ABSTRACT

Olivier Messiaen’s teaching at the Conservatoire national supérieur de musique de Paris played a defining role in the evolution of European music during the latter half of the twentieth century. ‘La classe de Messiaen’, as it is known in contemporary music circles, stands as a unique phenomenon in modern music history. His classroom became a major meeting ground throughout the 1950s, 1960s and most of the 1970s for young aspiring composers. At every step of his 37-year official teaching career – from 1941 2 up to the end of the 1978 spring term – Messiaen profoundly influenced and inspired countless key composers of every allegiance, mainly in Europe but also in Asia and North America. Pierre Boulez, Yvonne Loriod, Pierre Henry, Karlheinz Stockhausen and Iannis Xenakis are just a few of his many famous students, along with such respected English composers as Alexander Goehr (1955–56) and George Benjamin (1977–78). 3 A large number of soon-to-be-distinguished performers and pedagogues – as well as some renowned musicologists 4 – were also to be seen gathered around Messiaen’s piano in this true workshop for the mind.