Olivier Messiaen’s "Première Communion de la Vierge" and the Translation of Religious Meaning

This study creates a rich exegesis of “Première Communion de la Vierge” from Olivier Messiaen’s (1908–1992) piano cycle Vingt Regards sur l’Enfant-Jésus (1944) to show how Messiaen attempted to translate musical symbolism into religious meaning. The first two sections provide background and context on the work, revise previous scholarship, and show how this piece (no XI) functions as a theological hinge in the cycle. The genesis and sources of the Vingt Regards, using previously unavailable archival material, are examined to provide new insight into both the cycle and the “Première Communion.” The aesthetic scaffolding of this piece is then detailed through the relationship between Messiaen’s music and the theology of Dom Columba Marmion, Messiaen’s idealist relationship with his mother, the poetess Cécile Sauvage (1883–1927), and surrealism. The next three sections provide a hermeneutic analysis of the work. They examine how Messiaen employed his radical musical language to create ‘views’ [regards] of the interiority, joy, ecstasy, and intimacy of Mary’s relationship with her unborn child. This study brings the sources above and musical analysis into productive engagement to reveal how Messiaen created a unique refreshment of Marian iconography. It uses this "Première Communion" as a litmus test of the ways in which Messiaen engaged with but sought to exceed the conceptual scaffolding that inspired it. This study questions how symbolism becomes religious reality for the viewer/listener, and it reveals how Messiaen attempted to overcome this barrier between portrayal and experience and use music to create an experience or knowledge of faith.