Messiaen's Musical Language on the Holy Child: A Study of Vingt Regards Sur l'Enfant-Jésus No: XIX: Je Dors Mais Mon Coeur Veille No: XIV: Regard Des Anges

Olivier Messiaen was a prominent twentieth-century French composer. His musical language includes highly complicated concepts derived from a variety of sources. Hindu rhythms Greek rhythms and bird calls influenced him deeply; his Catholic faith however had the greatest impact on his compositions. I provide a detailed analysis of two religiously motivated pieces from his Vingt Regards sur lEnfant-Jesus (Twenty Gazes upon the Infant Jesus) one of the most remarkable solo piano works of the twentieth-century to explore how he integrates the Christian theology into his musical language. Je dors mais mon cœur veille (I sleep but my heart waketh) is a dialogue that represents Messiaens mystic love of God whereas Regard des Anges (Gaze of the Angels) is a celebration symbolizing the angels beholding the birth of Jesus Christ. I explain how the entirely different subjects of the two pieces are articulated in the change of pitch collections and rhythmic structures as well as how the changes of musical language through the use of the different pitch collections generate the formal structure that is related to the biblical source.