Le Banquet Céleste
Le Banquet Céleste (The Heavenly Feast or The Celestial Banquet) is a work for organ, written by the French composer Olivier Messiaen in 1928. Based on the slow movement of an earlier unfinished orchestral work 'Le Banquet Eucharistique' dating from 1926–1927, it is Messiaen's first published work.[1]
The work's epitaph, "He that eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood dwelleth in me and I in him" (John 6:56), indicates that the work is intended for Communion.[1] The work is written in the octatonic scale, one of Messiaen's modes of limited transpositions. To avoid tonal monotony, Messiaen transposes the mode every few measures.[2]
Despite being only 25 bars long, it takes about 7–8 minutes to perform, due to the extremely slow tempo ("very slow, ecstatic"). The work has two themes: the first, marked "far away, mysterious", is slow and sustained. The second, played by the pedal, is marked "brief staccato, as a water drop", and represents Christ's blood.[1] The final chord is accompanied by a 32' bass note, marked "very deep".
References
- 1 2 3 Jon Gillock. "Program notes".
- ↑ Pinkevicius, Vidas; Motuzaite-Pinkeviciene, Ausra (December 23, 2011). "About "Le Banquet Celeste" by Olivier Messiaen". Secrets of Organ Playing - Helping Reach Your Dreams. Retrieved June 11, 2016.
