Olivier Messiaen

Archive Program Broadcast as:
#8724 on 6/21/1987
#9036 on 9/9/1990

Olivier Messiaen’s
Trinity Meditations

…Charles Tompkins performs this monumental cycle of nine thoughtful impressions of the Divine Spirit, composed by one of the greatest musicians of our age.

Program Broadcast dates:

• Week of June 15, 1987

Links and Resources:

• Printable program listings

Music played in the program

OLIVIER MESSIAEN: Meditations sur le Mystere de la Sainte Trinité - Meditations on the Mysteries of the Holy Trinity (1969)

Part I

•        i.   The Father of the Stars
•       ii.  The Holiness of God
•      iii.  The Essence of God
•      iv.  The Overpowering Concept of God: HE IS [not included in this broadcast]
•       v.  The Divine Attributes

Part II

•       vi.  Jesus Christ, the Second Person of the Holy Trinity
•      vii.  The Love of the Father and the Son through the Holy Spirit
•     viii.  The Simplicity of God
•       ix.  I am Who I Am

 

This overwhelming and provocative music was premiered by the composer in 1972 at the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington, DC. Through a unique tonal vocabulary, Messiaen transports us to an unworldly place of sound in space. Dr. Tompkins’ performance, the work’s Midwestern premiere, was given on the 1927 E.M. Skinner and 1963 Aeolian-Skinner organs of the Cathedral of Saint Paul in St. Paul, Minnesota (recorded 5/16/86)