Méditations sur le Mystère de la Sainte Trinité

Méditations sur le Mystère de la Sainte Trinité ("Meditations on the Mystery of the Holy Trinity") is a work for organ by the French composer Olivier Messiaen.[1] It was composed in 1969, and comprises nine "Meditations". The work introduces communicable language, a musical cryptogram invented by Messiaen.

Structure

The work comprises nine meditations:

1. Méditation I: "Le Père des étoiles" ("The Father of the Stars").
2. Méditation II: "Dieu est Saint" ("God is Holy").
3. Méditation III: "La relation réelle en Dieu est réellement identique à l'essence" ("The relation really existing in God is really the same as His essence").
4. Méditation IV: "Dieu est" ("God is").
5. Méditation V: "Dieu est immense", "Dieu est éternel", "Dieu est immuable", "le Souffle de l'Esprit", "Dieu le Père tout-puissant", "Notre Père", "Dieu est amour" ("God is immense", "God is eternal", "God is immutable", "The breath of the Spirit", "God is Father all powerful", "Our Father", "God is love").
6. Méditation VI: "Dans le Verbe était la Vie et la Vie était la Lumière..." ("In the Word was Life, and that Life was the Light...").
7. Méditation VII: "Le Père et le Fils aiment, par le Saint-Esprit, eux-mêmes et nous" ("The Father and the Son love, through the Holy Spirit, each other and us").
8. Méditation VIII: "Dieu est simple", "Les Trois sont Un" ("God is simple", "The Three are One").
9. Méditation IX: "Je suis Celui qui suis" ("I am Who I am").

A complete performance takes about 74 minutes.

Premiere

The first private performance of the piece took place in Paris on November 8, 1971 at the Sainte-Trinité. Messiaen gave the first public performance on March 20, 1972 at the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington, D.C.

References

1. Bruhn, Siglind (2008). Messiaen's Interpretations of Holiness and Trinity: Echoes of Medieval Theology in the Oratorio, Organ Meditations, and Opera. Siglind Bruhn. p. 97. ISBN 9781576471395.