“THEME OF THE STAR AND THE CROSS” – CHRISTIAN SYMBOLS IN OLIVIER MESSIAEN’S “VINGT REGARDS SUR L’ENFANT-JESUS”
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Babeș-Bolyai University / Cluj University Press
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Olivier Messiaen wanted his music to express of his profound Catholic faith, and many of his instrumental works written for the concert hall have an overt religious message. The Star of Bethlehem and the Cross of Golgotha, the most powerful symbols of Christianity, stand at the beginning and the end of Christ’s earthly life. The connection between the birth of Jesus and His death on the cross in theological texts and pictorial representations in Christian art is briefly surveyed. The study focuses on the way Messiaen gave a musical expression to this connection by using similar motifs and themes in movements depicting the joy of the Nativity and movements expressing the sorrow of the Passion. Relevant movements in which the composer uses the so-called Boris motif are presented, followed by an in-depth analysis of the “Theme of the star and the cross” in the piano cycle Vingt Regards sur l’Enfant-Jésus.