Reshaping the origin

An alternative use of Messiaen’s cahiers of birdsong transcriptions performing Catalogue d’oiseaux

Abstract

This article synthesises the use of Messiaen's manuscript notebooks of birdsong transcriptions as creative material. It presents the thesis Migrating to the origin as a space for establishing a flexible relationship between the final score and its sketches by incorporating them into a new narrative of the Catalogue d’oiseaux. Messiaen’s birdsong sketches are analysed questioning them as transcriptions or compositions. A new perspective for the birdsong transcriptions sketchbooks brings a new relation between performer and score resulting in an unconventional interpretation, in the framework of an ecologically aware revision of the work.