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Chapter 13 - The Theology and Aesthetics of Thomas Aquinas in the Compositions of Olivier Messiaen

from Part II - Messiaen and Theology

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 November 2023

By
Siglind Bruhn
Edited by
Robert Sholl
Robert Sholl
Affiliation:
Royal Academy of Music and University of West London
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Summary

Messiaen was inspired by a pantheon of saints and theologians that were important to him: Francis of Assisi, Teresa of Ávila, John of the Cross, Catherine of Siena, and Thérèse de Lisieux, and then Ernest Hello, Dom. Columba Marmion, Romano Guardini, and Hans Urs von Balthasar. This chapter focusses in particular on St Thomas Aquinas, whose work exerted the greatest influence on Messiaen’s understanding of Christian doctrine. It examines the way this shaped his language, and assesses the range of the symbolic manifestations of Aquinas’s thought in his art.

Keywords

Aquinastheologysymbolismmeaning
Type
Chapter
Information
Messiaen in Context , pp. 119 - 126
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2023

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