MESSIAEN TIMELINE

Personages: PM = Pierre Messiaen, CS = Cécile Sauvage, OM = Olivier Messiaen, YL = Yvonne Loriod

1907 - 9 September : Cécile Sauvage and Pierre Messiaen marry. (Sieyes, Digne, France)

1908 - CS becomes pregnant, begins work on L'âme en bourgeon.
10 December: Olivier Messiaen born. (Avignon, France)

1914 - PM enlists in the French Army; CS and sons move to Grenoble.

1918 - Messiaen family relocates to Nantes, France; OM begins musical studies with Jean de Gibon.

1919 - July: Messiaen family relocates to Paris.
December: OM receives a score of Debussy's Pelléas et Mélisande from Jean de Gibon.

1919/20 - OM begins studies at the Paris Conservatoire.

1922-27 - OM receives prizes in piano, harmony, piano accompaniment, and fugue.

1927 - 26 August: CS dies from tuberculosis.

1928-30 - OM receives prizes in organ, composition, and music history.

1931 - September: OM appointed titular organist of La Trinité.

1932 - 22 June: OM and Claire Delbos marry.

1933 - Autumn: OM begins compulsory military service (completed summer 1934).

1935 - La Spirale founded.

1936 - 16 October: First American performance of OM's music (Les Offrandes oubliées, by the Boston Symphony Orchestra)

1939 - September: France declares war on Germany; OM called up for military service.

1940 - 15 June: OM captured by German forces in the fall of Verdun.

July: OM moved to a prisoner camp in Silesia, Germany (now Poland).

1941 - 15 January: Premiere of Quatuor pour la fin du Temps, Stalag VIIIA, Görlitz, Silesia, Germany.

12 March: OM in Vichy, France.

7 May: OM begins appointment as professor of harmony at the Paris Conservatoire.

1943 - Claire Delbos begins to show signs of mental deterioration.

1944 - 25 August: Paris liberated from German occupation.

1948 - November: OM begins teaching a new class in Analysis and Aesthetics at the Paris Conservatoire.

1952 - April: OM studies with ornithologist Jacques Delamain in Gardépée, France.

1953 - April: OM begins intensive birdsong research in the French countryside.

11 October: Premiere of Réveil des oiseaux.

1958 - March: OM, YL begin collecting birdsongs in southern France; this continues during the summer using tape recorders and transcriptions.

26 June: Pierre Messiaen dies (Orange).

1959 - 22 April: Claire Delbos dies (buried 25 April, Bourg-la-Reine).

1961 - 1 July 1961: OM and Yvonne Loriod marry (religious ceremony: 3 July 1961).

1962 - 13 February: Premiere of Chronochromie.

19 June - 10 July: OM, YL travel to Japan for performances and collecting birdsongs.

1966 - OM appointed Professor of Composition at the Paris Conservatoire.

December: OM elected to the Académie des Beaux-Arts de l'Institut de France.

1967 - 23 November: La Trinité centenary.

1970 - April: OM, YL visit Italy; OM attends a Mass in the Basilica of St. Francis.

1971 - OM begins sketches for Saint François d’Assise.

1972 - 11 March: OM, YL begin American tour.

1 May - 10 May: OM, YL visit Utah, including Bryce Canyon, Cedar Breaks and Zion Lodge.

1975 - Seiji Ozawa conducts a series of Turangalîla-Symphonie performances in the United States and Europe. OM receives the Ernst von Siemens-Musikpreis.

17 April: OM receives a tape of New Caledonian birdsong.

18 Sept - Oct: OM, YL travel to New Caledonia to collect birdsongs with Albert Tonnelier.

1976 - June: OM visits Assisi and Florence, completing the libretto for Saint François d’Assise.

1977 - OM receives the Léonie Sonning Music Prize.

1978 - Celebrations and performances in honor of OM's 70th birthday; OM retires from the faculty of the Paris Conservatoire.

1982 - OM receives the Wolf Prize.

1983 - Premiere of Saint François d’Assise.

1985 - OM receives the Kyoto Prize in Creative and Moral Sciences.

1988 - OM receives the Pope Paul VI International Prize.

May - June: OM travels to Australia for performances and collecting birdsongs.

1 June: OM's health begins to visibly decline.

1989 - YL retires from the Paris Conservatoire.

1992 - 27 April: OM dies, age 83.

Timeline ©2008 Andrew Shenton, PhD. All rights reserved.