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Work

Olivier Messiaen

Olivier Messiaen Composer

O sacrum convivium!, I/18   

Performances: 8
Tracks: 8
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Musicology:
  • O sacrum convivium!, I/18
    Year: 1937
    Genre: Other Choral
    Pr. Instrument: Chorus/Choir
This short communion motet for unaccompanied choir (or four soloists), though an early work, is pure Messiaen in its harmonic richness (F sharp major, yet progressing through unusual intervals) and its sense of gradual motion derived from plainchant. The phrasing is in very stretched-out patterns based on speech rhythms. It begins pianissimo and remains at low dynamic levels, except for a forte outburst on the words "et futurae gloriae nobis pignus datur"; the motet then recedes back into quiet ecstasy. The text in English translation is: "O sacred feast/in which Christ is taken/the memory of his passion is renewed/the mind is filled with grace/and a promise of future glory is given us/Alleluia." The work is in Messiaen's "early style" but already has elements of his later developments, primarily in the open rhythm of its diatonically based, yet not easily classifiable, harmonies and its clear, transfixing modular constructions.

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