Drama in Structure

Messiaen’s Visions de l’Amen is interpreted as ritual cum drama, enacted by its two pianists. Beginning with the work’s compositional background, this chapter profiles Visions’ two original pianists (Messiaen and Yvonne Loriod), describes the occasion of its premiere, and outlines its extramusical inspiration in Messiaen’s visions of the Amen. Messiaen uses combinatorial means to create Visions’ ritual and drama: repeating, varying, superposing, juxtaposing, combining, and recombining. His combinatorial materials are themes, timbres, and harmonic and rhythmic modules: two types of themes (the Creation theme and the blackbird’s song), two types of timbral elements (birdsong and percussion sounds), and two types of pedals (rhythmic and melodic-harmonic) are discussed, exploring their construction, locations, and functions in Visions. The two pianos themselves, along with the constructs of ritual and drama, are viewed as combinatorial components; the chapter closes by showing how the two pianos, in combination, enact ritual and drama through their relationships.