Messiaen, Olivier. (1908–1992)

"Les Offrandes Oubliees" - Signed and Inscribed Musical Score

Paris: Durand & Cie.. [ca. 1960s]. Miniature score (22 cm). Lithograph, Title (vb); half title; instrumentation; 1 -30 pp.  Signed and inscribed 20 August, 1969 on the half title, translated from the French "with the hope that my colors of rhythms and chords will not seem to him too unworthy of their marvelous subject and will make him love more the mysteries of Christ. Very warmly, Olivier Messiaen" ["avec l'espoir que mes couleurs de rhythmes et d'accords ne lui paraitront pas trop indignes de leur merveilleux sujet et lui feront aimer d'avantage les mysteres du Christ. Tres amicalement. Olivier Messiaen"] Paper covers toned, some separation along the spine but still attached and in otherwise fine condition throughout. 

In 1930, when he composed Les Offrandes Oubliées, Messiaen, at age 22, was newly graduated from the Paris Conservatory, which he had entered as something of an 11-year-old wonder child.  He wrote the following note on Les Offrandes Oubliées:

“The Offrandes Oubliées, written in 1930, was first performed on February 19, 1931, at the Théatre des Champs Elysées in Paris, under the direction of Walter Straram. I had just turned 22. It was my first work played by an orchestra and my first contact with the public at large.

“The work is in three parts:

“The Cross: lamentation of the strings, the sorrowful ‘neumes’ of which divide the melody into groups of uneven duration, cut by long mauve and grey wailings.

“The Sin: presented here as a kind of ‘race to the abyss’ in an almost ‘mechanized’ speed. You will notice the strong flexional ending accents, whistling of the harmonics in glissando, the incisive calls of the trumpets.

“The Eucharist: long and slow phrase of the violins, which rises over a blanket of pianissimo chords, with reds, gold, blues (like a faraway stained glass window), in the light of muted solo chords. The sin is the forgetting of God. The Cross and the Eucharist are the Divine Offerings. ‘This is my Body, given for you – this is my Blood, spilled for you.’ "

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