Editing Olivier Messiaen (section)

==Biography==
===Youth and studies===
[[File:Messiaen1910.jpg|thumb|upright|alt=A studio portrait. A young man stands with his arms folded; he has dark hair, and is wearing a dark Edwardian suit, a white shirt with rounded collars, and a dark tie, To his right, a young woman sits on a wooden bench; she has dark, medium length hair, and is wearing a white blouse and a long white skirt. She holds a young fair-haired boy, who is wearing a light tunic with flared skirt and embroidery at the neck, dark boots and short socks. He holds a walking stick in his right hand. An empty paint tin lies on its side near his feet. The background has a colonnade and clouds in the classical romantic style.|Messiaen with his mother and father in 1910]]

Olivier Eugène Prosper Charles Messiaen<ref>{{Cite web |last=[[Avignon]] Civil Records |title=Olivier Eugène Prosper Charles Messiaen's birth certificate |url=https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/694193887220334613/889843906076872744/actenaissance.pdf}}</ref> was born on 10 December 1908 at 20 Boulevard Sixte-Isnard in [[Avignon]], France, into a literary family.<ref>Dingle (2007), p. 3</ref> He was the elder of two sons of [[Cécile Sauvage|Cécile Anne Marie Antoinette Sauvage]], a poet, and {{ill|Pierre Messiaen|fr|lt=Pierre Léon Joseph Messiaen}}, a scholar and teacher of English from a farm near [[Wervicq-Sud]]<ref>''Visions of Amen: The Early Life and Music of Olivier Messiaen'', Stephen Schloesser</ref> who also translated [[William Shakespeare]]'s plays into French.<ref>Hill & Simeone (2005), pp. 10–14</ref> Messiaen's mother published a sequence of poems, {{lang|fr|L'âme en bourgeon}} (''The Budding Soul''), the last chapter of {{lang|fr|Tandis que la terre tourne}} (''As the Earth Turns''), which address her unborn son. Messiaen later said this sequence of poems influenced him deeply and cited it as prophetic of his future artistic career.<ref>Messiaen & Samuel (1994), p. 15</ref> His brother {{ill|Alain Messiaen|fr|lt=Alain André Prosper Messiaen}}, four years his junior, became a poet.

At the outbreak of [[World War I]], Pierre enlisted and Cécile took their two boys to live with her brother in [[Grenoble]]. There Messiaen became fascinated with drama, reciting Shakespeare to his brother. Their homemade toy theatre had translucent backdrops made of cellophane wrappers.<ref>Messiaen & Samuel (1994), p. 41</ref> At this time he also adopted the [[Roman Catholic]] faith. Later, Messiaen felt most at home in the Alps of the [[Dauphiné]], where he had a house built south of Grenoble. He composed most of his music there.<ref>Hill (1995), pp. 300–301</ref>

Messiaen took piano lessons, having already taught himself to play. His interests included the recent music of French composers [[Claude Debussy]] and [[Maurice Ravel]], and he asked for opera vocal scores for Christmas presents.<ref>Messiaen & Samuel (1994), p. 109</ref> He also saved to buy scores, including [[Edvard Grieg]]'s ''[[Peer Gynt (Grieg)|Peer Gynt]]'', whose "beautiful Norwegian melodic lines with the taste of folk song ... gave me a love of melody".<ref>Christopher Dingle, ''The Life of Messiaen'' (London: Cambridge University Press, 2007), 7.</ref> Around this time he began to compose.

In 1918 his father returned from the war and the family moved to [[Nantes]]. Messiaen continued music lessons; one of his teachers, Jehan de Gibon, gave him a score of Debussy's opera {{lang|fr|[[Pelléas et Mélisande (opera)|Pelléas et Mélisande]]}}, which Messiaen called "a thunderbolt" and "probably the most decisive influence on me".<ref>Messiaen & Samuel (1994), p. 110</ref> The next year, his father gained a teaching post at [[Sorbonne University]] in Paris. Olivier entered the [[Paris Conservatoire]] in 1919, aged 11.<ref>Hill & Simeone (2005), p. 16</ref>

[[File:Classe-dukas.jpg|thumb|upright=1.2|left|alt=A group of ten young men and three young women, in early 20th-century dress, surround an elderly man with greying hair and beard. On the right some of the group lean over a table with open musical scores.|Paul Dukas's composition class at the Paris Conservatoire, 1929. Messiaen sits at the far right; Dukas stands at the centre.]]

Messiaen made excellent academic progress at the Conservatoire. In 1924, aged 15, he was awarded second prize in [[Harmony (music)|harmony]], having been taught in that subject by professor [[Jean Gallon]]. In 1925, he won first prize in piano [[accompaniment]], and in 1926 he gained first prize in [[fugue]]. After studying with Maurice Emmanuel, he was awarded second prize for the history of music in 1928.<ref>Hill & Simeone (2005), pp. 16–17</ref> Emmanuel's example engendered an interest in ancient Greek rhythms and exotic modes.<ref name=sj10>Sherlaw Johnson (1975), p. 10</ref> After showing improvisational skills on the piano, Messiaen studied organ with Marcel Dupré.<ref>Bannister (2013), p. 171</ref> He won first prize in organ playing and improvisation in 1929.<ref name="sj10"/> After a year studying composition with Charles-Marie Widor, in autumn 1927 he entered the class of the newly appointed Paul Dukas. Messiaen's mother died of tuberculosis shortly before the class began.<ref>Hill & Simeone (2005), p. 20</ref> Despite his grief, he resumed his studies, and in 1930 Messiaen won first prize in composition.<ref name="sj10"/>

While a student he composed his first published works—his eight ''[[Preludes (Messiaen)|Préludes]]'' for piano (the earlier ''[[Le banquet céleste]]'' was published subsequently). These exhibit Messiaen's use of his modes of limited transposition and [[palindrome|palindromic]] rhythms (Messiaen called these ''[[Retrograde (music)#Non-retrogradable rhythm|non-retrogradable rhythm]]s''). His official début came in 1931 with his orchestral suite ''Les offrandes oubliées''. That year he first heard a [[gamelan]] group, sparking his interest in the use of tuned percussion.<ref>For further discussion of Messiaen's youth, see, generally, Hill & Simeone (2005)</ref>

===La Trinité, ''La jeune France'', and Messiaen's war===
[[File:Église de la Sainte-Trinité de Paris Face.JPG|thumb|upright|alt=A 19th-century church in the French style, in light coloured stone, with a central tower with rounded top and smaller towers set back to left and right.|[[Église de la Sainte-Trinité, Paris]], where Messiaen was titular organist for 61 years]]

In the autumn of 1927, Messiaen joined Dupré's organ course. Dupré later wrote that Messiaen, having never seen an organ console, sat quietly for an hour while Dupré explained and demonstrated the instrument, and then came back a week later to play [[Johann Sebastian Bach]]'s ''[[Fantasia and Fugue in C minor, BWV 562|Fantasia in C minor]]'' to an impressive standard.<ref>Hill & Simeone (2005), p. 22</ref> From 1929, Messiaen regularly deputised at the Église de la Sainte-Trinité for the ailing [[Charles Quef]]. The post became vacant in 1931 when Quef died, and Dupré, [[Charles Tournemire]] and Widor among others supported Messiaen's candidacy. His formal application included a letter of recommendation from Widor. The appointment was confirmed in 1931,<ref>Hill & Simeone (2005), pp. 34–37</ref> and he remained the organist at the church for more than 60 years.<ref>Heller (2010), p. 68</ref> He also assumed a post at the Schola Cantorum de Paris in the early 1930s.<ref>Dingle (2007), p. 45</ref> In 1932, he composed the ''[[Apparition de l'église éternelle]]'' for organ.<ref>Gillock (2009), p. 32</ref>
[[File:Claire Delbos and Olivier Messiaen.jpg|thumb|upright|With Claire Delbos]]
He also married the violinist and composer [[Claire Delbos]] (daughter of [[Victor Delbos]]) that year. Their marriage inspired him both to compose works for her to play (''Thème et variations'' for violin and piano in the year they were married) and to write pieces to celebrate their domestic happiness, including the song cycle ''[[Poèmes pour Mi]]'' in 1936, which he orchestrated in 1937. ''Mi'' was Messiaen's affectionate nickname for his wife.<ref>Sherlaw Johnson (1975), pp. 56–57</ref> On 14 July 1937, the Messiaens' son, Pascal Emmanuel, was born; Messiaen celebrated the occasion by writing [[Chants de Terre et de Ciel]].<ref>Gillock (2009), p. 381</ref> The marriage turned tragic when Delbos lost her memory after an operation toward the end of World War II. She spent the rest of her life in mental institutions.<ref>Yvonne Loriod, in Hill (1995), p. 294</ref>

During this period he composed several multi-movement organ works. He arranged his orchestral suite ''[[L'Ascension]]'' for organ, replacing the orchestral version's third movement with an entirely new movement, ''Transports de joie d'une âme devant la gloire du Christ qui est la sienne'' (''Ecstasies of a soul before the glory of Christ which is the soul's own'').<ref>Benitez (2008), p. 288</ref> He also wrote the extensive cycles ''[[La Nativité du Seigneur]]'' (''The Nativity of the Lord'') and ''Les Corps glorieux'' (''The glorious bodies'').<ref>Hill & Simeone (2005), p. 115</ref>

In 1936, along with [[André Jolivet]], [[Daniel Lesur]] and [[Yves Baudrier]], Messiaen formed the group ''[[La jeune France]]'' ("Young France"). Their manifesto implicitly attacked the frivolity predominant in contemporary Parisian music and rejected [[Jean Cocteau]]'s 1918 ''Le coq et l'arlequin'' in favour of a "living music, having the impetus of sincerity, generosity and artistic conscientiousness".<ref>From the programme for the opening concert of ''La jeune France'', quoted in Griffiths (1985), p. 72</ref> Messiaen's career soon departed from this polemical phase.

In response to a commission for a piece to accompany light-and-water shows on [[the Seine]] during the ''[[Exposition Internationale des Arts et Techniques dans la Vie Moderne (1937)|Paris Exposition]]'', in 1937 Messiaen demonstrated his interest in using the [[ondes Martenot]], an electronic instrument, by composing ''[[Fêtes des belles eaux]]'' for an ensemble of six.<ref>Hill & Simeone (2005), pp. 73–75</ref> He included a part for the instrument in several of his subsequent compositions.<ref>Dingle (2013), p. 34</ref>

[[File:Messiaen 1937 4.jpg|thumb|left|Messiaen by [[Studio Harcourt]] (1937)]]

At the outbreak of World War II, Messiaen was drafted into the French army. Due to poor eyesight, he was enlisted as a medical auxiliary rather than an active combatant.<ref name="Griffiths (1985), p. 139">Griffiths (1985), p. 139</ref> He was captured at [[Verdun]], where he befriended clarinettist [[Henri Akoka]]; they were taken to [[Görlitz]] in May 1940, and imprisoned at [[Stalag VIII-A]]. He met a cellist ([[Étienne Pasquier (cellist)|Étienne Pasquier]]) and a violinist ({{ill|Jean le Boulaire|fr|Jean Lanier}}) among his fellow prisoners. He wrote a trio for them, which he gradually incorporated into a more expansive new work, ''[[Quatuor pour la fin du temps|Quatuor pour la fin du Temps]]'' ("Quartet for the End of Time").<ref name=":0">{{Cite book |last=Brown |first=Kellie D. |title=The sound of hope: Music as solace, resistance and salvation during the holocaust and world war II |publisher=McFarland |year=2020 |isbn=978-1-4766-7056-0 |pages=168–175}}</ref> With the help of a friendly German guard, {{ill|Carl-Albert Brüll|de}}, he acquired manuscript paper and pencils.<ref>{{cite magazine |url=http://www.therestisnoise.com/2004/04/quartet_for_the_2.html |title=The Rest Is Noise: Messiaen's Quartet for the End of Time |first=Alex |last=Ross |author-link=Alex Ross (music critic) |magazine=[[The New Yorker]] |date=22 March 2004|access-date=17 May 2012}}</ref> The work was first performed in January 1941 to an audience of prisoners and prison guards, with the composer playing a poorly maintained upright piano in freezing conditions and the trio playing third-hand unkempt instruments.<ref>Rischin (2003), p. 5</ref> The enforced introspection and reflection of camp life bore fruit in one of 20th-century classical music's acknowledged masterpieces. The title's "end of time" alludes to the [[Apocalypse]], and also to the way that Messiaen, through rhythm and harmony, used time in a manner completely different from his predecessors and contemporaries.<ref>See extended discussion in Griffiths (1985), Chapter 6: ''A Technique for the End of Time'', particularly pp. 104–106</ref>

The idea of a European Centre of Education and Culture "Meeting Point Music Messiaen" on the site of Stalag VIII-A, for children and youth, artists, musicians and everyone in the region emerged in December 2004, was developed with the involvement of Messiaen's widow as a joint project between the council districts in Germany and Poland, and was completed in 2014.<ref>{{cite web | title=European Center Memory, Education, Culture | website=Meetingpoint Music Messiaen e.V. | date=17 April 2020 | url=https://www.meetingpoint-music-messiaen.net/en/european-center-memory-education-culture/ | access-date=27 May 2020}}</ref>

===''Tristan'' and serialism===
{{See also|List of students of Olivier Messiaen}}
Shortly after his release from Görlitz in May 1941 in large part due to the persuasions of his friend and teacher [[Marcel Dupré]], Messiaen, who was now a household name, was appointed a professor of harmony at the Paris Conservatoire, where he taught until retiring in 1978.<ref>Benitez (2008), p. 155</ref> He compiled his ''Technique de mon langage musical'' ("Technique of my musical language") published in 1944, in which he quotes many examples from his music, particularly the Quartet.<ref>Benitez (2008), p. 33</ref> Although only in his mid-thirties, his students described him as an outstanding teacher.<ref>Pierre Boulez in Hill (1995), pp. 266ff</ref> Among his early students were the composers [[Pierre Boulez]] and [[Karel Goeyvaerts]]. Other pupils included [[Karlheinz Stockhausen]] in 1952, [[Alexander Goehr]] in 1956–57, [[Jacques Hétu]] in 1962-63, [[Tristan Murail]] in 1967–72 and [[George Benjamin (composer)|George Benjamin]] during the late 1970s.<ref>Benitez (2008), p. xiii</ref> The Greek composer Iannis Xenakis was referred to him in 1951; Messiaen urged Xenakis to take advantage of his background in mathematics and architecture in his music.<ref>Matossian (1986), p. 48</ref>

In 1943, Messiaen wrote ''[[Visions de l'Amen]]'' ("Visions of the Amen") for two pianos for [[Yvonne Loriod]] and himself to perform. Shortly thereafter he composed the enormous solo piano cycle ''[[Vingt regards sur l'enfant-Jésus]]'' ("Twenty gazes upon the child Jesus") for her.<ref>Sherlaw Johnson (1975), pp. 11, 64</ref> Again for Loriod, he wrote ''[[Trois petites liturgies de la présence divine]]'' ("Three small liturgies of the Divine Presence") for female chorus and orchestra, which includes a difficult solo piano part.<ref>Hill & Simeone (2007), p. 21</ref>

Two years after ''Visions de l'Amen'', Messiaen composed the song cycle ''[[Harawi (Messiaen)|Harawi]]'', the first of three works inspired by the legend of [[Tristan]] and [[Isolde]]. The second of these works about human (as opposed to divine) love was the result of a commission from [[Serge Koussevitzky]]. Messiaen said the commission did not specify the length of the work or the size of the orchestra. This was the ten-movement ''[[Turangalîla-Symphonie]]''. It is not a conventional [[symphony]], but rather an extended meditation on the joy of human union and love. It does not contain the sexual guilt inherent in [[Richard Wagner]]'s ''[[Tristan und Isolde]]'' because Messiaen believed sexual love to be a divine gift.<ref name="Griffiths (1985), p. 139"/> The third piece inspired by the ''Tristan'' myth was ''Cinq rechants'' for 12 unaccompanied singers, described by Messiaen as influenced by the [[Alba (poetry)|alba]] of the [[troubadour]]s.<ref>Griffiths (1985), p. 142</ref> Messiaen visited the United States in 1949, where his music was conducted by Koussevitsky and [[Leopold Stokowski]]. His ''Turangalîla-Symphonie'' was first performed in the US the same year, conducted by [[Leonard Bernstein]].<ref>Hill & Simeone (2005), pp. 186–192</ref>

Messiaen taught an [[Musical analysis|analysis]] class at the Paris Conservatoire. In 1947 he taught (and performed with Loriod) for two weeks in [[Budapest]].<ref>Benitez (2008), p. 3</ref> In 1949 he taught at [[Tanglewood]]<ref>Hill & Simeone (2005), p. 415</ref> and presented his work at the [[Darmstadt New Music Summer School|Darmstadt new music summer school]].<ref>Iddon (2013), p. 31</ref> While he did not employ the [[twelve-tone technique]], after three years teaching analysis of twelve-tone scores, including works by [[Arnold Schoenberg]], he experimented with ways of making scales of other elements (including duration, articulation and dynamics) analogous to the [[chromatic scale|chromatic pitch scale]]. The results of these innovations was the "Mode de valeurs et d'intensités" for piano (from the ''[[Quatre études de rythme]]'')<ref>Sherlaw Johnson (1975), p. 104</ref> which has been misleadingly described as the first work of "[[Serialism|total serialism]]". It had a large influence on the earliest European serial composers, including Boulez and Stockhausen.<ref>Sherlaw Johnson (1975), pp. 192–194</ref> During this period he also experimented with [[musique concrète]], music for recorded sounds.<ref>Hill & Simeone (2005), p. 198</ref>

===Birdsong and the 1960s===
When in 1952 Messiaen was asked to provide a test piece for flautists at the Paris Conservatoire, he composed the piece {{lang|fr|[[Le Merle noir]]}} for flute and piano. While he had long been fascinated by birdsong, and birds had made appearances in several of his earlier works (for example {{lang|fr|La Nativité}}, {{lang|fr|Quatuor}} and {{lang|fr|Vingt regards}}), the flute piece was based entirely on the song of the [[common blackbird|blackbird]].<ref>Dingle (2007), p. 139. For a general discussion of Messiaen's fusion of birdsong and music, see Hill & Simeone (2007)</ref>

He took this development to a new level with his 1953 orchestral work {{lang|fr|[[Réveil des Oiseaux|Réveil des oiseaux]]}}—its material consists almost entirely of the birdsong one might hear between midnight and noon in the [[Jura Mountains|Jura]].<ref>Hill & Simeone (2007), p. 27</ref> From this period onward, Messiaen incorporated birdsong into his compositions and composed several works for which birds provide both the title and subject matter (for example the collection of 13 piano pieces {{lang|fr|[[Catalogue d'oiseaux]]}} completed in 1958, and {{lang|fr|La fauvette des jardins}} of 1971).<ref>Kraft (2013)</ref> [[Paul Griffiths (writer)|Paul Griffiths]] observed that Messiaen was a more conscientious ornithologist than any previous composer, and a more musical observer of birdsong than any previous ornithologist.<ref>Griffiths (1985), p. 168; see also Kraft (2013)</ref>

[[File:Yvonne Loriod.jpg|thumb|alt=Piano teacher sitting left of a student at a great piano|Yvonne Loriod teaching piano (1982)]]
Messiaen's first wife died in 1959 after a long illness, and in 1961 he married Loriod.<ref>Benitez (2008), p. 4</ref> He began to travel widely, to attend musical events and to seek out and transcribe the songs of more exotic birds in the wild. Despite this, he spoke only French. Loriod frequently assisted her husband's detailed studies of birdsong while walking with him, by making tape recordings for later reference.<ref>Benitez (2008), p. 138</ref> In 1962 he visited Japan, where [[Gagaku]] music and [[Noh]] theatre inspired the orchestral "Japanese sketches", {{lang|fr|[[Sept haïkaï]]}}, which contain stylised imitations of traditional Japanese instruments.<ref>Messiaen's visit to Japan is documented in Hill & Simeone (2005), pp. 245–251, and there is a more technical discussion in Griffiths (1985), pp. 197–200. [[Malcolm Troup]], writing in Hill (1995), additionally notes the direct influence of Noh theatre on aspects of Messiaen's opera ''St François d'Assise''.</ref>

Messiaen's music was by this time championed by, among others, Boulez, who programmed first performances at his [[Domaine musical]] concerts and the [[Donaueschingen]] festival.<ref>Benitez (2008), p. 280</ref> Works performed included {{lang|fr|Réveil des oiseaux}}, {{lang|fr|[[Chronochromie]]}} (commissioned for the 1960 festival), and {{lang|fr|Couleurs de la cité céleste}}. The latter piece was the result of a commission for a composition for three trombones and three [[xylophone]]s; Messiaen added to this more brass, wind, percussion and piano, and specified a xylophone, [[xylorimba]] and [[marimba]] rather than three xylophones.<ref>Sherlaw Johnson (1975), p. 166</ref> Another work of this period, {{lang|la|[[Et exspecto resurrectionem mortuorum]]}}, was commissioned as a commemoration of the dead of the two World Wars and was performed first semi-privately in the [[Sainte-Chapelle]], then publicly in [[Cathedral of Chartres|Chartres Cathedral]] with [[Charles de Gaulle]] in the audience.<ref>Simeone (2009), pp. 185–195</ref>

His reputation as a composer continued to grow and in 1959, he was nominated as an {{lang|fr|Officier}} of the {{lang|fr|[[Légion d'honneur]]}}.<ref>Hill & Simeone (2005), p. 245</ref> In 1966, he was officially appointed professor of composition at the Paris Conservatoire, although he had in effect been teaching composition for years.<ref>Hill & Simeone (2005), p. 306</ref> Further honours included election to the [[Institut de France]] in 1967 and the [[Académie des beaux-arts|Académie des Beaux-arts]] in 1968, the [[Erasmus Prize]] in 1971, the award of the [[Royal Philharmonic Society]] Gold Medal and the [[Ernst von Siemens Music Prize]] in 1975, the [[Sonning Award]] (Denmark's highest musical honour) in 1977, the [[Wolf Prize in Arts]] in 1982, and the presentation of the {{lang|fr|Croix de Commander}} of the Belgian [[Order of the Crown (Belgium)|Order of the Crown]] in 1980.<ref>Hill & Simeone (2005), p. 333</ref>

===''Transfiguration'', ''Canyons'', ''St. Francis'', and ''the Beyond''===
Messiaen's next work was the large-scale ''[[La Transfiguration de Notre Seigneur Jésus-Christ]]''. The composition occupied him from 1965 to 1969 and the musicians employed include a 100-voice ten-part choir, seven solo instruments and large orchestra. Its fourteen movements are a meditation on the story of Christ's [[Transfiguration of Jesus|Transfiguration]].<ref>Bruhn (2008), pp. 57–96</ref> Shortly after its completion, Messiaen received a commission from [[Alice Tully]] for a work to celebrate the [[United States Bicentennial|U.S. bicentennial]]. He arranged a visit to the U.S. in spring 1972, and was inspired by [[Bryce Canyon National Park|Bryce Canyon]] in [[Utah]], where he observed the canyon's distinctive colours and birdsong.<ref>Griffiths (1985), p. 225</ref> The 12-movement orchestral piece ''[[Des canyons aux étoiles...]]'' was the result, first performed in 1974 in New York.<ref>Hill & Simeone (2005), p. 301</ref>

[[File:Ondes martenot.jpg|thumb|right|An [[ondes Martenot]], an electronic instrument, for which Messiaen included a part in several of his compositions: the orchestra for his opera ''[[Saint François d'Assise]]'' includes three of them]]
In 1971, he was asked to compose a piece for the [[Palais Garnier|Paris Opéra]]. Reluctant to take on such a major project, he was persuaded by French president [[Georges Pompidou]] to accept the commission and began work on ''[[Saint-François d'Assise]]'' in 1975 after two years of preparation. The composition was intensive (he also wrote his own [[libretto]]) and occupied him from 1975 to 1979; the orchestration was carried out from 1979 until 1983.<ref>Programme for Opéra de la Bastille production of ''St. François d'Assise'', p. 18</ref> Messiaen preferred to describe the final work as a "spectacle" rather than an opera. It was first performed in 1983. Some commentators at the time thought that the opera would be his valediction (at times Messiaen himself believed so),<ref>The composer in conversation with Jean-Cristophe Marti in 1992, see p. 29 of booklet accompanying the recording of ''Saint-François d'Assise'' conducted by [[Kent Nagano]] on Deutsche Grammophon/PolyGram 445 176; see also Hill & Simeone (2005), pp. 340 and 342</ref> but he continued to compose. In 1984, he published a major collection of organ pieces, ''Livre du Saint Sacrement''; other works include birdsong pieces for solo piano, and works for piano with orchestra.<ref>Dingle (2013)</ref>

In the summer of 1978, Messiaen was forced to retire from teaching at the Paris Conservatoire due to French law. He was promoted to the highest rank of the ''Légion d'honneur'', the ''Grand-Croix'', in 1987, and was awarded the decoration in London by his old friend [[Jean Langlais]].<ref>Hill & Simeone (2005), p. 357</ref> An operation prevented his participation in the celebration of his 70th birthday in 1978,<ref>Dingle (2007), p. 207</ref> but in 1988 tributes for Messiaen's 80th included a complete performance in London's [[Royal Festival Hall]] of ''St. François'', which the composer attended,<ref>Hill & Simeone (2005), p. 371</ref> and [[Erato Records|Erato]]'s publication of a 17-CD collection of his music, including a disc of Messiaen in conversation with [[Claude Samuel]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.arkivmusic.com/albumpage/128304-E1120|access-date=8 September 2013|publisher=ArkivMusic|title=Messiaen Edition|archive-date=4 March 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304042938/http://www.arkivmusic.com/albumpage/128304-E1120|url-status=dead}}</ref>

Although in considerable pain near the end of his life (requiring repeated surgery on his back),<ref>Yvonne Loriod, in Hill (1995), p. 302</ref> he was able to fulfil a commission from the New York Philharmonic Orchestra, ''[[Éclairs sur l'au-delà...]]'', which premièred six months after his death. He died in the [[Beaujon Hospital]] in [[Clichy, Hauts-de-Seine|Clichy]] on 27 April 1992, aged 83.<ref>Gillock (2009), p. 383</ref>

On going through his papers, Loriod discovered that, in the last months of his life, he had been composing a [[Concert à quatre|concerto]] for four musicians he felt particularly grateful to: herself, the cellist [[Mstislav Rostropovich]], the [[oboe|oboist]] [[Heinz Holliger]] and the flautist Catherine Cantin<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://musicalworld.com/artists/catherine-cantin/|title=Catherine Cantin, Flutist - MusicalWorld.com|website=musicalworld.com|access-date=26 June 2018|archive-date=4 June 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190604173136/http://musicalworld.com/artists/catherine-cantin/|url-status=dead}}</ref> (hence the title ''Concert à quatre''). Four of the five intended movements were substantially complete; Loriod undertook the orchestration of the second half of the first movement and of the whole of the fourth with advice from George Benjamin. It was premiered by the dedicatees in September 1994.<ref>Dingle (2013), pp. 293–310</ref>