Pain, Dumbshow and the Loss of Language: Messiaen's Catalogue d'Oiseaux
In this paper I reconsider Messiaen's monument to the beauty of birdsong, investigating the role of silence and the unusual approach to narration, which I compare to that of Calvino in The Castle of Crossed Destinies. This approach reveals what could be considered a 'loss of language' which stands in sharp contrast to the rest of Messiaen's work, and invites examination in terms of Prof. Scarry's work on the interrelations of pain, language, and the creative impulse.
Jeremy Thurlow is a composer, writer and pianist. His music has been performed by the BBC Philharmonic, Rolf Hind, the BBC Singers, the Endymion Ensemble, the Fitzwilliam String Quartet, James Macmillan, Matthew Schellhorn, Lesley-Jane Rogers, the Bergamo Ensemble, Curious Chamber Players Stockholm, Aquilo, Zoe Martlew, Daniel Propper, Marie Vassiliou, Kevin Bowyer, Simon Smith, Owen Gunnell and Mary Wiegold among others. Recent projects include a 'video-opera' for voices, video and electronics created in collaboration with writer Alastair Appleton, premiered to great acclaim at the Spitalfields in June 2007, a piece for the BBC Singers, and a 'music fable' called The Pedlar of Swaffham premiered and recorded by Lesley-Jane Rogers and the Bergamo Ensemble, and a new piece for the Fitzwilliam String Quartet, which was premiered in the Maverick Music Festival, New York, in July 2008. He is currently working on another 'music fable', a wind quintet and a chamber opera. His book on composer Henri Dutilleux is published in French by Millénaire III, and he has also written and broadcast on the music of Messiaen and other French composers. He enjoys playing chamber music, most recently in several performances of Winterreise with tenor Phillip Conway-Brown. Jeremy Thurlow is Lecturer in Music at Robinson College, Cambridge.
