Réveil des oiseaux (Awakening of the birds) is a work by Olivier Messiaen for piano and orchestra written in 1953.[1] Messiaen invoked birdsong in this composition, as he had in the earlier Quatuor pour la fin du temps (1941). In Réveil des oiseaux he used bird song motifs throughout.[2]

Origin and creation

Réveil des oiseaux was commissioned by the German critic and musicologist Heinrich Strobel (1898–1970).[3] It is a 28-minute work dedicated to the memory of ornithologist Jacques Delamain and was premiered at the Donaueschingen Festival on October 11, 1953. Yvonne Loriod was the piano soloist while the Orchestra of the Südwestfunk Baden-Baden was conducted by Hans Rosbaud.[4]

The orchestra ensemble included 3 flutes, 1 piccolo, 2 oboes, 1 English horn, 4 clarinets, 3 bassoons, 2 horns, 2 trumpets, 2 percussionists, 1 xylophone, 1 glockenspiel, 1 celesta, 8 violins I, 8 violins II, 8 violas, 8 cellos, 6 double basses, and a piano soloist.

Discography

References

  1. ↑ Hill, Peter (2011). The Messiaen Companion. London: Faber and Faber. pp. 420–422. ISBN 9780571281046.
  2. ↑ Hill, Peter; Simeone, Nigel, eds. (2007). Olivier Messiaen: Oiseaux exotiques. Aldershot: Ashgate. p. 27. ISBN 978-0-7546-5630-2.
  3. ↑ Benítez, Vincent P. (2008). Olivier Messiaen: A Research and Information Guide. Routledge. p. 52. ISBN 0415973724.
  4. ↑ Dingle, Christopher (2007). The Life of Messiaen. Cambridge & New York: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-63547-0
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