ABSTRACT
The subject of time has been one of the primary topics in natural philosophy for more than 2,500 years, and continues to be one of the most difficult to define and comprehend. Olivier Messiaen dedicated the first chapter of Tome I of his Traité de Rythme, de Couleur et d’Ornithologie exclusively to a consideration of various aspects of time. This essay is an examination of what he wrote in that chapter. It considers how his philosophy of time relates to his music, and pays special attention to those comments that have an explicit reference to rhythm or to his own music. It seeks to answer some of the fundamental questions posed by the Traité in general and this chapter in particular.
