Regard de l'Esprit de joie (Gaze of the joyful Spirit) for piano

Violent dance, wild tone of the horns, rapture of the Holy Spirit…the joy of love of the blessed God in the soul of Jesus Christ…I have always been struck by the fact that God is happy, and that an unutterable and perpetual joy lives in the Soul of Christ. Joy, which for me is ecstasy, an intoxicant in the most extravagant sense of the word."

- Olivier Messiaen       

 One of the most important and influential composers of the 20th century, the French composer Olivier Messiaen is probably best known for his chamber work, Quartet for the End of Time, which was written during World War II when he was made prisoner of war during the capitulation of France in 1940. The piano cycle “20 Regards sur l’Enfant Jésus” was written in 1943, two years after his release from prison and his appointment at the Paris Conservatoire. It is an enormous set that lasts around two hours when performed as a whole. The cycle is based on meditations on the Nativity, and unifying themes and rhythmic motives are used throughout the entire set. “Regard de l’Esprit de joie” is the tenth piece of the set and one of the most technically demanding. The piece centers on the “theme of joy”, an ascending scale-like motive in the mixolydian mode. The opening is a heavy dance in the low bass. “Theme of joy” arrives the first time after the dance section with a ghostly development that Messiaen calls “asymmetrical growth”. Violent, horn-like calls dominate the next section and grow in magnitude and complexity within three variations before the music peaks at the second statement of “theme of joy” and the second development section that uses “theme of God” that occurred in earlier pieces of the set. The wild dance returns in double notes in the right hand and builds into the Coda, the third and final statement of joy.