Olivier Messiaen

French composer, organist and ornithologist (1908–1992)

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Lived 1908–1992, aged 84France

France MusiciansSinger / Musician

Wikipedia
61 languages
Cross-language footprint
Era
1908–1992
Aged 84
Known for
The Great Rehearsals: …
1965

Summary

Updated 2026-06-08

A composer who heard music as colour, transcribed bird calls from six continents, and wrote one of the 20th century's most haunting quartets in a Nazi prison camp with whatever instruments the inmates could find.

Biography

About

Olivier Messiaen entered the Paris Conservatoire at eleven and by 1931 had landed the organist post at Église de la Sainte-Trinité, which he would hold for sixty-one years. After France fell in 1940, he spent nine months in Stalag VIII-A, where he composed his Quatuor pour la fin du temps for piano, violin, cello, and clarinet — the only instruments available — and premiered it for fellow prisoners and guards. Released in 1941, he joined the Paris Conservatoire faculty, teaching harmony and later composition until 1978, shaping a generation that included Boulez, Stockhausen, and Xenakis. His o…

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