Margaret Elizabeth McGinnis, Ph.D. 2003

Advisor: John Covach

Dissertation Title: Playing the Fields: Messiaen, Music, and the Extramusical

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Dissertation Abstract:

This study explores the interplay of music and extramusical subjects in the work of one composer rooted in one cultural milieu, thereby applying historical and analytical methods to one of music aesthetics’ most enduring questions. The music of Olivier Messiaen (1908-92) is fertile ground for this investigation because of his fondness for extramusical subjects. I apply the theories of sociologist Pierre Bourdieu to read Messiaen’s compositional decisions as acts of cultural positioning and to track circumstances that have fostered certain extramusical interpretations of Messiaen’s music. In addition, Kofi Agawu’s concept of “play” between introversive and extroversive semiosis informs my music analysis by providing a model for relating musical structures and extramusical referents. In evaluating Messiaen’s positioning I suggest he often landed between cultural poles rather than squarely aligned with any one pole. In occupying points of tension, Messiaen revealed the effects of cultural forces that pulled from either side, and these unresolved tensions gave rise to his most creative and fascinating work. 

I examine four areas—mysticism, modernism, synesthesia, and theology—that are especially fruitful for examining the interaction of Messiaen’s music with extramusical subjects. These areas also reveal how music’s extramusical subjects can facilitate cultural discourse and positioning. Some listeners interpreted his music as “mystical,” but this label had cultural implications Messiaen found distasteful. His mid-century compositions invoke some of the rational, scientific, and mathematical tropes popular with that era’s avant-garde. However, the formal structures and extramusical references of these compositions imply cultural positions diametrically opposed to rationalism. He composed colored music in a cultural field that sometimes associated synesthesia with occult mysticism. However, Messiaen’s rational, systematic treatment of color resists mystical readings of his colored music. Finally, his theological music translates the common language of theology into a personal mode of expression. In each of these fields, Messiaen found the unstable center, where he embraced rather than resolved tensions. His answer to most either-or question was an exasperating “yes.” His primary language was not musical or extramusical, but that of mediation, translation, and reconciliation. 

Dr. McGinnis is Assistant Professor of Music and Coordinator of Community Music Initiatives at Samford University in Birmingham, Alabama, which is also her undergraduate alma mater. She is also an accomplished performer and teacher of piano. In addition to her interest in classical music, she has also done work with vernacular music traditions in Alabama. Her podcast, Hear in Alabama, shares this music with a wider audience. You can find out more about the podcast here: https://www.hearinalabama.com/.