. '' The lack of an
descents thus forged is an importan
The first and second 'vol nuptial' passages are d

then juxtaposed to create the third and most ext
612
Ex. 4. The irritable bird followed by 'l'eau reflète les saules et les peupliers', a twelve-note
rhythmic canon by augmentation ('La bouscarle', p. 2). Reproduced with the kind permission
of Editions Alphonse Leduc, Paris
Bouscarle
Modere (J1 — 108) Un peu vif (J* = 138)
iftr \J^f iu f
twelve-note rhythmic canon by augmentation

(I'eau rejlete les saules et les peupliers)
VifVII
(J> = 152) - 10ZJ , , k
i -ifB id^ -J. nJ1 ,!f

pp (liquide etJluide)
also draws our attention to the two passages marked 'l'eau reflète les saules et les
peupliers' (the water reflects the willows and the poplars) by allowing them a
generous share of the piece's time-span (Ex. 4). Marked pianissimo and 'liquide et
fluide', they bring forth the most tranquil moments and also the most intense twelve
note writing in 'La bouscarle', with pitch circulation- governed by a then newly dis
covered permutation scheme ('symmetrical permutation' in Messiaen's terminology).
Appendix III shows all thirty-five permutations ('interversions') of the twelve pitch
classes (pes) generated by this particular symmetrical permutation scheme. Twelve
note completion is realized in the music through the juxtaposition of thirty-five
segments that draw sequentially on the same number of interversions.32
52 The twelve-note space is filled in every one or two bars. The same symmetrical permutation scheme is also used
in other parts of Catalogue d'oiseaux to control the circulation of the twelve pes. See Cheong Wai-Ling, 'Symmetrical
Permutation, the Twelve Tones and Messiaen's Catalogue d'oiseaux\ Perspectives of New Music, 45 (2007), 110-36.
613
This process takes shape as a rhythmic canon, with the lower part unfolding as
an augmented restatement of the upper part. As Messiaen insists on adding one
semiquaver each to all the durations in the lower part, corresponding durations of the
two parts drift apart as time goes by. Had the two parts been mapped to the same dur
ations without any time lag, we would have heard not a canon, but a series of block
chords, as in the 'flèche bleue-verte du Martin-pêcheur' and the 'vol nuptial du
Martin-pêcheur' passages.
Of all the materials featured in 'La bouscarle', the six strophes designated as 'la
rivière' (calme, chantant, bien timbré) together take up the longest time (see
Appendix IV). More than half of the piece's total length—6'24" out of 12'12"—is
devoted to 'la rivière' in Loriod's performance.33 As shown in Ex. 5, series of block
chords appears in the 'rivière' strophes. They draw lavishly on Messiaen's mode 3 and
enjoy the sole use of 'Très lent' (semiquaver = 60) throughout the piece.34 The calm
flow of the chorale-like 'rivière' strophes is in stark contrast to the quick and fleeting
birdsongs, which interject in a seemingly random fashion. Given the musical promin
ence of 'la rivière', we can easily hear 'La bouscarle' as evolving around these six
strophes rather than the bird named in the title.
The second, fourth, and sixth 'rivière' strophes end with a tam-tam-like tremolo
('comme un tam-tam lointain'). The lowest notes of the piano (Ex. 6) are heard at
only these three points. While much of 'La bouscarle' may impress us as being
through-composed, the tam-tam-like tremolo suggests a grouping of the six 'rivière'
strophes into three pairs, especially since the first and second pairs repeat one another
verbatim (see Appendix IV). A sense of direction is also built into 'La bouscarle'
through the instilling of progressive expansion. The three pairs of 'rivière' strophes
are like the three 'vol nuptial' passages in that they cover increasingly extended time
spans.35
Even if there were any onomatopoeic equivalents to the sound of 'la rivière', it seems
hard to understand what exactly moved Messiaen to fill these six strophes with slow
block chords that engage mostly even durations.36 There is very substantial difference
between Messiaen's rendition of 'la rivière' and his more conventional approaches to
'les vagues' and 'l'eau' in 'Le merle bleu (no. 3) and 'Le courlis cendré' (no. 13) respect
ively.3 Furthermore, when similar block-chord passages appear elsewhere in Catalogue
d'oiseaux, they carry very different designations. In 'Le traquet stapazin' (no. 4) and
'La rousserolle effarvatte' (no. 7), for example, solemn processions of block chords are
associated with the magnificent colours of sunrise and sunset.38 It is worth considering
whether sound-colour is not a major factor in Messiaen's portrayal of 'la rivière', as in
the 'flèche bleue-verte' passages, where the bluish-green effects of Messiaen's mode 33
stand out as an important factor.
33 Olivier Messiaen: Intégrale de l'oeuvre pour piano par Yvonne Loriod (Erato OME 1).
34 The slow tempo of 'la rivière' is counterbalanced by the prevalent use of relatively short durations.
35 Each of the three 'vol nuptial' passages is flanked by a pair of 'rivière' strophes (see Appendix IV).
36 With negligible exceptions, the slow-moving block chords of 'La bouscarle' are associated with 'la rivière'. The
exceptions are heard in bars 12 and 14 and are repeated shortly before the piece ends.
37 If we take the imposing block chords as referencing something other than 'la rivière', one possibility that comes
to mind is the 'Promenade' movements of Musorgsky's Pictures at an Exhibition, albeit with the stroller marvelling at
birds singing and flying by the river in colourful plumage rather than Victor Hartmann's pictures.
38 They are marked 'lever de soleil rose et mauve (sur l'étang des nénuphars)' and 'coucher de soleil rouge et violet
(sur l'étang des nénuphars)' in 'La rousserolle effarvatte'. The pitch materials are strictly referable to Messiaen's
modes 2, 3, 4, and 6.
614
Ex. 5. A series of slow block chords ('la rivière') interjected by the swift singing of the merle noir
('La bouscarle', p. 4). Reproduced with the kind permission of Editions Alphonse Leduc, Paris
Merle noir
Un peu vif (J* = 138)

Tres lent (J* = 60) _ gva 1
.^H$k k
(la riviere j mf —== / p
m
j i
is®
fST
inf (calme, chantant, bien timbre) (joyeux et clair)
ki
[Merle noir]
[la riviere]
Un peu vif (J* = 138)
Tres lent = 60) 8m"
[la riviere]
Tres lent — 60)
'h^ itjj ^ ^
OBSCURE LINKS BETWEEN 'LA BOUSCARLE', 'REFLETS DANS L'EAU', AND HOMMAGE A
RAMEAU'
The 'flèche bleue-verte du Martin-pêcheur' music is wholly referable

mode 3, and a substantial portion of the 'rivière' strophes is referab
mode. The pitch material that furnishes the 'vol nuptial du Martin-pêch
with their sound-colour, however, seems harder to fathom, though the
615
Ex. 6. The second 'rivière' strophe ending with a tam-tam-like cluster ('La bouscarle', pp. 5
6 ). Reproduced with the kind permission of Editions Alphonse Leduc, Paris
(la rivib
Tres lent = 60)
15
(comme un tam-tam lointain)
that selected chord series featured therein are indebted to the first and second pieces of
Debussy's piano Images, book 1.
The link between Debussy's 'Reflets dans l'eau' and Messiaen's 'La bouscarle' is
obscure. It is revealed only in a footnote in Traité VI: 'Voir "la bouscarle" du "Cata
logue d'oiseaux".'39 The main text suggests that Messiaen consciously derives a chord
series from Debussy's 'Reflets dans l'eau' and uses it in 'La bouscarle', though without
specifying where in the birdsong piece. Having extracted bar 14 from 'Reflets dans
l'eau' (Ex. 7(a)), he changes flats enharmonically to sharps, and decides against
resolving the double appoggiaturas embedded in the soprano and alto parts.40
The tenor and bass parts are, however, kept intact. By doing so, Messiaen arrives at a
pair of tetrachords—(0148) and (0457)41—and a transposition of the same down five
semitones (TP-5). In a music example displayed on page 18 of Traité XI, Messiaen con
tinues the same transposition scheme twice, thereby adding two more pairs of tetra
chords to it (Ex. 1(b)). As shown in Ex. 8, I further extend this chord series until all
the possibilities are exhausted (henceforth designated as 'chord series A'). This generates
twelve pairs of tetrachords, even though only two different kinds of tetrachords are
involved. Vertically, the first pair of tetrachords is transposed down five semitones suc
cessively to complete the chords series A. Horizontally, all the four voices follow the
39 Traité VI, p. 18.

40 In 'Reflets dans l'eau' Debussy resolves the double appoggiaturas to arrive at a diminished seventh chord and a
dominant seventh chord.
41 I indicate the normal form (0457 ) rather than the prime form (0237 ) of the tetrachord, using T n instead of T n/
Tnl type set classes because there is hardly any evidence that Messiaen treats inversionally related structures as
equivalents.
616
Ex. 7. (a) Debussy, 'Reflets dans l'eau', bb. 1-15 ; (b) chord series A derived from'Reflets dans
l'eau', b. 14 (Traité VI, p. 18). Example 7. (b) reproduced with the kind permission of
Editions Alphonse Leduc, Paris
(a)
Andantino molto
Tempo rubato
i ^1 -'>.i t -1 ■■ ■ t ^ j ^ij1 ^ j
prototype of Messiaen's
chord series A
Continued
617
Ex. 7. Continued
Je m'en suis souvent servi sans les resoudre, obtenant ainsi la marche suivante:
* Voir « la Bouscarle » du « Catalogue d'oiseaux ».
Ex. 8. Chord series A extended till completion

T-5 T-5 T-5
1
iih'
s p
Ap: 12m
^ 1
tJ ,J »j ,r >r r * M
'3 J ,J J >J >' 'I "I 'T
618
same 24-note series, which alternates between two and three semitones until the cycle is
completed.42
Messiaen borrows from only one bar of Debussy's 'Reflets dans l'eau', a bar that
appears only once and bears no obvious thematic importance in the piece. It is largely
peripheral to the poetics of the piece, and it seems unlikely that anyone familiar with
'Reflets dans l'eau' would attach much significance to this bar. Paradoxically, it could
well be the relative insignificance of bar 14 in 'Reflets dans l'eau' that leads Messiaen
to derive from it a chord series for his own use.43 Because he openly admits his use in
'La bouscarle' of a chord series derived from 'Reflets dans l'eau', there should be no
question about their correlation. But this kind of intertextuality between the music of
Messiaen and that of Debussy raises a number of questions, not least why 'La bouscarle'
but not a different piece of Catalogue d'oiseaux was chosen. Before I attempt to answer
this question, I should point out that 'La bouscarle' is related not only to Debussy's
'Reflets dans l'eau', the first piece of his piano Images, book 1, but also to 'Hommage à
Rameau', the second piece in the set. There is concrete evidence that Messiaen
derived a different chord series from 'Hommage à Rameau', and the evidence again
comes in the form of a footnote, though not in chapter 2 but in chapter 5 of Traité VI.
In chapter 5 of Traité VI, at the bottom of page 108, appears a footnote that again
reads 'Voir "la Bouscarle" du "Catalogue d'oiseaux'". It refers to bar 22 of Debussy's
'Hommage à Rameau' (Ex. 9(a)) and a nearby music example (Ex. 9(è)).44 Messiaen
notes briefly that he derives from bar 22 of 'Hommage à Rameau' a chord series that al
ternates between first-inversion major and minor triads, being superimposed on the
tonic and dominant pedal notes: 'Marche en accords de sixte majeure et mineure
alternativement, sur double pédale tonique—dominante.' In Messiaen's music example
(Ex. 9(b)), the first pair of triads is transposed up five semitones twice to yield the
second and third pairs before they recur in retrograde. It is noteworthy that Messiaen
does not begin with the three triads (G# major, B minor, and C# major) present in
bar 22 of 'Hommage à Rameau'. Instead, two triads are added to precede them,
though without disrupting the underlying transposition scheme. One reason for
adding these two triads may be related to the fact that the second of them (A-Cf-F#)
assumes special importance in 'La bouscarle'. It forms, with the bass pedal note E, a
pentatonic tetrachord that looms large in 'la rivière' and recurs insistently in the 'vol
nuptial' passages.45 In Ex. 10 I take up the music example shown on page 108 of Traité
VI and continue to transpose the triads up five semitones (TP+5) until the chord
series is completed (henceforth designated as 'chord series B'). This generates twelve
pairs of triads, even though only two different kinds of triads—(037) and (047)—are
involved. Vertically, the first pair of triads is transposed up five semitones successively
to complete the chord series B. Horizontally, all the three voices follow the same
24-note series, which alternates between two and three semitones until the cycle
is completed. The chord series B resembles the chord series A in its use of literal
42 The ninety-six pitches generated by these twelve pairs of tetrachords result in eight complete aggregates.
43 Messiaen also derived from bar 14 of 'Reflets dans l'eau' one main category of invented chords. I have pinpointed
bar 14 as an important reference for Messiaen's '2e accord à résonance contractée (second chord of contracted reson
ance)', one of his signature chord types, an early use of which dates back to Quatuor de la fin du Temps. Messiaen did
not touch on this relationship, not even in the most detailed and up-to-date discussion of this chord type in Traité
VII. See Cheong Wai-Ling, 'Rediscovering Messiaen's Invented Chords', Acta Musicologica, 75 (2003), 85-105, and
Traité WW, pp. 161-4.
44 Unlike bar 14 of 'Reflets dans l'eau', which is a distinct entity in the music, bar 22 of 'Hommage à Rameau' is
integral to an ascent from A5 (bar 20) to G#6 (b. 24), where the opening theme recurs.
45 I shall discuss the 'rivière' strophes and the 'vol nuptial' passages in more detail later.
619
Ex. 9. (a) Debussy, 'Hommage à Rameau', bb. 20-6 ; (b) chord series B derived from
'Hommage à Rameau', b. 22 (Traité VI, p. 108). Ex. 9. (b) reproduced with the kind permis
sion of Editions Alphonse Leduc, Paris
p tres soutenu
ifcg
8 Jh. ^ M i (\\M 4 $4
T b«
prototype of Messiaen's chord series B
Li r u I if 107 fJ} i
.J""tj3: j jf#!
4 fl £"2 j J~~3 4
r 'f ^ ■ Th
transposition, but (037 ) and (047 ) are engaged in a schema that moves them up rather
than down five semitones successively.46
Messiaen did not explain why he singles out bar 22 of 'Hommage à Rameau', but
his marking of 'sonorité Golaud'47 in the music example of page 108 may give us an
important clue. First appearing at bar 12 of Debussy's Pelléas et Mélisande, the 'sonorité
Golaud' (Ex. 11), another instance of unresolved appoggiaturas, is one of the most dis
() A more in-depth discussion of the affinities between the chord series A and B has to be postponed for the time
being. Messiaen's derivation of chord series from Debussy's 'Reflets dans l'eau' and 'Hommage à Rameau' for use in
his 'La bouscarle' has a precedent in Technique de mon langage musical. Briefly put, Messiaen derived a chord series
from Pelléas et Mélisande (p. 115, b. 13 in the vocal score published by Durand in 1907) and used it in 'La maison'
(.Poèmes pour Mi, no. 3). According to Messiaen's commentaries in Technique, ex. 189 (captioned 'Debussy Pelléas et
Mélisande Acte III, Scène 1') provides the source material for the chords of ex. 190. 'The same chords' reappear in ex.
191 'with new added notes'. Example 192, a short excerpt from Messiaen's 'La maison', then shows a literal use of ex.
191. The relationship between exx. 189,190, and 191 is, however, more complicated than Messiaen suggests.
47 The 'sonorité Golaud' comprises the superimposition of a G# major triad on an A minor triad (or just the notes
A E if the note B# is not included). Unlike the 'sonorité Golaud', none of Messiaen's other markings names a chord.
620
Ex. 9. Continued
(A)
Mesure 20: le pianissimo subito avec le tutti, amene par le crescendo de la mesure precedente, est le depart de
la 4 periode, en La majeur (ton de la sixte napolitaine) et fait penser a « la soiree dans Grenade ».
Mesure 22: ce passage donne la marche suivante:*
avec quarte sixte sonorite avec tonique

augm. aj outee Golaud au lieu de sensible polytonal
H* H* *** H
Hi
b9 5 9
7 7
+ +
Mar
peda
' Voi
Ex.
T-5 T-5 T-5
4 tfi 'iifj ^ ^ij *jj ^ '"''p

''^ ^ "ij
bJ ..J ,j >r ir "i "
i j ^ j J»' 'i "i
cussed structures in Messiaen

à Rameau' might have intere
48 The 'sonorité Golaud' also appears in

without any delay.
621
Ex. 11. The first appearance of the 'sonorité Golaud' in Pelléas et Mélisande, b. 12
Tres modere
A I
pp
M 1
i?p
vs- -r Jd
^ » U > T I' p p ~ 'P p
y ?d y
"~3
'sonorite Golaud'
(A major pitted against Bb minor)
bouscarle', Messiaen incorporates not just a fragment of 'Hommage à Rameau' but

also what he considers to be a crucial element of Pelléas et Mélisande.
Messiaen discloses the derivation of distinct chord series from 'Reflets dans l'eau' and
'Hommage à Rameau' and footnotes their presence in 'La bouscarle', though without
specifying where they are in the birdsong piece. Indeed, 'La bouscarle' renders the
two bars borrowed from Debussy's 'Reflets dans l'eau' and 'Hommage à Rameau'
hardly recognizable, and thus the question as to whether it is his intention to legitimize
his position as an heir to a line of celebrated French composers by alluding to
Rameau and Debussy seems to be largely irrelevant.
Appendix V summarizes my identification of the chord series A and B in 'La
bouscarle'. They first appear in reverse order in the second 'vol nuptial' passage, in
which as many as fifty-seven block chords are delivered at high speed without any
intervening rest. The chord series A and B would have been contiguous if it were not
for the insertion of a bridge. If the persistent use of triple appoggiaturas is
eliminated from the bridge, we will be left with the oscillation of two pentatonic tetra
chords: E-F#-A-C# and EMF—Bl>-Dk I note a precedent of this harmonic progression
in example 246 of Technique de mon langage musical, the first of six examples grouped
under the heading of 'Litanies harmoniques (harmonic litany)' (Ex. 12(a)). Further
more, bar 25 of 'Un reflet dans le vent', the last piece of Messiaen's Préludes (1929),
622
Ex. 12. (a) Technique de mon langage musical, ex. 246, the first of six examples grouped under the
heading of 'Litanies harmoniques'; (b) 'Un reflet dans le vent', bb. 25-8. Reproduced with
the kind permission of Editions Alphonse Leduc, Paris, and Hal Leonard MGB respectively
ijttJ jjttj
^ literal transposition of example 246

of Technique (note values halved)
E-F#-A-C#
Eb-F-Bb-Db
shares with the bridge the same harmonic litany (Ex. 12 (é)).49 They are an octav
and are therefore more closely related to one another than to the transposed v
displayed in example 246 of Technique de mon langage musical. Messiaen's decis
group together materials borrowed from Debussy's 'Reflets dans l'eau', 'Hom
Rameau', and his own 'Un reflet dans le vent', a piece known for its cultivation
Debussyan sound world, is strong proof that Debussy's music assumes high imp
in 'La bouscarle'.
An in-depth study of Messiaen's musical borrowings in the 'vol nuptial du Martin
pêcheur' passages reveals that the chord series used exceed the paradigms shown o
pages 18 and 108 of Traité VI but are wholly subsumed by the chord series A and B
proposed in this essay. The second and third 'vol nuptial' passages (see Appendix V
end with tetrachords that appear as consecutive pairs in the chord series A.°° Th
descent thus formed is followed by an ascent that continues to draw on the chor
series A before it ends with the last tetrachord of the series and completely fills in th
chromatic space. '1 The paradigmatic chord series displayed by Messiaen on page 18 of
Traité VI has fewer than half the tetrachords featured in the 'vol nuptial' passages,
and understandably bar 14 of 'Reflets dans l'eau' has even fewer of them. The same
two 'vol nuptial' passages also line up the first seven triads of the chord series B to com
pletely fill in the chromatic space. The paradigmatic chord series displayed by
49 Messiaen defines a harmonic litany as a melodic fragment of two or a few more notes that is repeated with d
ferent harmonizations, and he relates ex. 246 to'Un reflet dans le vent'. See Technique de mon langage musical, i, 46.
50 The first to fifth pairs of tetrachords in the former and the second to eighth pairs in the latter.
51 The double appoggiaturas embedded in the last tetrachord, if ever resolved, would bring forth a dominant
seventh, i.e. E-G#-B-D instead of E-A-C#-D.
623
Messiaen on page 108 of Traité VI has all except the last of these seven triads, but bar
22 of 'Hommage à Rameau' has only three of them.
CHORD SERIES A AND B, THE 24-NOTE SERIES, AND PENTATONICISM

'Reflets dans l'eau' and 'Hommage à Rameau' are not, on the face of it, closely related.
However, Messiaen's choice of these two pieces seems logical if we rate structura
proximity as an important factor. For they set up the same pentatonic trichord (025 ) as
main motif: Ai>—F—Ei> in 'Reflets dans l'eau' and D#-G#~F# in 'Hommage à Rameau'. Th
chord series A and B derivable from them are also intricately related through their shared
use of literal transposition regulated by the interval of five semitones.
At this point I shall theoretically scrutinize the chord series A and B, the pitch refer
ents that the second and third 'vol nuptial' passages used to fill in the chromatic
space. I shall argue that they stem from Messiaen's former exploration of the
harmonic possibilities opened up by the modes of limited transposition and that they
map out novel ways to approach pentatonicism or, more precisely, chromaticized penta
tonicism, of which more later.
Vertically, the chord series A and B engage the pairing of diffierent chord types, but linearly
all the constituent voice parts are strictly referable to the same note series (see Exx. 8 and 10
This note series is saturated with pentatonic collections (Ex. 13 ). In it, all the twelve pentatonic
collections appear once schematically, and the perpetual alternation between the intervals of
a major second and a minor third leads us through the twelve pes twice.52 This explains why
I refer to it as a 24-note series.53 The inclusion of twelve overlapping pentatonic collections
renders pentatonicism a distinct attribute of this 24-note series:54
(1 ) Any five consecutive pes in the 24-note series constitute a pentatonic collection.
(2) Any four consecutive pes in the series constitute a pentatonic tetrachord, either
an (0358 ) or an (0257 ), the two symmetrically poised pentatonic tetrachords.55
(3) Any three consecutive pes in the series form an (025), the most important
trichord of a pentatonic collection from a statistical standpoint.56
I thus contend that pentatonicism is a major factor in the 24-note series and, by exten
sion, the chord series A and B. Nevertheless, the pentatonic collections, which change
cyclically in the chord series A and B, are superimposed to form block chords tha
conceal rather than reveal their inherent pentatonic attribute. None of the harmonie
in the chord series A is pentatonic, and the triads in the chord series B are no
commonly associated with pentatonicism.
52 Each of the twelve pitch-classes appears twice in different capacities in the note series—as the first note of a
major second and the first note of a minor third. The distance between recurrences of each pitch-class is either fiv
or nineteen.
53 My postulation of a 24-note series as such overlaps with Lambert's and Gollin's theorization of what they termed
'combination cycles' and 'multi-aggregate cycles' respectively. Neither of them, however, touched on any possible deriv
ation of chord series from the note series or interval cycles. See Philip Lambert, 'Interval Cycles as Composition
Resources in the Music of Charles Ives', Music Theory Spectrum, 12 (1990), 43-82 and Edward Gollin, 'Multi-Aggregate
Cycles and Multi-Aggregate Serial Techniques in the Music of Béla Bartok', Music Theory Spectrum, 29 (2007), 143-76
54 The cycle of fifths exhibits the most compact way to include all the twelve pentatonic collections. The 24-not
series is much less compact and the twelve pentatonic collections appear twice at the middleground level.
55 This series can be partitioned into six contiguous (0257) s or (0358 )s. If we take into consideration (0257) s or
(0358) s that overlap with one another, there are twelve of them. Of all the tetrachords retrievable from a pentatonic
collection—two (0247)s, two (0257)s, and one (0358)—(0247) is the only one not included in the 24-note series as a
contiguous four-note segment.
56 There are four (025) s to a pentatonic collection, outnumbering any other trichord retrievable from a pentatonic
collection.
624
Ex. 13. The 24-note series partitioned into twelve overlapping pentatonic collections (02479)s
that constitute the cycle of fifths at a higher level
(02479)
(02479)
&7jj ,j jr l_
"r (02479)
"i 'i,l>r, ,r (02479)
1 Ff'
/M±7(X\ IC\ 9A7Q1
I
(02479) (02479)
(02479)
(02479) r
"J ,J hr~r't
n j ! (02479) /,094.7Q'\
I I
(02479) (02479)
Ex. 14. (a) An ascent that inte

G# and F#-G#-B1.-C#-D# ('La
collections F-G-A-C—D and F;
B-(G#)-DJ-Fjt-G(t
itJf i br
l.^ *8
7
F-G-A-C-D F#-G#- Bb C#-D#
(b) superimposition of three strands of F#-G#-BbC#~D#
l|p it?j 3 itM

F-G-A-C-D
The chord series A and B are withheld from the first 'vol nuptial' p
which features pentatonicism in more overt ways. At the outset the F pen
tion (F—G—A-C—D) is played emphatically by the right thumb (Ex. 14(a)
lation of a pentatonic collection one note at a time interlocks with a series
that unfold concomitantly two other pentatonic collections: B—C#-D#-F
G;- B[> Ci D#57 The derivation of these trichords shares with that of the
A and B the same mechanism. The linear unfolding of a note series is sup
to generate block chords that obscure the identity of the note series, thou
series are involved here. This kind of pentatonic writing disappears from
57 Pentatonic collections that are a semitone or a tritone apart are minimally related in that they d
common tone.
625
'vol nuptial' passage before it returns at the outset of the third (Ex. 14(b)), joins hands
with the chord series A and B, and brings forth the most extended pentatonic span in
'La bouscarle' (see Appendix V(6)). Just as the three passages marked 'vol nuptial du
Martin-pêcheur' grow progressively in length, the music also becomes increasingly
saturated with pentatonicism.
Retrospectively, Messiaen's derivation of the chord series A and B from Debussy's
'Reflets dans l'eau' and 'Hommage à Rameau' strikes us as much more carefully
planned than suggested at an earlier stage of our discussion. What they have
in common goes far beyond the literal transposition governed by the interval of five
semitones when pentatonicism is unveiled as an underlying factor. This is of critical im
portance, since this factor explains well the smoothness with which the chord series A
and B relate to the bridge, where two pentatonic tetrachords preside, and also a more
overt kind of pentatonicism exhibited at the outset of the first and third 'vol nuptial
du Martin-pêcheur' passages. The ways the chord series A and B superimpose different
segments of the same 24-note series also relate them to the passages that are marked
'flèche bleue-verte du Martin-pêcheur' (see Ex. 2 above), in which Messiaen's mode 33
is shaped as a series of hexachords by drawing on the same mechanism. Like the
chord series A and B, this mode-3 hexachordal series can be read as the cyclic transpos
ition of a group of chord types or as the superimposition of voice parts that unfold a
unifying note series. Permutation is at work, regulating as it coordinates the distribu
tion of the nine scale degrees of mode 3 in the vertical and the linear domains.58
This mechanism governs all the hexachordal series Messiaen displays in the
'Tableaux et couleurs du mode 3 à transpositions limitées (4 fois transposable)' of
Traité VII (see Appendix VI). Unlike the two 'flèche' passages, in which only one
hexachordal series appears verbatim, all the four mode-3 hexachordal series are
integrated into the 'rivière' strophes, though in much more erudite ways. Fortunately,
Messiaen's notation of mode 3 and, by extension, the mode-3 hexachordal series, is
highly systematic and is strongly suggestive of the use of an orthographic template,
one that enables us to trace the presence of the hexachordal series even when only
short fragments of it are involved. In order to illustrate how Messiaen's systematic
notation of the mode-3 hexachordal series renders fragmentary use of these structures
discernible, both the structure of the mode-3 hexachordal series and the orthography
of mode 3 have to be delineated at some length. The mode-3 hexachordal series may
impress us as complex in structure, but each of its six voice parts simply lines up the
nine scale degrees of mode 3 sequentially. The ordering is not, for once, compromised
and even the spelling of the notes is kept strictly intact. Table 2 summarizes the sche
matic distribution of the nine scale degrees of mode 3 (labelled from 1 to 9) across the
six voice parts (rows) and the nine hexachords (columns) of the mode-3 hexachordal
series. Linearly, the nine scale degrees always progress incrementally from 1 to 9
regardless of the question as to which scale degree appears first. Vertically the same
nine scale degrees are differently permuted, and the choice of the six scale degrees
also varies in each case.
If we take into consideration the intervallic content of the nine hexachords, there
are only three distinct chord types, and we are talking about pitch intervals and not
just pitch-class intervals. The limited number of chord types is tied to the limited
58 Messiaen evidently derived a host of chord series from his modes of limited transposition through similar use of
permutation. See Cheong Wai-Ling, 'Messiaen's Triadic Colouration: Modes as Interversion', Music Analysis, 21
(2002), 53-84.
626
Table 2. The schematic distribution of the nine scale degrees (1—9)
and the three chord types (X—Z) in the mode-3 hexachordal series
Y1 Z1 X2 Y2 Z2 X3 Y3 Z:
7 8 9 1 2 3 4 5
5 6 7 8 9 1 2 3
23456789
8 9 1 2 3 4 5 6
6 7 8 9 1 2 3 4
4 5 6 7 8 9 1 2
Table 3. Orthographic u
TraiteYll (pp. 122~3) Unified orthography
(on C) C-D-Et-E-Ff-G-At-Bt-B C D El> E F; G- A1.-BI.-B

(on F) Db-EI>-E-F-G-Ai.-A-B-C F GAl- A B C Dl. Et-E
(on D) D-E-F-FfG| A Bt C-C# D E F F; Gs A Bp OCs
(on G) Elr-F-F|-G-A-BI>-B-Ct-D G- A Bl B Ct 1) El> F F;
number of transpositions inherent in mode 3. Just as the intervallic patter

semitones repeats itself across the nine scale degrees of mode 3, the three ch
also repeat themselves sequentially across the nine hexachords of the series.
to facilitate discussion, I shall designate the three chord types as X, Y,
mode-3 hexachordal series comprises an orderly unfolding of these three ch
XYZ-XYZ—XYZ, which can be fine-tuned to be X1Y1Z1-X2Y2Z2~X3Y3Z
go beyond the pitch intervals to include a consideration of the scale degrees i
The ways Messiaen notâtes modes 31, 32, 33, and 34 and the respective hex
series in 'Tableaux et couleurs du mode 3 à transpositions limitées (4 fois tran
of Traité VII are highly systematic. Although he did not touch on this issue
gested above, a unifying orthographic template is evidently in play M
notation of modes 31 and 33 falls in line with our conventional notation of
and minor scales (Table 3, second column). For example, with the except
sharpened fourth degree, all the other scale degrees of mode 31 can be map
either the C major or C minor scales. The availability of only seven letter n
the nine scale degrees of mode 31 results in the duplication of the same lette
two occasions: El> (Uli) and E (III) for the third and fourth scale degre
(tVII ) and B (VII) for the eighth and ninth scale degrees.
Although modes 32 and 3 (shaded in Table 3) seem to deviate from t
graphic pattern, the deviation is deceptive. For if we rotate the Dl>—EI--E-F—
B C of mode 32 to begin with the note F, we arrive at F—G—Al>—A—B— C
59 Although the chord types X, Y, and Z appear just as frequently in the mode-3 hexachordal series, X
Y and Z in the 'rivière' strophes. And although the chord type X can be formed by grouping, from t
the scale degrees 6-4-1-7-5-3 (XI), 9-7-4—1-8-6 (X2) or 3-1-7-4—2-9 (X3), XI appears much mor
X2 or X3 in the 'rivière' strophes.
627
Table 4. Statistics as proof that the mode-3 hexachordal series is set up as an important
resource in the six 'rivière' strophes
Total no. No. of chords No. of chords No. of (037T)s,

of chords accountable accountable (047T)s,
to the mode-3 to the mode-3 but and (047T2)s*
hexachordal not the hexachordal
series
18 13
(A-C#-E-F#)s 0 4
1 (D-F#-A
13 11 0 2 (A-Cf-E-F(t)s
43 17 10 11 (E-Gf-B-D-F #) s
3 (B-Df-Ff-A
2 (A-C#~E-F
17 13 1 3 (A-C#-E-F#)s
122 78 11 33
*In order to facilitate

For instance, the pen
rather than a major t
noted in these triadic structures but not in the mode-3 chords.
(Table 3, third column), which shares the same orthographic pattern. If we transpose
rather than rotate Dt—El>—E—F—G—Alr-A—B~C to begin with the note F, however, we
arrive at a different orthographic pattern, i.e. F—G—G#-A-B-C-C#-D#-E. The same
applies to the Et-F-Ff-G-A-Bt-B-Cf-D of mode 34. If we rotate it to begin with the
note G, we arrive at G-A-BHB-C#-D~~El>-F-F$ which also shares the same ortho
graphic pattern. One of the nine pes is set up orthographically as the first scale
degree, a referential pc that dictates the notation of the remaining eight pes. This
explains my reference to modes 31, 32, 33, and 34 shown in Traité VII as 'mode 3 on C',
'mode 3 on F', 'mode 3 on D', and 'mode 3 on G' respectively; the referential pc is
specified in each case. The fact that mode 3 on D!> and mode 3 on Et are orthographic
ally cumbersome60 may explain why Messiaen opts for mode 3 on F and mode 3 on
G, albeit with the notes rotated to begin with Dt and E!> respectively. For this then facili
tates Messiaen's listing of the four transpositions of mode 3 in Traité VII by setting up
C as the first scale degree of mode 31, Dt> as the first degree of mode 32 and then going
up semitonally through D to El> for modes 33 and 34.
The orthographic consistency that marks mode 3 and the derivative chord series
showcased in Traité VII (pp. 122-3) is no mere theory; it is rigorously practised. In
the 'rivière' passages fragments of the four mode-3 hexachordal series are juxtaposed
and even interlocked to form series of block chords that do not, however, readily
disclose such literal use of the underlying pitch referents. The tactic of mode-3 writing
in the 'rivière' strophes is also obscured by the addition of tertian harmonies to guard
the structural junctures. As shown in Table 4, only about one quarter of the block
chords featured in the 'rivière' strophes are conventional tertian harmonies. Some
60 Compare Dp-Ek-F» F-G- Al BMVC to F-G- -A1 A B C Dl Fi-E. Similarly, compare Et F-GV-G-A E-Q
DI.-D to G A E.-B-C:-D Er F Fi
628
Ex. 15. The first and third 'rivière' strophes
b. 46 b. 47 b. 48 b. 49
mode 3 on D mode 3 on A P mode 3 on C
X2 Z1 Y1 XI X2 Yi XI
three-quarters of them a
(including all the hexac
without ever compromi
Traité VII.61 They are arg
eliminate the pre-compos
less to consider.62 Since
hexachordal series is high
extensive overlap could h
In the first strophe as in t
(see Table 4) are literally
second 'rivière' strophe (t
the thirteen chords are
draw on the pentatonic
strophe, a threefold appe
a question mark in Ex. 16
chords are accountable to the mode-3 hexachordal series.
The fifth 'rivière' strophe is the most extended of the six; tertian harmonies also
appear more frequently (Ex. 17). Of the forty-three chords featured in this strophe,
only seventeen are contained in the mode-3 hexachordal series, and yet all the other
61 I refer to a chord that comprises six pes rather than just six notes as a hexachord. The same is true of tetrachords,
pentachords, etc.
62 These include three tertian harmonies (see Table 4) and five mode-3 chord types—three tetrachords, a
septachord, and a nonachord.
63 With the exception of the fifth 'rivière' strophe, which comprises phrases that end invariably with the dominant
ninth chord E-G#-B-D-F# (denoted as 'E9' in Ex. 17), all the other phrases end with this pentatonic tetrachord.
The importance of A-C#-E~F# is further evinced by the fact that it recurs multiple times in the second and third
'vol nuptial' passages.
64 This septachord is accountable to mode 32 (on D) but not modelled on the referential hexachords.
629
Ex. 16. The second, fourth, and sixth 'rivière' strophes
b. 57/95 b. 60/98 b. 61/99
mode 3 on D
b. 204 b. 207 bb. 208-209
ip
X
pentatonic tetrachord
mode 3 on C
XI XI XI XI X2 P Z1 XI P XI XI ? P P
Ex. 17. The fifth 'rivière' strophe

b. 124
mode 3 on F
B7 E9 X2 E9 complete E9
630
Table 5. The distribution of the four differently transposed mode 3s in the six 'rivière' strophes
Strophes 1 and 3 juxtaposition of mode 31 (on C), mode 33 (on D), and mode 32 (on A)
Strophes 2, 4, and 6 mode 31 (on C) and mode 33 (on D) are interlocked
Strophe 5 mode 34 (on G) and mode 32 (on F) are interlocked, followed by the
juxtaposition of mode 31 (on C) and mode 32 (on F)
mode-3 chords, including the threefold statement of three mode-3 tetrachords, and the
only complete use of mode 3 as a nonachord, exhibit the same kind of orthographic
uniformity.
The discussion up to this point has focused rather exclusively on the extent to which
block chords literally embedded in the mode-3 hexachordal series appear in the
'rivière' strophes. While these statistics prove pivotal to a reading of the mode-3
hexachordal series as important pitch referents, the question as to how they are
composed out in individual 'rivière' strophes remains unanswered. A detailed analysis
of the first 'rivière' strophe serves to illustrate the hypothetical composition tactic (see
Ex. 15 ).65 At bar 46 a hexachord is transposed up an octave before the phrase ends
with A—C#-E—FI which is also used to mark the endings of the following two phrases.
The hexachord in question is not just a mode-3 subset, but it also shares with the XI
of mode 3 on D exactly the same pc content, spelling, and spacing. At bar 48 two
pentachords—literally embedded in the XI and Y1 of mode 3 on C—appear in alterna
tion. Although the top note of the XI and also that of the Y1 are left out, the five re
maining notes are not altered. I denote the two pentachords as XI and Yl in order to
relate them to their hexachordal counterparts XI and Yl.66 At bar 50 the X2, ZI, Yl,
and XI of mode 3 on D appear successively. The ensuing hexachord does not belong
to mode 3 on D and yet it is a perfect match to the X2 of mode 3 on A.67 Again, we
take into consideration not just the pc content, but also the spelling and spacing. Two
pentatonic tetrachords then intervene before the X]_ and Yl of mode 3 on C recur and
A-Cf-E-Ff appears to forge a closure.
Table 5 shows the distribution of the four differently transposed mode 3s in the six
'rivière' strophes. Since distinct block chords featured in the 'rivière' strophes can be
mapped on to what may be referred to as their counterparts in the differently
transposed mode-3 hexachordal series, and since their orthographic and intervallic
details concur with scrupulous exactitude, I argue that they are extracted from the
mode-3 hexachordal series and then juxtaposed and interlocked in the 'rivière'
strophes. The high degree of orthographic consistency renders Messiaen's otherwise
complex mode-3 writing discernible. His systematic notation of the mode-3 hexchordal
series serves in this sense as a useful analytical tool, one that enables us to differentiate
the nine scale degrees of each differently transposed mode 3 and keep track of their
distribution in the music. With this analytical tool in hand, selected notes are grouped
65 Examples 16 and 17 give graphic representation of the more sophisticated use of mode-3 chords in the other
'rivière' strophes.
66 In Ex. 15-17 all the literal subsets or supersets of the referential hexachords that come up in the 'rivière' strophes
are designated by adding an underscore to their counterparts to signify the affiliation. These include XI, Yl, ZI, X2,
and Y3.
67 Mode 3 on A is not shown in Appendix VI but it can easily be worked out with recourse to the same ortho
graphic pattern.
631
together not just on the basis of their set membership, but much more restrictively
through the orthographic pattern prescribed by mode 3 and the hexachordal series
derived from it.
'CASCADE DACCORDS'
'La bouscarle' plays with a wealth of birdsong and non-birdsong mate

comprises both scenic passages and those devoted to tone-painting
appearance of the Martin-pêcheur. These include: 'la rivière', 'l'eau
et les peupliers', 'flèche bleue-verte du Martin-pêcheur', and 'vol n
pêcheur', all of which are characterized by the use of series of block ch
fits well the description of what Messiaen dubs metaphorically as 'cas
(cascade of chords), which carries a notional tie to water. Commentin
'Le vent dans la plaine' (Préludes, book 1, no. 3 ), Messiaen ascribes the
the cascade of chords to Debussy, adding that Paul Dukas also uses
'Mesure 9: cascade d'accords en pierreries douces—en gouttes d'eau lent
C'est Debussy qui a créé ces cascades—qu'on peut admirer aussi d
Barbe-bleue" de Paul Dukas.'68
The cascade of chords in Debussy's 'Le vent dans la plaine' shares
series of 'La bouscarle' a prevalent use of even durations and a com
rests, but many more chord series are used in 'La bouscarle' than
la plaine'. Chord series that move rapidly in mostly even duration
with the movement of the Martin-pêcheur. Chord series that are slow
even durations are associated with the imagery of water. These includ
arguably, 'l'eau reflète les saules et les peupliers', since the canonic wr
distorts what would otherwise be a straightforward flow of block ch
chord series A and B and their covert pentatonicism characterize
music,69 the mode-3 hexachordal series is used literally in the 'flè
contrast to the 'vol nuptial' and 'flèche' music, which are like pa
'rivière' strophes are much more lyrical in appeal, and they call for m
ways of using the mode-3 hexachordal series. Since these chord series d
pitch referents, they open up manifold ways for Messiaen the synaes
different sound-colours. Presumably the colour effects are vividl
Messiaen and not meant to be mere metaphorical allusion, as sug
detailed remarks on the colour effects of the mode-3 hexachordal series in Traité VII.
The rapport between sound-colours and the cascades of chords, together with the mal
leability of the contour and the temporal attributes of these chord series, may help
explain why they assume such important structural roles in 'La bouscarle', as in the
many birdsong works that follow in the footsteps of Catalogue d'oiseaux.
To recapitulate, Debussy's 'Reflets dans l'eau' (b. 14) and 'Hommage à Rameau'
(b. 22) have played catalytic roles in Messiaen's creation of the chord series A and B,
which share with the mode-3 hexachord series and the pentatonic trichord series the
same formation principle, one that superimposes scalar segments of a master note
series to generate strings of block chords. Just as the hexachordal series and
68 (The cascades of chords are like soft gems, or slow and cold water drops. It is Debussy who created these
cascades—we can also admire them in Paul Dukas's Ariane et Barbe-bleue) See Traité VI, p. 136. Messiaen used the ex
pression 'cascade d'accords' on several other occasions, including his own analyses of Visions de l'Amen (1943 ) and
Méditations sur le mystère de la Sainte Trinité (1969). See Traité III, pp. 274 and 374.
69 The chord series A and B are featured in all except the first of the three 'vol nuptial' passages. A different kind of
pentatonicism is exploited there.
632
the trichordal series draw on, respectively, the nine pes of mode 3 and the five pes
of the pentatonic collection, the chord series A and B draw on the 24-note series, in
which the twelve pes are schematically arranged to combine the theoretically incom
patible pair, pentatonicism and chromaticism. Permutation is central to the make-up
of these chord series if we take into consideration the vertical alignment of pes.
Messiaen's move to extend the same formation principle from the modes of limited
transposition to the pentatonic collections has resulted in novel ways to exploit penta
tonicism in the three 'vol nuptial du Martin-pêcheur' passages. Different pentatonic
collections are overlapped, interlocked, and also superimposed to chromaticize
the linear and vertical dimensions of what remains essentially a pentatonic design.70
'La bouscarle' is remarkable for its varied exploration of such a chromaticized penta
tonic space amid other ways (notably the symmetrical permutation scheme of
Appendix III) of filling in the chromatic space.
WHY 'LA BOUSCARLE' BUT NOT THE OTHER PIECES OF CATALOGUE D'OISEAUX?
'La bouscarle' is clearly special to Messiaen. In it Messiaen buried the treas

dug up meticulously from Debussy's music—parts of Debussy's piano Imag
Pelléas et Mélisande are arguably encoded therein. Nevertheless, I remain
the question of what could have led him to do this in 'La bouscarle' bu
other pieces of Catalogue d'oiseaux. In order to answer this question, I need
argument I have delayed making until now, namely that 'La bouscarle' wa
by Cyrano's Lettre VII as quoted by Messiaen to precede his analysis
'Reflets dans l'eau'. Apart from the obscure link between 'La bouscarle', 'R
l'eau', and 'Hommage à Rameau', and a rather insubstantial one betw
dans l'eau' and Messiaen's quotation of Cyrano, I argue that there is
seated link between 'La bouscarle' and Cyrano's Lettre VII in that Cyrano's
helped shape 'La bouscarle'. This suggestion may, on the face of it, seem f
If 'La bouscarle' is in any way related to Cyrano's Lettre VII, certainly it
logical to assume that the relationship is mediated through 'Reflets
Why should we ponder the possibility of a relationship between 'La b
Messiaen's quotation of Cyrano when there is absolutely no mention
existing literature, primary or secondary? While the evidence is pr
in nature, it is strong, and makes it hard to explain away the overl
'La bouscarle' and Cyrano's text as mere coincidence.
Messiaen's designation of two long musical passages of 'La bouscarle' as '
les saules et les peupliers' (see Ex. 4 above) and his decision to let a river f
the piece recall much of what Cyrano paints with words in his Lettre VII.7
bird in Cyrano's Lettre VII is seemingly also brought in as a protag
however, not a nightingale, but rather a 'bouscarle', and it resembles Cyran
gale in getting angry for no good reason.72 Its enraged call, heard at the
and ending, and repeated at eight other points throughout the piece, is a
loud and harsh, always marked fff and brusque et violent (brusque an
70 It is worth noting that the 'flèche' and the 'vol nuptial' passages, which share the same programma
the 'Martin-pêcheur', feature the mode-3 hexachordal series and the chord series A and B respectively
Despite the importance attached to topics about water in Catalogue d'oiseaux, 'La bouscarle' is th
feature 'la rivière' in the programme. This is in sharp contrast to 'la mer', which appears in four
bleu', 'Le traquet stapazin', 'Le traquet rieur', and 'Le courlis cendré'.
72 Nightingale is often a synonym of bird for non-ornithologists. Messiaen introduces the one-off si
ingale to 'La bouscarle'.
633
the score, even though Messiaen's programmatic preface gives no hint of any rivals (see
Appendix II).73 This causes 'La bouscarle' to stand out, for when birds get involved
with violence elsewhere in Catalogue d'oiseaux, they are fighting, as exemplified by the
combat between six carrion crows and a buzzard in 'La buse variable', the eleventh
piece of the set.
From an ornithological standpoint, Messiaen's choice of a bouscarle is more likely
than a nightingale, since bouscarles live near water but nightingales do not. In parts 1
and 2 of Traité V Messiaen organizes his discussion of European birds and those from
other geographical areas by cataloguing them according to their habitat. In part 1
Messiaen grouped the European birds under fourteen different habitats, and the
bouscarle is listed together with seven other birds under the habitat of 'Les roseaux,
les étangs, les bords de rivières, les terres salées':74
(1 ) La Rousserolle Effarvatte (Reed warbler)

(2) La Rousserolle Turdoïde (Great reed warbler)
(3) Le Phragmite des joncs (Sedge warbler)
(4) Le Râle d'eau (Water rail)
(5) La Foulque (Coot)
(6) Le Vanneau (Lapwing)
(7) La Bouscarle (Cetti's warbler)
(8) Le Héron Butor (Bittern)
Remarkably, as many as six of these are featured in the centrepiece of Catalogue
d'oiseaux (the longest among the set of thirteen pieces), in which the song of the
rousserolle effarvatte (reed warbler) and the music of the ponds are most passionately
exalted. But this raises the question as to why the remaining two birds—the vanneau
and the bouscarle—should have been excluded. While it is not clear why Messiaen
gives up the vanneau, the bouscarle, which is numbered seventh in his list, is obviously
not ignored. On the contrary, the bouscarle's absence in the centrepiece of Catalogue
d'oiseaux could have been part of his plan to assign it a leading role in the ninth piece
of the set, amid birds from other habitats.
In an obscure footnote Messiaen relates Debussy's 'Reflets dans l'eau' to 'La
bouscarle', which turns out to be much more closely related to his quotation from
Cyrano's Lettre VII. Even if Messiaen had caught sight of willows and poplars reflected
in water by the river Charente one fine morning and also heard a brusque and violent
bouscarle, as suggested in his preface to 'La bouscarle', it is nevertheless the case that
he quoted excerpts from Lettre VII that bear a significant resemblance to that experi
ence to precede his analysis of 'Reflets dans l'eau', bar 14 of which contains the seed of
a chord series for the 'vol nuptial du Martin-pêcheur'. It seems hard not to read into
'La bouscarle' a debt to Lettre VII.75
At this point let us turn to consider another important source. As noted by Hill and
Simeone, Messiaen often plays with the words Loriod and loriot (Golden oriole) and
73 The marking of a triple forte is unique to the bouscarle. The only bird that comes closer to the bouscarle in
dynamic iff) and expression (explosif) is the poule d'eau (moorhen).
74 Traité V, pt. 1, p. 7. For Messiaen's remarks on the bouscarle in Traité V, pt. 1, p. 625, see Appendix VII.
75 Of course 'La bouscarle' also contains programmatic elements that do not suggest any obvious overlaps with
Cyrano's Lettre VII. These include, most notably, the music marked 'flèche bleu-verte du Martin-pêcheur' and 'vol
nuptial du Martin-pêcheur'. Furthermore, Messiaen's listing of birds according to their habitats in part 1 of Traité V
shows that many of the birds featured in 'La bouscarle' do not dwell near water and thus the habitat might be
foreign to them.
634
renders the bird an avian symbol of Loriod, Messiaen's then student and future wife at
the time he composed Catalogue d'oiseaux:
In the early days, Messiaen sometimes used to misspell Loriod's name, referring to her in the
diaries as 'Mlle loriot' ('loriot' is the French for 'Golden Oriole'). In the Catalogue d'oiseaux
Messiaen seized the opportunity to turn his mistake into an act of homage. 'Le loriot'—the
pun must have delighted Messiaen—has the most gorgeous timbre and plumage of any bird
in the Catalogue.... As the birds fall silent in the luminous E major of midday, the music goes
into a sort of trance, meditating on the oriole's harmonies; meanwhile, slowly ascending in
the left hand are the chords from the Cinq Rechants that accompany the words 'Tous les
philtres sont bus ce soir' (All the love potions have been drunk this evening). The meaning
could hardly be clearer.76
Nevertheless, pace Hill and Simeone, Messiaen did not wait until Catalogue d'oiseaux
before he 'seized the opportunity to turn his mistake into an act of homage'. Prior to
Catalogue d'oiseaux, Messiaen had already glorified the loriot in Réveil des oiseaux.
Doubled at the unison by horns and cellos, every single note of its melodies is high
lighted by a halo-like block chord (four violins and four violas).77 Among the many
birds appropriated in Réveil des oiseaux, only two, the loriot and grive musicienne, are in
sistently harmonized (Ex. 18 ).78 Given the importance attached to these two charming
birds, any attempt to argue that Réveil des oiseaux and, more specifically, the organized
chaos of the dawn chorus faithfully appropriates nature is doomed to fail. This is so
even if the birdsongs are highly authentic, as claimed by Messiaen in his preface to
the score.
If the glorified loriot of Réveil des oiseaux is a clear reference to Loriod, who else
would have been privileged to sing in duet with her, if not Messiaen himself?
Although there is far less resemblance between the names 'grive musicienne'
and 'Messiaen' when compared to the 'loriot/Loriod' pair, we cannot rule out just on
these grounds that Messiaen might have mapped himself to the 'grive musicienne' in
order to sing closely with Loriod. The loriot and the 'grive musicienne' are musically
united in Réveil des oiseaux, singing jubilantly therein, even before their marriage of
1961.
After Réveil des oiseaux, Messiaen invites the loriot, the 'grive muscienne', and the
bouscarle back to sing in Catalogue d'oiseaux. Messiaen conceived of 'Le loriot', the
second piece of the set, at an early stage in the genesis of the complete cycle.79 With
the piano rather than the orchestra at his disposal, Messiaen continued to enshrine
the loriot and pay tribute to Loriod.80 'La bouscarle', the ninth piece of Catalogue
d'oiseaux, is a late addition, though it too is special to Messiaen:
76 Hill and Simeone, Messiaen, 229-30.

77 Hill and Simeone referred to the grive musicienne (song thrush) as the only bird of Réveil des oiseaux to have been
played with added chords, and thus overlooked Messiaen's similar setting of the loriot. 'The sole exception is the
mistle thrush [grive musicienne] whose motif on oboes, clarinets and trumpet is paralleled by what Messiaen calls a
"resonance": eight-part chords played quietly by violins and violas.'Messiaen, 396 n. 17.
78 Only two birds take up extended solo passages in Chronochromie (1959-60) and they are the grive musicienne and
alouette des champs. The grive musicienne also appears as the only bird featured in Verset pour la fête de la dédicace
(1960). A piece entitled 'La grive musicienne' appears decades later in Petites esquisses des oiseaux, a set of six miniatures
for solo piano composed in 1985.
79 'One of the first of the Catalogue d'oiseaux to be conceived was "Le loriot" (golden oriole).' Hill and Simeone,
Messiaen, 211
80 Messiaen's
80 Messiai preface to 'Les orioles', the second piece of Des canyons aux étoiles, begins with a note on the name and
the origin of the bird: 'Troupiales ou loriots américains (anglais: Orioles) de l'Ouest des Etats-Unis.' That the
635
Ex. 18. The loriot and grive musicienne of Réveil des oiseaux, pp. 18-20. Reproduced with the
kind permission of Hal Leonard MGB
Loriot
hn.
vn. 2
V
Grive musicienne
During the early months of 1957 Messiaen's health was poor, and he had X-rays of the stomach
and gall-bladder (where stones were found); a rigorous diet was ordered, with no wine, eggs
or oil, and only boiled vegetables and peeled fruit. Too ill to teach, he remained at home,
using the time to begin composing 'La bouscarle', a piece whose fluid construction made it a
watershed in the Catalogue's evolution.81
The 'grive musicienne' sings only sparingly in the piano cycle, but its appearance is just
as well planned, being heard only in 'Le loriot' and 'La bouscarle'. Knowing how
Messaien had deliberately misspelled the family name of Loriod as the bird name
loriot, it should not surprise us if Messiaen's choice of bouscarle from his list of
European birds that dwell near waters was not arbitrary either. Let me outline a
more tentative, but nonetheless suggestive, possibility. The fact that the spelling of the
irritable bird starts with the letters B-O-U may ring a bell and suggest the name of
Boulez. Of course 'Boulez' and 'bouscarle', like the hypothetical pair 'Messiaen' and
'grive musicienne', are much less distinct than the more obvious pairing of 'Loriod'
English name of the bird (orioles) rather than the French name (troupiales or loriots américains) appears in the title
of the piece is intriguing since none of the other pieces has an English bird name in its title.
81 Hill and Simeone, Messiaen, 221.
636
and 'loriot'. But it may be of some significance that no other bird listed in Traité V
comes closer in name or sings as brusquely and violently as the bouscarle.
A bird name that was easily recognizable as a reference to Boulez would obviously
defeat the purpose. Any such reference would have to remain deliberately ambiguous
in order to avoid offending Boulez. While a reference to the loriot, given the exquisite
beauty of the bird and its song, can be interpreted as a tribute, this is not so in the
case of the bouscarle. Messiaen's distribution of 'Le loriot' and 'La bouscarle' in the
thirteen pieces of Catalogue d'oiseaux is also telling. Of the two groups of six pieces (no
1-6 and 8-13) that precede and follow the centrepiece (no. 7), the second of each
group (no. 2 and no. 9) is taken by 'Le loriot' and 'La bouscarle' respectively. Each of
them is likely to be a musical portrayal of a close friend, with the association of no. 2
with Loriod neatly balanced by that of no. 9 with Boulez. Apart from the Loriod
loriot pun, there is at least one other occasion on which Messiaen mentioned that he
saw 'birds as human personalities'. Having visited Messiaen at his home in Paris for
the first time in December 1986, Peter Hill recounted in his diary that
When I play ('Le Merle bleu') the first ten minutes are an ordeal.... Suddenly the atmos
phere relaxes and he [Messiaen] allows me to play long chunks without interruption, an
becomes smiling and constructive. Very solicitous, and offers whisky and (fortunately) tea.
Obviously pleased when I ask about birds: does passable birdsong imitations and goes off to
fetch little ornithological guides. Laughs at himself about the fact that he sees birds as human
personalities,82
The matching of bouscarle to Boulez may raise some eyebrows, but our understandin
of 'La bouscarle' would be impoverished if this possibility were not duly explore
Although there is no definitive proof that Messiaen was alluding to Boulez through
the fiercely hot-tempered bird of 'La bouscarle', neither can we rule out the possibilit
that he may have sensed in the irritable bird an ornithological caricature of Bo
lez, whom he at one point found '"furious" ... like a lion that had been flayed alive'.8
According to Dominique Jameux, in the 1940s the young Boulez, then a student
Messiaen, 'had deeply offended [his teacher] by referring to the latter's Trois petite
liturgies as "brothel music", and remarking that the Turangalîla Symphonie mad
him "vomit" (in both instances because of the ondes martenot!)'.84 The breach in the
relationship between Messiaen and Boulez was, however, relatively short-lived.8
82 Ibid. 355; my italics.

83 Entretien avec Claude Samuel (ECD 75505), CD booklet, p. 27, English trans. Stuart Walters; quoted in Peter H
(edJ), The Messiaen Companion (London, 1995), 7-8.
8 Dominique Jameux, Pierre Boulez, trans. Susan Bradshaw (Cambridge, Mass., 1991), 33. It is thus ironic that
Boulez once earned his living as a player of the ondes martenot. 'To earn money', Joan Peyser relates, 'Boul
played the ondes martenot, an electronic keyboard instrument, in a pit orchestra in the Folies Bergères.' See Peyser,
Boulez (New York and London, 1976), 31, or Peyser, To Boulez and Beyond: Music in Europe since The Rite of Spri
(New York, 1999), 158. Peyser specified the location but not the time, but we can deduce that it was during th
period when Boulez attended Messiaen's class held at Guy Bernard Delapierre's home.
85 It seems likely that the threat from the increasingly important Stockhausen might have had an impact on th
work relationship between Boulez and Messiaen. Boulez's road map changes around 1953-4, at a time when 'new
allies' and 'new enemies' are formed, with Stockhausen emerging as a pivotal figure in the power struggle. 'In ret
spect, it appears that the bond that tied the early serialists together was not merely love of an aesthetic idea bu
included—to a greater or lesser degree—aggressive energy against the power structure. At first Stockhause
identified with Boulez's goal, the overthrow of traditional authority: tonality. But when Boulez, or the ser
language, became a new authority, when the goal of music revolution had been in good measure achieved, then Stock
hausen redirected his hostile energies against Boulez and the idea for which he stood. "In 1953 and '54," Boulez say
"I put these composers on the map. Then, very quickly, they turned against me." Thus Boulez's position shifted
radically. Rather than continue to fight primal fathers, he became engaged in an effort to hold his own against sons
637
The generally smooth working relationship between them around the time Messiaen
composed Catalogue d'oiseaux can be inferred from their frequent collaboration. A significant
number of Messiaen's compositions finished in the 1950s and early 1960s—Livre d'orgue,
Oiseaux exotiques (commissioned by Boulez),86 Catalogue d'oiseaux, SeptHaïkaï, and Couleurs de
la Cité Céleste—received their French if not world premieres at the Domaine Musical
concerts.87 As Boulez's career veered away from composing towards conducting, he grad
ually came to be looked upon as a champion of Messiaen's music.88
In retrospect the question as to what might have led Messiaen to precede his analysis
of 'Reflets dans l'eau' with a tailored quotation from Cyrano's Lettre VII has led us to
uncover a web of relationships. Cyrano's Lettre VII relates only loosely to Debussy's
'Reflets dans l'eau' through their shared topos of reflection in water, and a short quota
tion from Lettre VII appears as an epigraph in Debussy's song setting of Verlaine's
'L'ombre des arbres'. But it is Messiaen's 'La bouscarle', not even mentioned in the
main text in his analysis of 'Reflets dans l'eau', which relates most closely to Cyrano's
Lettre VII. It would be too coincidental for an irritable bird to boast an important
presence in both Lettre VII and 'La bouscarle', not to mention the inclusion of a river,
poplars, and their reflection in water. If Cyrano's Lettre VII was truly in Messiaen's
mind when he composed 'La bouscarle', his quotation from it in Traité VI should
have less to do with his analysis of Debussy's 'Reflets dans l'eau' than with his own
'La bouscarle'. And if Messiaen only obliquely mentioned in footnotes the musical
indebtedness of 'La bouscarle' to Debussy's 'Reflets dans l'eau' and 'Hommage à
Rameau' (without disclosing how the fragmentary chord series in them were extended
to reach out for a pentatonicized twelve-note space in 'vol nuptial du Martin
pêcheur'), he remained silent on the programmatic relationship between 'La bouscarle'
and Cyrano's Lettre VII.89 The reading of a Boulez-like persona into Messiaen's
bouscarle further complicates this web of relationships by suggesting a possible,
though perhaps controversial, connection between Boulez and Cyrano's irritable bird.
That the noisy bird acts and its reflected image is acted upon while the river quietly
And so new allies, new enemies were born; "avant-garde," one must remember, was a military term.' Peyser, Boulez,
120.
86 Hill and Simeone, Messiaen, 211.
87 Réveil des oiseaux and Chronochromie were premiered at the Donaueschingen Festival. Couleur de la Cité Céleste is a
special case. It was premiered at Donaueschingen but played by the Domaine Musical orchestra conducted by
Boulez. After his break with Stockhausen towards the end of 1953, Boulez founded the Domaine Musical in 1954.
See Peyser, Boulez, 108.
88 According to Nigel Simeone's Olivier Messiaen: A Bibliographical Catalogue of Messiaen's Works (Tutzing, 1998),
Boulez conducted the premieres of Messiaen's Sept Haïkaï (1962), Couleurs de la Cité Céleste (1963), Etexspecto resurrectionem
mortuorum (1964), Des Canyons aux étoiles ... (1971-4), Un vitrail et des oiseaux (1986), and La ville d'en-haut (1987), all of
which post-dated Réveil des oiseaux, Oiseaux exotiques, and Catalogue d'oiseaux, a trilogy of works that epitomizes Mes
siaen's obsession with birdsong.
89 The use of cascades of chords is a major marker of 'vol nuptial du Martin-pêcheur'. Chord series as such also
inform 'flèche bleue-verte du Martin-pêcheur' and 'la rivière', both of which have nothing to do with chromaticized
pentatonicism, though synaesthetic colours clearly remain an important concern in these chordal derivatives of his
mode 3. While Messiaen's 'La bouscarle' is musically influenced by Debussy's 'Reflets dans l'eau' and 'Hommage à
Rameau', and programmatically influenced by Cyrano's Lettre VII, it does not seem likely that there is any overlap
between the two sources of influence. The musical cross-references between Messiaen's 'La bouscarle' and the
Debussyan paradigms are used exclusively in the second and third passages marked 'vol nuptial du Martin-pêcheur'
and thus do not overlap with the parts of 'La bouscarle' that bear the influence of Messiaen's tailored quotation
from Cyrano's Lettre VII. In short, there is no evidence to suggest that Messiaen's derivation of the chord series A
and B from 'Reflets dans l'eau' and 'Hommage à Rameau' is programmatically inspired by Cyrano's Lettre VII.
638
flows by also resonates with Messiaen's 'rhythmic characters' (personnages
rythmiques)',90 a technique he expounded in Traité II (pp. 92—4) and discussed less
formally in Music and Color: Conversations with Claude Samuel (pp. 70—2) by referencing
the dramaturgical interaction between three different roles:
Let's imagine a scene in a play in which we place three characters: the first one acts, behaving
in a brutal manner by striking the second; the second character is acted upon, his actions
dominated by those of the first; finally, the third character is simply present at the conflict
and remains inactive. If we transport this parable into the field of rhythm, we obtain three
rhythmic groups: the first, whose note-values are ever increasing, is the character who
attacks; the second, whose note-values decrease, is the character who is attacked; and the
third, whose note-values never change, is the character who doesn't move.91
Messiaen's tailored quotation of Cyrano's Lettre VII in Traité VI proves revealing. While
endeavouring to write down his reading of Debussy's music, Messiaen revealed much about
his thoughts along the way. To use the metaphor of a mirror again, Messiaen's analyses of
Debussy's music were reflected in his own music. And, in the special case of 'La bouscarle',
we witness how Messiaen's imagination was fuelled by Debussy's music and also by
Cyrano's irritable bird, which may be called a 'synaesthetic' bird, and which shares with
Debussy the same passion for what Cyrano called the 'miroir fluide'—a miracle of nature.
ABSTRACT
The critical influence of Debussy's music on Messiaen's artistic developm

acknowledged, but the more specific question as to how it helped sha
sound-world has not been addressed in any depth. Volume VI of Messiaen
rythme, de couleur et d'ornithologie (2001 ), which compiles his analyses of Debu
one of the best sources for such an investigation. Taking a cue from the n
oir fluide', which was cited by Messiaen from Cyrano de Bergerac (1620-55
this essay explores how the latter may be read metaphorically along the sa
Messiaen was less wary about how his discourse might affect others' percep
a composer in TraitéXl, the latter throws as much light on Debussy's as on his
90 A hint at prototypical 'rhythmic characters' can be traced to Messiaen's discussion of the

examples in Technique. At this early phase Messiaen had already acknowledged the influence of T
and a Hindu rhythmic type called simhavikridita.
91 Claude Samuel, Musique et couleur: Nouveaux entretiens (Paris, 1986); trans. E. Thomas Glasow as
Conversations with Claude Samuel (Portland, Ore., 1994), 71. The inactivity of the river in 'La bousca
be disputed. Since the 'fluid mirror' (miroirfluide) contributes to the illusive effect of reflection in w
triggered the action.
639
APPENDIX I
Messiaen's Tailored Quotation (Underlined) from Cyrano's Lettre VII

(ed. Frédéric Lachèvre, 1846)
Monsieur, le ventre couché sur le gazon d'une rivière, et le dos étendu sous les branc
qui se mire dedans, je vois renouveler aux arbres l'histoire de Narcisse: cent peuplie
dans l'onde cent autres peupliers, et ces aquatiques ont été tellement épouvantés de
qu'ils tremblent encore tous les jours du vent qui ne les touche pas. Je m'imagine qu
noirci toutes choses, le Soleil les plonge dans l'eau pour les laver. Mais que dirai-je
fluide, de ce petit monde renversé, qui place les chênes au-dessous de la mousse, et
que les chênes? Ne sont-ce point de ces Vierges de jadis métamorphosées en arbres, q
de sentir encore violer leur pudeur par les baisers d'Apollon, se précipitent dans ce
en bas? Ou n'est-ce point qu'Apollon lui-même, offensé qu'elles aient osé protéger
fraîcheur, les ait ainsi pendues par les pieds? Aujourd'hui le poisson se promène dan
des forêts entières sont au milieu des eaux sans se mouiller; un vieil orme, entre autr
rire, qui s'est quasi couché jusque dessus l'autre bord, afin que son image pren
posture, il fît de son corps et de son portrait un hameçon pour la pêche. L'onde n'est
la visite que ces saules lui rendent; elle a percé l'Univers à jour, de peur que la vas
souillât leurs rameaux, et non contente d'avoir formé du cristal avec de la bourbe, el
Cieux et des Astres par dessous, afin qu'on ne pût dire que ceux qui l'étaient venu
perdu le jour qu'ils avoient quitté pour elle. Maintenant nous pouvons baisser les yeu
par elle le jour se peut vanter que tout foible qu'il est à quatre heures du matin, il a
force de précipiter le Ciel dans des abîmes. Mais admirez l'empire que la basse rég
exerce sur la haute; après avoir découvert que tout ce miracle n'est qu'une impostur
ne puis encore empêcher ma vue de prendre au moins ce Firmament imaginaire p
lac sur qui la terre flotte. Le rossignol qui du haut d'une branche se regarde dedan
tombé dans la rivière: il est au sommet d'un chêne et toutefois il a peur de se noyer; m
s'être affermi de l'oeil et des pieds, il a dissipé sa frayeur, son portrait ne lui parais
rival à combattre, il gazouille, il éclate, il s'égosille et cet autre rossignol, sans romp
s'égosille en apparence comme lui, et trompe l'âme avec tant de charmes qu'on se
chante que pour se faire ouïr de nos yeux; je pense même qu'il gazouille du geste,
aucun son dans l'oreille, afin de répondre en même temps à son ennemi, et pour n'e
les lois du pays qu'il habite, dont le peuple est muet; la perche, la dorade, et la truite
ne savent pas si c'est un poisson vêtu de plumes, ou si c'est un oiseau dépouillé de so
s'amassent autour de lui, le considèrent comme un monstre; et le brochet (ce tyran
jaloux de rencontrer un étranger sur son trône, le cherche en le trouvant, le touch
sentir, court après lui au milieu de lui-même, et s'étonne de l'avoir tant de fois t
blesser. Moi-même j'en demeure tellement consterné que je suis contraint de quitter
vous prie de suspendre sa condamnation, puisqu'il est malaisé de juger d'une ombr
mes enthousiasmes auraient la réputation d'être forts éclairés, il n'est pas imp
lumière de celui ci soit petite, ayant été prise à l'ombre; et puis, quelle autre chos
ajouter à la description de cette image enluminée, sinon que c'est un rien visible,
spirituel; une nuit, que la nuit fait mourir, un procès des yeux et de la raison; une
clarté que la clarté met au jour: enfin que c'est un esclave qui ne manque non plus
qu'à la fin de mes lettres, votre Serviteur, etc.
640
APPENDIX II
Messiaen's Preface to 'La bouscarle'
Derniers jours d'Avril. Saint-Brice, la Trache, Bourg-Charente, les bords de la Charente, et le

bords du Charenton (petit bras de rivière). L'eau verte reflète les saules et les peupliers. Tout
à coup, une voix éclate avec violence dans les roseaux ou les ronces: c'est la Bouscarle, petite
fauvette rageuse et invisible. La Poule d'eau caquète. Une flèche bleue-verte scintille au ras de
l'eau: le Martin-pêcheur passe, avec quelques cris aigus, et colore le paysage. Le rivière e
calme. C'est une belle matinée d'ombre et de lumière. Le Merle siffle, la Grive musicienn
joint ses incantations rhythmées aux cascades perlées du Rouge-gorge. Articulations e
trémolos du petit Troglodyte, refrain clair et flûté de la Fauvette à tête noire, anapeste de l
Huppe, attaques auréolées (comme un clavecin mêlé de gong), notes lointaines et lunaires
traits incisifs du Rossignol. Quel est ce bruit étrange? Une scie, une faux qu'on affûte,
râclement d'un récu-réco? C'est le Râle de genêts qui répète son rythme iambique dan
les hautes herbes de la prairie.... Voici encore la strophe victorieuse du Pinson et les
bruissements suraigus de l'Hirondelle de rivage. Tête bleu cendré, poitrine jaune comme un
bouton d'or, la Bergeronnette printanière marche ave élégance le long de la rive. Vol nuptial
du Martin-pêcheur, qui tourne, exposant au soleil ses belles couleurs de myosotis, de saphir
et d'émeraude. Un silence... Ponctuation brutale de la matinée: la Bouscarle explose un
dernière fois!
(The last days of April. Saint-Brice, La Trache, Bourg-Charente, along the banks of th
Charente and a tributary called Charenton. The willows and poplars are reflected in th
green water. All of a sudden, a voice bursts out raucously in the reeds and brambles: it's the
bouscarle (Cetti's warbler), a small, enraged, and invisible warbler. A poule d'eau (moorhen)
quacks. A scintillating blue-green flash skims the water: the martin-pêcheur (kingfishe
passes by with several sharp cries and colours the landscape. The river is calm. This is a fine
morning of light and shadow. The merle (blackbird) whistles, the grive musicienne (son
thrush) adds its rhythmic incantations to the rouge-gorge's (robin's) pearly cascades
Chirpings and tremolos of the little troglodyte (wren); a clear and flute-like refrain from the
fauvette à tête noire (blackcap); anapest rhythms from the huppe (hoopoe); haloed attac
(like a harpsichord blended with a gong), distant moonstruck notes, and the piercin
passage-works of the rossignol (nightingale). What is this strange noise?—a saw or a scythe
being sharpened? the scraping of a reco-reco? It is the râle de genêts (corn crake) repeating
its iambic rhythm amid the tall grass of the meadow. The pinson (chaffinch) repeats a tri
umphant strophe. The high-pitched murmurings of the hirondelle de rivage (sand martin).
The bergeronnette printanière (yellow wagtail), its head ash-blue in colour and its chest as
yellow as a buttercup, steps elegantly along the river. The nuptial flight of the marti
pêcheur; its fine colours of the forget-me-not, sapphire, and emerald shimmer in the sunligh
A silence ... An abrupt punctuation in the morning: the bouscarle explodes one last time!)
641
APPENDIX III
The Symmetrical Permutation Scheme of Catalogue d'oiseaux: Thirty-fiv

of the T welve Notes
Permutations Twelve notes
I 60 11 4 10 1729385
II 765 10 802 11 3491
III 2 7 1 8 9 6 11 5 4 10 3 0
IV 11 2093751 10 846
V 5 11 63421089 10 7
VI 1574 10 11 069382
VII 0 1 2 10 8 5 6 7 3 4 9 11
VIII 60 11 891 724 10 35
IX 7659302 11 10 841
X 271346 11 589 10 0
XI 11 2 0 4 10 7 5 1 9 3 8 6
XII 5 11 6 10 8 2 1 0 3 4 9 7
XIII 1 5789 11 064 10 32
XIV 01293567 10 84 11
XV 60 11 3417289 10 5
XVI 7654 10 02 11 938 1
XVII 271 10 86 11 53490
XVIII 11 208975 14 10 36
XIX 5 11 693210 10 847
XX 15734 11 0689 10 2
XXI 0124 10 567938 11
XXII 60 11 10 81 723495
XXIII 7658902 11 4 10 3 1
XXIV 271936 11 5 10 840
XXV 11 203475189 10 6
XXVI 5 11 64 10 2109387
XXVII 1 57 10 8 11 063492
XXVIII 012895674 10 3 11
XXIX 60 11 93 1 72 10 845
XXX 7653402 11 89 10 1
XXXI 2714 10 6 11 59380
XXXII 11 20 10 87513496
XXXIII 5 11 6892104 10 37
XXXIV 1 5793 11 06 10 842
XXXV 0123456789 10 11
642
APPENDIX IV
An Overview of 'La bouscarle' and the Three Pairs of 'Rivère' Strop

Page Birdsong and other material
bouscarle (1st call)
Poule d'eau
Martin-pecheur
Martin-pecheur
bouscarle (2nd call)
(l'eaureflete les saules etles peupliers)
4 (la riviere) + Merle noir * 'st strophe is the same as 3rd

bouscarle (3rd call) strophe (last chord lengthened)
(vol nuptial du Martin-pecheur)
5 (la riviere) (comme un tam-tam lointainj ^—2nd strophe is the same as
Rouge-gorge 4th and 6th strophes
bouscarle (4th call)
Rale de genets (last two bars modified)
grive music ienne
Troglodyte
7 (la riviere) + Merle noir

9 (la riviere) (comme un tam-tam lointain)
Rouge-gorge
Rale de genets
grive music ienne
Pinson

Rale de genets
12 (la riviere) + Fauvette a tete noire — 5th strophe is the

bouscarle (8th call) , , . . .
v ' lengthiest among the six
Troglodyte
Rossignol
(1' eau reflete les saules et les peupliers)
Hirondelle de ravage
Poule d'eau
19 (la riviere) (comme un tam-tam lointain)
Rouge-gorge
Rale de genets
Bergeronnette printaniere
(le Martin-pecheurplunge)
Martin pecheur
643
APPENDIX V
(a) The irritable bird and the second passage marked 'vol nuptial du Martin-pê
bouscarle', pp. 8-9). Reproduced with the kind permission of Editions Alphonse
Bouscarle
Modere (J* — 108) Un peu vif (J1 — 138)
1—t
§ $ n
* *
chord series B derived fr

Tres vif (J1- = 144)
(J1 - J*) from Un rejlet da
Vif (J> = 160)
chord series A derived from Rejlets dans Veau
644
(b) The third and the most extended passage marked 'vol nuptial du Martin-pêcheur'
('La bouscarle', pp. 16-17). Reproduced with the kind permission of Editions Alphonse
Leduc, Paris
chord series derived from two interlocking pentatonic collections F—G—A-C—D and F#-G#-A#—C#-D#
Extremement vif (J\ = 184) ,, —

-X ju *28- itfc L ¥t h. ttttl
chord series A derived from Reflets dans I'eau
645
APPENDIX VI
Messiaen's Derivation of Hexachordal Series from Modes 31, 32, 33, and 34 in
pp. 122—3. Reproduced with the kind permission of Editions Alphonse Led
Mode 3 (onC)
bJU.g flfafc
ttj'U nf§ Y<F T
XI Y1 Z1 X2 Y2 Z2 X3 Y3 Z3
Cn ^°s b'K ^ i , l =jz

1 g t^-go- ^-«P ^S° ^
Mode 3 (on F)
= ; ; l„ h.. (bo)
t|o =3ji
$ iiii'u W 'nl'ii 'fB "I'll hi"!; f'° '»
l^-yp Wig*' bifiljo l|b t*'

Mode 3 (on D)
Mode 34 (on G)
bo l|«> ^
^ ^ mill y: y-R 11 **
X3 Y3 Z3 XI Y1 Z1 X2 Y2 Z2
.b
tvWlog a ,
*£ ^ btf
646
APPENDIX VII
Messiaen's Discussion of the Bouscarle in Traité V, part 1, p. 625

Famille des Sylviidae. Rousse comme toutes les Fauvettes. On la voit rarem
l'entend partout où il y a de l'eau. (Fouillis bas, ronces, arbres). Sa voix est éclata
brusque, violente. Presque culpabilisante!: on a l'impression qu'on la dérange
rappelle à l'ordre d'une strophe courte, autoritaire, fâchée, explosive. Ponctuatio
Temps. Timbre cuivré et pincé tout ensemble: petite trompette avec pizzi e
basque. Fort, puissant, autoritaire, sauvage. Comme le chant est très cour
trouvera plusieurs formules, entendues un peu partout en France (en Charente,
en Camargue, etc.).
Family: Sylviidae. Russet like all warblers. We rarely see it, but we hear it wher
water. (Low-lying tangle of vegetation, brambles, trees.) Its voice is bright, sonor
and violent. It almost makes one feels guilty! It gives the impression that we ar
and called to order by a short verse that is authoritarian, enraged, and explosiv
Rough punctuation of time. Brassy tones pinched all together: pizzi on piccolo t
tambourine. Strong, powerful, authoritarian, savage. Its song is very short—th
notice several formulae—and is heard all over France (in Charente, Sologne, Cam
647

'Miroir Fluide': Messiaen, Debussy, and Cyrano's 'Synaesthetic' Bird

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'MIROIR FLUIDE': MESSIAEN, DEBUSSY, AND CYRANO'S 'SYNAESTHETIC' BIRD

Author(s): Cheong Wai-Ling

'MIROIR FLUIDE': MESSIAEN, DEBUSSY,

LETTRE VII BY CYRANO DE BERGERAC

The tribute paid by Messiaen to Debussy's 'Reflets dans l'eau' in

Avant de l'entreprendre, je ne puis m'empecher de citer un texte de Cyrano de

Reflections in the fogbound rivulet,

CYRANO'S LETTRE VII VS MESSIAEN'S QUOTATION: WHAT MESSIAEN INCLUDED AND

WHY WAS MESSIAEN ATTRACTED TO CYRANO'S IRRITABLE BIRD?

CATALOGUE D'OISEAUX AND 'LA BOUSCARLE'

no. 1 'Le Chocard des Alpes'

La rédaction musicale du Catalogue d'Oiseaux a été commencée en octobre 1956 et terminée

Modere (J1 = 108) Un peu vif = 138)

THE MUSIC OF 'LA BOUSCARLE': BIRDSONG AND NON-BIRDSONG MATERIALS

To my knowledge, Messiaen's markings of birdsong and non-birdso

Tres vif (J* = 200)

mode 3, third transposition

t|o t)" B«> ff° " " tt° It" t|c

Mode 33, en accords paralleles:

| itjiy 'n'1" ¥»'

hexachords. Messiaen's only writte

The first and second 'vol nuptial' passages are d

Modere (J1 — 108) Un peu vif (J* = 138)

twelve-note rhythmic canon by augmentation

i -ifB id^ -J. nJ1 ,!f

Un peu vif (J* = 138)

(la riviere j mf —== / p

The 'flèche bleue-verte du Martin-pêcheur' music is wholly referable

(comme un tam-tam lointain)

39 Traité VI, p. 18.

* Voir « la Bouscarle » du « Catalogue d'oiseaux ».

Ex. 8. Chord series A extended till completion

prototype of Messiaen's chord series B

Mesure 22: ce passage donne la marche suivante:*

avec quarte sixte sonorite avec tonique

4 tfi 'iifj ^ ^ij *jj ^ '"''p

bJ ..J ,j >r ir "i "

i j ^ j J»' 'i "i

cussed structures in Messiaen

48 The 'sonorité Golaud' also appears in

bouscarle', Messiaen incorporates not just a fragment of 'Hommage à Rameau' but

^ literal transposition of example 246

CHORD SERIES A AND B, THE 24-NOTE SERIES, AND PENTATONICISM

Ex. 14. (a) An ascent that inte

(b) superimposition of three strands of F#-G#-BbC#~D#

l|p it?j 3 itM

TraiteYll (pp. 122~3) Unified orthography

(on C) C-D-Et-E-Ff-G-At-Bt-B C D El> E F; G- A1.-BI.-B

number of transpositions inherent in mode 3. Just as the intervallic patter

Total no. No. of chords No. of chords No. of (037T)s,

*In order to facilitate

mode 3 on D mode 3 on A P mode 3 on C

b. 204 b. 207 bb. 208-209

Ex. 17. The fifth 'rivière' strophe

'La bouscarle' plays with a wealth of birdsong and non-birdsong mate

'La bouscarle' is clearly special to Messiaen. In it Messiaen buried the treas

(1 ) La Rousserolle Effarvatte (Reed warbler)

76 Hill and Simeone, Messiaen, 229-30.

82 Ibid. 355; my italics.

The critical influence of Debussy's music on Messiaen's artistic developm

90 A hint at prototypical 'rhythmic characters' can be traced to Messiaen's discussion of the

Messiaen's Tailored Quotation (Underlined) from Cyrano's Lettre VII

Messiaen's Preface to 'La bouscarle'

l^-yp Wig' bifiljo l|b t'