Messiaen

American

[mes-yahn] / mɛsˈjɑ̃ /

noun

Olivier Eugène Prosper Charles 1908–92, French composer and organist.

Messiaen British

/ mɛsjɑ̃ /

noun

Olivier (ɔlivje). 1908–92, French composer and organist. His music is distinguished by its rhythmic intricacy; he was influenced by Hindu and Greek rhythms and bird song

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

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Messiaen

And then there were moments of “11,000 Strings” that sounded like the musical aviaries of Olivier Messiaen emanating from a far away lath house.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 6, 2025

Messiaen here began his development of a spectacular new musical language for a picture of ecstatic love that transcends death.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 29, 2024

The Messiaen, sprawling and operatically excessive, would seem the better fit for van Zweden, who revels in enormity.

From New York Times ● Mar. 24, 2023

To keep things on a cosmic scale, Messiaen musters a solo piano part of concerto-level difficulty and variety.

From New York Times ● Mar. 19, 2023

After intermission came an early Debussy rarity, “Fantaisie,” which is essentially a piano concerto, with Jean-Yves Thibaudet as soloist, as he had formidably been in the Messiaen.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 13, 2023

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Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023