“Charme des Impossibilités”: Variety and Unity in Olivier Messiaen’s Technique de Mon Langage Musical

In 1944, Messiaen offered a systematic description of his musical language in a text entitled Technique de Mon Langage Musical, an exposition of his compositional techniques that represents one of the most important accounts of his musical thoughts. This text is important not only in understanding his methods of composition, but also in comprehending the multiplicity and variety of his aesthetic ideas. In spite of the large variety of sources that inspire it, in Technique, Messiaen presents a compositional thought that, at least in part, proves to be substantially cohesive. The purpose of this paper is to describe the content of the Technique, with particular attention to aspects concerning rhythm and harmony, which are the elements that received Messiaen’s deepest attention and which also had the greatest influence on later 20th century composers.