The Musical Language in Messiaen’s Catalogue d’oiseaux

Abstract

This paper presents an analysis of Olivier Messiaen’s ‘La Chouette hulotte’ from Catalogue d’oiseaux. The significance of this work lies in the representation of fear by the owls and ‘night’ music. Messiaen’s language of mode de valeurs representing the ‘night’ and the harmonic language of the tawny owl’s calls identifies Messiaen’s music.

Keywords

• oliver messiaen
• le chouette hulotte
• catalogue d’oiseaux
• mode de valeurs
• bird song