Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Audiation And Improvisation As They Relate To Synesthesia In The Organ Music Of Olivier Messiaen, Mark Konewko

College of Communication Faculty Research and Publications

The purpose of this article is to explore the relationship between audiation, improvisation, and synesthesia in the music of Olivier Messiaen. “When I hear a score or read it, hearing it in my mind, I visualize corresponding colors which turn, shift, and combine, just as the sounds turn, shift, and combine, simultaneously” (Samuel 1986: 37). The function of audiation, synesthesia and improvisation are manifest in the creative procedure of Messiaen’s in compositions. Messiaen “audiates” in his compositions the sensation of color. Harmonic configurations that Messiaen utilizes his fashioned Modes of Limited Transposition that dictate particular harmonic colors. For Messiaen and …