Sept haïkaï

This article is about the composition by Olivier Messiaen. For the composition by Maurice Delage, see Sept haï-kaïs.

Sept haïkaï — esquisses japonaises (Seven Haiku: Japanese Sketches) is a composition for piano and small orchestra by Olivier Messiaen. It was published by Alphonse Leduc in 1966 and subsequently reprinted numerous times. It typically lasts about twenty minutes.

History

The set of Sept haïkaï were composed by Messiaen in 1962 after a trip to Japan while he was on honeymoon with his new second wife, Yvonne Loriod. They were influenced by the sounds of Indian rhythms, Gagaku, the music of the Noh theatre, and the birdcalls of Japan, which he had first incorporated in Chronochromie.^[1] Messiaen also used an underlying melodic-rhythmic structure similar to the isorhythms used by fourteenth century composers such as Vitry and Machaut.^[2]

Sept haïkaï are dedicated to Loriod, Pierre Boulez, Seiji Ozawa, Yoritsune Matsudaira, Sadao Bekku, Mitsuaki Hayama, Fumi Yamaguchi, and "to the landscapes, to the music and to all the birds of Japan". The suite premiered on 30 October 1963, conducted by Boulez, and with Loriod as the piano soloist, at the concerts of the Domaine Musical.^[3]

Instrumentation

The piece is scored for solo piano and an orchestra with the following instruments.

Woodwinds piccolo flute 2 oboes cor anglais 2 clarinets E♭ clarinet bass clarinet 2 bassoons Brass trumpet trombone

Percussion triangle Chinese cymbals Turkish cymbals gongs bells crotales cencerros xylophone marimba Strings 8 violins

Movements

Nara Park, depicted in the second movement

The work is composed of seven movements.

1. Introduction
2. Le parc de Nara et les lanternes de pierre (Nara Park and the Lanterns of Stone)
3. Yamanaka cadenza
4. Gagaku
5. Miyajima et le torii dans la mer (Miyajima and the torii in the sea)
6. Les oiseaux de Karuizawa (The Birds of Karuizawa)
7. Coda