Messiaen’s Cantéyodijayâ, a single-movement work for solo piano best known for its incorporation of total serialism, contains numerous thematic, harmonic, and rhythmic features that derive from other Messiaen works. So many gestures, passages, and harmonic excerpts are self-borrowed that only 53 of the 347 measures of this work cannot be traced to other Messiaen pieces. Short melodic phrases (1-3 measures) are taken unchanged from the Turangalîla Symphony and from Cinq Rechants. These melodic self-quotations often contain the same timbres, rhythms, and pitches, making their source material clear. Instead of incorporating harmonic changes based on the “Modes of limited transposition” as in other works, in Cantéyodijayâ Messiaen reprises earlier harmonic progressions, such as those in Vingt regards sur l’Enfant-Jesus and the Turangalîla Symphony, and relies on earlier formulations such as the “Chords of inverted transposition on the same bass note.” Past rhythmic procedures are also incorporated in Cantéyodijayâ, as well as other self-borrowed compositional features such as serial organization and large-scale formal designs. On the whole, these self-quotations create a “collage” of Messiaen’s works of the past, by retaining their core technical features. A multi-page table summarizes thematic, harmonic, and rhythmic features of Cantéyodijayâ that derive from other Messiaen works.

Works: Messiaen: Cantéyodijayâ (60-71).

Sources: Messiaen: Turangalîla Symphony (63-65), Cinq Rechants (64), Vingt regards sur l’Enfant-Jesus (65-66).

Index Classifications: 1900s

Contributed by: Chelsea Hamm