^{page 39 note 1} From the Canyons to the Stars …, composed between 1971 and 1974, was commissioned by Musica Aeterna, New York, and first performed there on 20 November of the latter year, conducted by Frederic Waldman. The first British performance took place on 12 November 1975 at the Royal Festival Hall, with Yvonne Loriod (piano), Alan Civil (horn) and the BBC Symphony Orchestra under Pierre Boulez.

^{page 40 note 1} In fact La Dame de Shalott, a piano piece composed in 1917 at the age of eight, contains extraordinary anticipations of Messiaen's sound-world (to judge by Mme. Loriod's performance in a recent integral recording of the piano music), although it would be silly to belabour the point.