Chronochromie

Chronochromie (Time-Colour) is an orchestral work by French composer Olivier Messiaen, completed in 1960. It consists of seven movements:

1. Introduction
2. Strophe I
3. Antistrophe I
4. Strophe II
5. Antistrophe II
6. Epode
7. Coda

The sixth movement consists of 18 string instruments playing different birdsong. The first performance was in Donaueschingen on 16 October 1960, conducted by Hans Rosbaud.

Instrumentation

The work is scored for the following orchestra:

Woodwinds

4 flutes (doubling piccolo)

3 oboes (doubling cor anglais)

4 clarinets (doubling E♭ clarinet and bass clarinet)

3 bassoons

Brass

4 horns

4 trumpets (doubling piccolo trumpet in D)

3 trombones

1 tuba

Percussion (6 players)

1 glockenspiel

1 xylophone

1 marimba

bells

3 gongs

suspended cymbal

chinese cymbal

tam-tam

Strings

16 Violin I's

16 Violin II's

14 Violas

12 Celli

10 Double basses

Further reading

• Bauer, Amy. 2008. "The Impossible Charm of Messiaen's Chronochromie". In Messiaen Studies, edited by Robert Sholl, 145–67. Cambridge Composer Studies. Cambridge and New York: Cambridge University Press, 2008. ISBN 978-0-521-83981-5.
• Sherlaw Johnson, Robert. 1989. Messiaen, revised and updated edition. London: J. M. Dent & Sons; Berkeley: University of California Press. ISBN 9780460126038 (London); ISBN 9780520067349 (Berkeley).