Symbol And Transcendency

Religion is an outlook of the world. As a cultural phenomenon that has come into being against certain historic background, religion, while it serves as an understanding of the existence of the cosmos, is the ultimate human concern. The Christian belief and thought lies at the heart of the western culture and spirit. The system of the basic value of the western civilization is on the basis of the Christian spirit. It is the music education given by the Christian Church for its followers that has directly brought forth modern music.Olivier Messiaen (1908-1992), regarded as "the father of modern music", was a famous French composer, organist and outstanding music educator in the 20lh century. The distinctive style of his modern music is due to the variation and combination of music elements in his own manner in his composition process, which played a role as a link between the past and the future, having made remarkable contribution to modern music. His music is not only featured with a combination of abundant sound and colour but also full of implications. His innovative use of rhythms, timbre and modes, especially the Modes of Limited Transposition, has given a new life to modern music.As one of the greatest works for solo piano by Messiaen, Vingt Regards sur L'enfant-J'esus is also one of his representative works with religious ideas. Widely known for its extraordinary harmony and various tone colours, changeable rhythms and emotional melodies, distinctive theme motifs as well as skillful textures for piano performance, this brilliant twenty-movement music works with novelty and mystery is regarded as one of the greatest works of piano music in the 20th century.As a pious Catholics and a giant of music, Messiaen, by means of music language as a mode, built for his audience a special frame of symbols showing the majestic Trinity, the church bell, the stars shining over Bethlehem, the mysterious incarnation, Teresa's embrace, Christ's Nativity, the redemption and crucifixion, the irrefutable Holy Word, Blessed Virgin Mary's Halo, the kiss of the infant Jesus, the implications of the Bible stories and scenes, the praise and glory for the God from the Birdsong, etc. The complex of symbols, music thought and life movement inside this frame has reached a higher level of valuable significance and spheres of spirit beyond the performance of music.Not limited to the framework of religious music genre, Messiaen, on the basis of his open ideas of theology and theory of music, created series of images with aesthetic and theological value by way of digital metaphor, structures of music forms, thematic melodies and symbolic modes for the purpose of expressing his personal religious belief and desire in terms of the internality and transcendence of God, showing his deep concern for the human world.Sheet music is the basis but not only concern for music research which should be an all-round and profound perception of other relevant objects including music history, music aesthetics, music analysis, and music implication. The music rendered by a "sound maker" with the experience of the aforesaid "profound perception" would be worthy of further study, making it possible to build a bridge of music enabling the composer to share the intuitive presentation of his music with his audience.With his outstanding contribution to the music in the 20th century, Messiaen has paved a way leading to future in terms of composition techniques or general idea for music making. His achievement will remain forever in the long history of music. Messiaen's Vingt Regards sur L'enfant-Jesus, a masterpiece with the religious spirit, has shown us the profound feelings of his heart but also the beam of the holy and mysterious light from the God. Let's have an experience and perception of this brilliant music whole-heartedly and march along the way the Giant of Music has paved for us to look for the trace of transcendence.