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The Reinvention of Religious Music
Olivier Messiaen’s Breakthrough Toward the Beyond
 Sander van Maas
$55.00
ISBN: 9780823230570
Book (Hardcover)
Fordham University Press
224 pages
March 2009

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“In his eloquent and detailed study, van Maas discusses the theological meaning of Messiaen’s music and the ways in which this unique sound world seeks to configure and even evangelize Messiaen’s Christian thought. Van Maas presents an absorbing and provocative insight into Messiaen’s faith in music that will enhance appreciation of this often-misunderstood composer and his work.”
—Andrew Shenton, Boston University
Present-day music studies conspicuously evade the question of religion in contemporary music. Although many composers address the issue in their work, as yet there have been few attempts to think through the structure of religious music as we hear it.

The work of Olivier Messiaen is well known for its inclusion of religious themes and gestures. On the basis of a careful analysis of Messiaen’s work, this book argues for a renewal of our thinking about religious music. Starting from an analysis of his 1960s oratorio La Transfiguration de Notre-Seigneur Jésus-Christ, van Maas arranges a moderated dialogue between Messiaen and the music theology of Hans Urs von Balthasar, the phenomenology of revelation of Jean-Luc Marion, the rethinking of religion and technics in Jacques Derrida and Bernard Stiegler, and the Augustinian ruminations of Søren Kierkegaard and Jean-François Lyotard. Ultimately, this confrontation underscores the challenging yet deeply affirmative nature of Messiaen’s music.

SANDER VAN MAAS is Professor of Musicology at Utrecht University and Assistant Professor of Musicology at the University of Amsterdam.

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