Le Merle noir

A blackbird, Turdus merula. The males (depicted) are known for their song

Le Merle noir ("The Blackbird") is a chamber work by the French composer Olivier Messiaen for flute and piano. It was written and first performed in 1952 and is one of the composer's shortest independently published works, lasting just over five minutes. It has neither time signature nor key signature.

History

The composition originated in a commission for a test piece for flute for the Paris Conservatoire, at which Messiaen was a professor. The winners of the premier prix in the Concours de flûte that year were Daniel Morlier, Jean Pierre Eustache, Jean Ornetti, Régis Calle and the British flute player Alexander Murray. Messiaen had a consuming, lifelong interest in ornithology and particularly bird songs. While not his first work to incorporate stylised birdsong, Le Merle noir was the earliest of his pieces to use authentically transcribed birdsong, foreshadowing Messiaen's later, more extended birdsong-inspired pieces.

References

• Hill, Peter and Simeone, Nigel (2005). Messiaen. Yale University Press, New Haven and London. ISBN 0-300-10907-5.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
• Griffiths, Paul (2001). "Olivier Messiaen". Grove Music Online (8th ed.). Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-1-56159-263-0.