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Quant Aux Voies D'ascension Du Jeune Messiaen Quant aux voies d’ascension du jeune Messiaen (1936-1945) Jacques Amblard To cite this version: Jacques Amblard. Quant aux voies d’ascension du jeune Messiaen (1936-1945). 2021. hal-03164402 HAL Id: hal-03164402 https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-03164402 Preprint submitted on 9 Mar 2021 HAL is a multi-disciplinary open access L’archive ouverte pluridisciplinaire HAL, est archive for the deposit and dissemination of sci- destinée au dépôt et à la diffusion de documents entific research documents, whether they are pub- scientifiques de niveau recherche, publiés ou non, lished or not. The documents may come from émanant des établissements d’enseignement et de teaching and research institutions in France or recherche français ou étrangers, des laboratoires abroad, or from public or private research centers. publics ou privés. Quant aux voies d’ascension du jeune Messiaen (1936-1945) Jacques Amblard LESA EA-3274 Aix Marseille Université Abstract : La période de la Seconde Guerre Mondiale aura été un moment clef dans l’ascension du jeune Messiaen. Mise en loge dramatique mais féconde pour le compositeur ? Compromission avec le gouvernement provisoire ? Est-ce le fait d’être devenu professeur au Conservatoire de Paris et d’y avoir trouvé une armée de futurs soldats pour la défense de son œuvre, celle d’un « capitaine admiré » ? Ce texte est paru dans Euterpe, n°35, juillet 2020, p. 23-28. Ceci en est une version modifiée. Olivier Messiaen aura été un remarquable médiateur de son œuvre. Notamment, sciemment ou non, il se sera souvent tenu « sur la médiatrice ». Au centre1. Entre diatonisme et chromatisme 2 . Entre tradition et prospective. Entre antiques orgues et futuristes ondes Martenot. Ou encore : en 1936, ce quasi-« maître de chapelle », quelque peu « vieille France », rejoint, avec André Jolivet et Daniel-Jean- Yves Lesur, le groupe Jeune France, fondé par Yves Baudrier. Le rayonnement de Messiaen, en 1936, est encore celui d’un compositeur d’église, qui deviendra certes « le plus influent compositeur d’orgue au XXe siècle » selon Jon Gillock3. Depuis cinq ans, donc dès l’âge de 23 ans, Messiaen est titulaire des orgues de la Trinité. Il lui faut se déployer, davantage, hors du milieu catholique, trouver des alliés, adopter des stratégies, notamment pour que les œuvres d’orchestre soient jouées. Les compositeurs de Jeune France – peut-être surtout Messiaen, Lesur et Jolivet – se soutiennent, s’écoutent, se conseillent, et ceci sans complaisance. Ainsi, dans un article consacré au Mana (1935) de Jolivet, texte pourtant globalement élogieux, Messiaen ne se fait pas non plus le 1 Cf. Jacques Amblard, Vingt regards sur Messiaen, Aix-en-Provence, PUP, 2015, p. 41-47. 2 C’est ainsi que se construisent ses « modes à transpositions limitées », à la fois profondément chromatiques (demi-tons dominants), et diatoniques pour l’alternance entre deux types d’intervalles (demi-tons la plupart du temps et intervalles plus grands : ton ou tierce). 3 Performing Messiaen's Organ Music: 66 Masterclasses, Bloomington, Indiana University Press, 2010, début de l’introduction. héraut des topos affichés de son ami. « Quand son auteur nous parlera de "transmutation de la matière sonore", avouera son admiration pour Alban Berg et ses travaux d’acoustique avec Edgar Varèse, nous nous sentirons encore très loin du lieu mystérieux où il balança son envoûtement4. » Par ailleurs Messiaen, même si déjà catholique fervent, ne cherche pas pour autant la crucifixion. Il combat farouchement pour sa carrière, pour la diffusion de ses œuvres. Cette lettre, que Jolivet reçoit le 18 avril 1937, en atteste clairement. « Je viens de vous adresser 50 programmes et billets, pour mon concert Spirale du 28 avril. Les 50 billets, et progr. sont à envoyer à vos amis personnels. […] Je compte fermement que vous m’ameniez 50 personnes. Ce concert me coûte près de 2000 francs de frais5 ». Mais Jeune France, si vraiment efficace pour la médiation des œuvres, constituera un catalyseur quelque peu transitoire, voire éphémère. Plus considérable peut-être sera, pour la carrière, un autre médiateur, celui, plus général, plus souterrain aussi : le Conservatoire de Paris. Daniel- Lesur y était d’ailleurs un condisciple des classes d’harmonie et de fugue. S’associer à ce camarade au sein du groupe Spirale, puis à Jeune France6, montre déjà cet esprit de corps propre au Conservatoire, si français. Messiaen y est entré tout enfant, à l’âge de 11 ans, en 1919. Il en sort 11 ans plus tard, en 1930. Il aura commencé par l’étude du piano et, de façon plus originale, des percussions. Puis il obtient des prix en harmonie (1924), contrepoint, fugue (1926, donc toujours avec Daniel-Lesur), accompagnement au piano (1927), orgue, improvisation, histoire de la musique (1929), et finalement composition (1930). Quand Messiaen quitte le Conservatoire, il semble livré à lui-même, ou disons à ses orgues de la Trinité bientôt rejointes. Spirale et Jeune France viennent comme des palliatifs à cette relative traversée du désert des années 1930, « traversée hors du Conservatoire ». Bientôt – dès 1941 – le musicien retrouvera cet incontournable établissement mais cette fois comme enseignant, d’harmonie, puis d’analyse (1947), de composition (1966), jusqu’à sa retraite en 1978. Il y aura finalement enseigné 37 ans et, en comptant ses études, passé la plus grande partie de sa vie – 48 ans, près d’un demi-siècle. Or, il est probable que ce milieu fut pour lui un terroir béni, en termes de 4 Bnf, microfilm, NLA46, 1. 5 Idem, « Lettres de divers auteurs à l’adresse d’André Jolivet », lettre n° 27, BOB25908. 6 Par l’ajout – et l’initiative – d’Ives Baudrier. fructification, donc de carrière. Il est possible que les débuts de l’enseignement au Conservatoire, notamment, aient constitué un tremplin plus efficace en soi que Spirale et Jeune France. Le « problème » de l’année 1941 Selon Christopher Murray et Yves Balmer, Messiaen aurait continûment « revisité l’histoire de sa vie7 ». C’est dire qu’il dût parfois mentir à propos de son passé, surtout quant à cette période historique hautement problématique. Par exemple, après-guerre, le compositeur prétendra souvent être rentré en France, de sa captivité en Allemagne, en 1942. Or, son retour réel a lieu dès février 1941, un an auparavant. En effet, il est engagé comme professeur d’harmonie au Conservatoire en mars 1941. Selon Murray et Balmer, Messiaen occultera totalement l’année 1941 dans son ensemble. Car il voudra vraisemblablement cacher que sa libération du Stalag Görlitz VIII A, et conséquemment son retour en France, furent permis grâce à l’intervention du général Huntziger, commandant en chef de l’infanterie du gouvernement de Vichy. Puis, si Messiaen est élu professeur d’harmonie, au Conservatoire, c’est hélas, déjà, en raison de l’éviction de son prédécesseur (en poste depuis 1927), André Bloch. Bloch est destitué le 18 décembre 1940, en triste conséquence de la première loi sur le statut des juifs. Murray et Balmer précisent. « Messiaen n’a pas attendu passivement sa nomination : dès son arrivée à Vichy en mars 1941, il active ses réseaux et fait campagne auprès des figures importantes de la vie musicale française pour obtenir un poste qu’il convoitait déjà avant-guerre et que les circonstances rendent accessibles plus tôt que prévu. Pour parvenir à ses fins, comme tous les prétendants à un poste administratif, il rédige une lettre type : "Je ne suis pas juif, mes quatre grands-parents ne sont pas juifs, et il n’y a absolument aucun sang juif dans ma famille8" ». Prenons un autre exemple de réécriture biographique. La réalisatrice Denise Tual passe commande à Messiaen de ses Visions de l’Amen. L’œuvre est achevée en octobre 1942. Mais Messiaen fait croire à Denise Tual que la composition fut brève, en tout cas tout entière inscrite dans l’année 1942. L’œuvre était déjà préfacée en 19419. Mais là encore il s’agit d’occulter l’année 1941. 7 Yves Balmer and Christopher Murray, « Olivier Messiaen et la reconstruction de son parcours sous l’Occupation. Le vide de l’année 1941 », in La musique à Paris sous l’Occupation, Myriam Chimènes & Yannick Simon (éd.), Paris, Fayard/Cité de la Musique, 2013, p. 152. 8 Idem, p. 158-9. 9 Ibid., p. 153. Messiaen (1941-45) : un jeune et brillant « capitaine » du Conservatoire Restons-en aux Visions of Amen. Pour Messiaen, la future première de cette œuvre est aussi l’occasion d’asseoir un nouvel engouement. On parle ici des élans qui le portent vers une élève du Conservatoire, celle qui deviendra sa seconde épouse, Yvonne Loriod. En 1943, Messiaen est un brillant jeune professeur de 35 ans. Loriod est une élève pianiste de 19 ans. C’est probablement aussi pour elle et lui, pour leur amour, que Messiaen écrit les Visions de l’Amen, « pour deux pianos » comme « pour deux amoureux ». La création de Visions de l’Amen est aussi un rêve de voyage exceptionnel, difficile, et d’autant plus byronien, romantique. En pleine occupation, ainsi, avoir l’occasion de créer l’œuvre à Londres, ville libre, officiellement ennemie, semble singulier. Messiaen écrit en 1943 à son ami Felix Aprahamian. Depuis 1942, Aprahamian aide Tony Mayer dans l’organisation des Concerts de Musique Française au Wigmore Hall de la capitale britannique. Dans sa lettre, Messiaen demande à son ami une autorisation officielle (professionnelle) de quitter le territoire français, pour la jeune Yvonne et lui- même. Il réclame aussi « deux bons pianos à queue ». Il décrit ses Visions de l’Amen comme sa « meilleure œuvre10 ». Il semble donc savoir comment appâter son ami, ami décisionnaire rompu aux usages mondains : par une exagération probable, par l’emploi de superlatifs « festifs ». Messiaen est homme du monde, tout « saint Olivier11 » qu’il soit peut-être par ailleurs.
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