Track Listing

Disc 1:

1. Saint François d'Assise, opera in 3 acts, I/52: Act I, The Cross: Un peu vif; "J'ai peue, sur la route" (1ère strophe)
2. Saint François d'Assise, opera in 3 acts, I/52: Act I, The Cross: "Ja'i peur, sur la route" (2e strophe)
3. Saint François d'Assise, opera in 3 acts, I/52: Act I, The Cross: "J'ai peur, sur la route" (3e strophe)
4. Saint François d'Assise, opera in 3 acts, I/52: Act I, The Cross: S'il se met à pleuvoir"
5. Saint François d'Assise, opera in 3 acts, I/52: Act I, The Cross: Saint François et Frère Léon remettent leur capuchon...
6. Saint François d'Assise, opera in 3 acts, I/52: Act I, Lauds: Un peu lent
7. Saint François d'Assise, opera in 3 acts, I/52: Act I, Lauds: "Loué sois-tu, mon Seigneur, pour frère Vent"
8. Saint François d'Assise, opera in 3 acts, I/52: Act I, Lauds: "Loué sois-tu, mon Seigneur, pour soeur Eau"
9. Saint François d'Assise, opera in 3 acts, I/52: Act I, Lauds: "Loué sois-tu, mon Seigneur, pour soeur notre mère la Terre"
10. Saint François d'Assise, opera in 3 acts, I/52: Act I, Lauds: "Saint! Saint! Saint!"
11. Saint François d'Assise, opera in 3 acts, I/52: Act I, Lauds: "Ô Toi! Toi qui as fait le temps!"
12. Saint François d'Assise, opera in 3 acts, I/52: Act I, The Kissing of the Leper: Bien modéré
13. Saint François d'Assise, opera in 3 acts, I/52: Act I, The Kissing of the Leper: "Comment peut-on vivre une telle vie?"
14. Saint François d'Assise, opera in 3 acts, I/52: Act I, The Kissing of the Leper: "Dieu te donne la paix, frère bien-aimé!"
15. Saint François d'Assise, opera in 3 acts, I/52: Act I, The Kissing of the Leper: "La pénitence! la pénitence! Enlève-moi d'abord mes
16. Saint François d'Assise, opera in 3 acts, I/52: Act I, The Kissing of the Leper: "Lépreux, ton coeur t'accuse"
17. Saint François d'Assise, opera in 3 acts, I/52: Act I, The Kissing of the Leper: "Pardonne-moi, Père, je récrimine toujours"
18. Saint François d'Assise, opera in 3 acts, I/52: Act I, The Kissing of the Leper: "Miracle! Regarde, Père"
19. Saint François d'Assise, opera in 3 acts, I/52: Act I, The Kissing of the Leper: "Père, Père, j'ai tellement protesté contre mes souf

Disc 2:

1. Saint François d'Assise, opera in 3 acts, I/52: Act II, The Journeying Angel: Un peu vif
2. Saint François d'Assise, opera in 3 acts, I/52: Act II, The Journeying Angel: "J'ai peur, sur la route"
3. Saint François d'Assise, opera in 3 acts, I/52: Act II, The Journeying Angel: Frère Massée rentre dans la salle conventuelle...
4. Saint François d'Assise, opera in 3 acts, I/52: Act II, The Journeying Angel: "Qui peut frapper de la sorte?"
5. Saint François d'Assise, opera in 3 acts, I/52: Act II, The Journeying Angel: "Pourquoi me dérange-t-on sans cesse?"
6. Saint François d'Assise, opera in 3 acts, I/52: Act II, The Journeying Angel: "Mais, il frappe encore!"
7. Saint François d'Assise, opera in 3 acts, I/52: Act II, The Journeying Angel: "Dieu te donne sa paix, ô bon Frère!"
8. Saint François d'Assise, opera in 3 acts, I/52: Act II, The Journeying Angel: "Puis-je à mon tour te poser une question?"
9. Saint François d'Assise, opera in 3 acts, I/52: Act II, The Journeying Angel: L'Ange fait un petit geste de la main...
10. Saint François d'Assise, opera in 3 acts, I/52: Act II, The Angel-Musician: "Toutes ces gloires dont parle l'Apôtre me ravissent"
11. Saint François d'Assise, opera in 3 acts, I/52: Act II, The Angel-Musician: "Montre-moi combien est grande l'abondance de douceur"
12. Saint François d'Assise, opera in 3 acts, I/52: Act II, The Angel-Musician: Chant de la fauvette Gerygone...
13. Saint François d'Assise, opera in 3 acts, I/52: Act II, The Angel-Musician: "Que me veux-tu, frère gheppio, faucon crécerelle?"
14. Saint François d'Assise, opera in 3 acts, I/52: Act II, The Angel-Musician: "François! François!"
15. Saint François d'Assise, opera in 3 acts, I/52: Act II, The Angel-Musician: "Pardonne ma prière, bel Ange de Dieu..."
16. Saint François d'Assise, opera in 3 acts, I/52: Act II, The Angel-Musician: L'Ange se prépare à jouer de la viole...
17. Saint François d'Assise, opera in 3 acts, I/52: Act II, The Angel-Musician: "J'ai peur, sur la route"
18. Saint François d'Assise, opera in 3 acts, I/52: Act II, The Angel-Musician: "Mes petites brebis, merci de vos soins"

Disc 3:

1. Saint François d'Assise, opera in 3 acts, I/52: Act II, The Sermon to the Birds: Un peu vif
2. Saint François d'Assise, opera in 3 acts, I/52: Act II, The Sermon to the Birds: "Pèrem te souviens-tu du jeune homme de Sienne?"
3. Saint François d'Assise, opera in 3 acts, I/52: Act II, The Sermon to the Birds: "Une louange! Un point d'exclamation!"
4. Saint François d'Assise, opera in 3 acts, I/52: Act II, The Sermon to the Birds: Petit concert d'oiseaux
5. Saint François d'Assise, opera in 3 acts, I/52: Act II, The Sermon to the Birds: "Toute chose de beauté doit parvenir à la liberté"
6. Saint François d'Assise, opera in 3 acts, I/52: Act II, The Sermon to the Birds: "Frères oiseaux, en tous temps et lieux, louez votre
7. Saint François d'Assise, opera in 3 acts, I/52: Act II, The Sermon to the Birds: "Il vous aime, Celui qui vous accorde tant de bienfa
8. Saint François d'Assise, opera in 3 acts, I/52: Act II, The Sermon to the Birds: Grand concert d'oiseaux
9. Saint François d'Assise, opera in 3 acts, I/52: Act II, The Sermon to the Birds: "Avec quel respect ils se sont tus, dès que tu as co

Disc 4:

1. Saint François d'Assise, opera in 3 acts, I/52: Act III, The Stigmata: Bien modéré
2. Saint François d'Assise, opera in 3 acts, I/52: Act III, The Stigmata: "Seigneur Jésus-Christ, accorde-moi deux grâces"
3. Saint François d'Assise, opera in 3 acts, I/52: Act III, The Stigmata: "Les miens, je les ai aimés"
4. Saint François d'Assise, opera in 3 acts, I/52: Act III, The Stigmata: "Ô faiblesse! ... Âme très méprisable!..."
5. Saint François d'Assise, opera in 3 acts, I/52: Act III, The Stigmata: Une lueur rouge et violette enflamme toute la scène...
6. Saint François d'Assise, opera in 3 acts, I/52: Act III, The Stigmata: "Si tu portes de bon coeur la croix"
7. Saint François d'Assise, opera in 3 acts, I/52: Act III, Death and the New Life: Très modéré
8. Saint François d'Assise, opera in 3 acts, I/52: Act III, Death and New Life: "Adieu, créature de temps! Adieu, créature d'espace!"
9. Saint François d'Assise, opera in 3 acts, I/52: Act III, Death and New Life: "Loué sois-tu, mon Seigneur, pour soeur Mort"
10. Saint François d'Assise, opera in 3 acts, I/52: Act III, Death and New Life: "J'appelle: Ha! et ma voix: Ha!"
11. Saint François d'Assise, opera in 3 acts, I/52: Act III, Death and New Life: "François! François! Rappelle-toi"
12. Saint François d'Assise, opera in 3 acts, I/52: Act III, Death and New Life: "Il est parti... comme un silence"
13. Saint François d'Assise, opera in 3 acts, I/52: Act III, Death and New Life: "Autre est l'éclat de la lune, autre est l'éclat du sole

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #72328 in Music
• Released on: 1999-08-10
• Number of discs: 4
• Format: Box set
• Dimensions: .85 pounds

Amazon.com's Best of 1999
Visionary French composer Olivier Messiaen spent nearly a decade writing St. Francis of Assisi, his four-hour opera inspired by the saint's life--including the famous legend of preaching to the birds, featuring the composer's mesmerizing musical aviary. This spectacular live recording from Salzburg reveals the work as a profoundly moving summation of a lifetime of discovery. --Thomas May

Amazon.com essential recording
The most ambitious work by 20th-century French master Olivier Messiaen, Saint Francis is also his most all-embracing. He spent nearly a decade creating the opera, which not only encapsulates the composer's abiding Catholic faith but draws on a lifetime of musical discovery and brings together the elements of Messiaen's far-ranging, rich vocabulary: birdsong and nature as a source for music, Eastern modes, complex rhythms derived from ancient Greek poetry and Hindu talas, plainsong, and percussive gamelan-like sonorities, to list a few of the most salient. Messiaen chose Francis for operatic representation as the saint "most like Christ" and wrote his own libretto, using the gentle poetry of the Fioretti. The opera avoids dramatic tension but instead--almost ritualistically--portrays the "infusion of grace" through a series of encounters, including an angel playing music that offers a taste of heaven's bliss (marvelously orchestrated for ondes Martenot) and the famous scene of St. Francis preaching to the birds, in which Messiaen stacks multiple bird calls on top of each other in an inspired passage of "organized chaos."

This live recording was made during 1998's Salzburg Festival, and Kent Nagano (who had studied the work directly with Messiaen during the opera's premiere in 1983) marshals the score's 119 players and enormous chorus into a spectacular series of symphonic frescoes. He is sensitive both to the resonant use of silence in the score's interstices and--most memorably--to Messiaen's rare achievement in creating music to express "perfect joy." And the cast he works with is unbeatable: José van Dam conveys immense compassion and presence in the almost unbelievably strenuous demands of the title role, while Dawn Upshaw sings the angel with a penetrating purity. This masterpiece demands time to get to know it--more than the four hours it takes to unfold--but once you know it, its rewards are immense. --Thomas May

Customer Reviews

Modern Opera at it's Finest
Messiaen ranks very high on my list of favorite 20th century composers. Most of the reasons are those that he gives himself: his emphasis on emotion rather than calculation as the base of music (Messiaen was very anti-12-tone music as he finds it dry and impersonal, for the most part), and his exoticism. This comes through extremely well in this work and this recording, which features José van Dam (who sang in the Paris premiere) in the title role. Mr. van Dam announced that this performance of the work would be his last in the role, which was a wise decision as there is no way that he could possibly equal the strength with which he carries the role of a Saint. For an orchestra of over 110 pieces, including 3 ondes martenot, Nagano is the best possible choice as he keeps the music from being ponderous or dry with the caution often used to keep such large ensembles together. The music's intensely rhythmic side (as in the opening ritornelli for xylophone, marimba and wooden percussion) comes across beautifully crisp and dry. On the opposite side of the spectrum, the lyricism, including the scenes with Dawn Upshaw as the angel, is very fluid. The opera has moments of solemn faith as well as exuberance, both of which are equally strong forces.

The work is intensely dramatic while never crossing the line into being Romantic. Although the orchestra is of Wagnerian dimension, the voice is always of primary importance. Much of the singing is unaccompanied, and many of the soliloquies have a monady-like quality that makes the language equal to the notes, and sometimes above. Although the music is intensely modern, the vocal parts harken back to Gregorian chant. The connection as far as the Catholic content is obvious. One of the greatest feats of this work is that Messiaen never attempts to reconstruct "divine" work using profane means; Christ is heard in the seventh scene but never seen, and His voice is that of the entire choir. When the angel plays the viol for St. Francis, it is not a violin solo or any other standard instrument, but an unworldly-sounding ondes martenot that carries the melody. I am not a religious person, yet while listening to this opera, I can appreciate in some small way the scope of Messiaen's faith and devotion. Listening to this work is a monumental experience, and the quality of this recording is the highest that can be had without being in the hall in Salzburg with the performers.

Beautiful music
I like this CD very much. Although the texts of this opera, if you can call it an opera, it looks more like an oratorium, are devoutly catholic, even in my opinion fundamentalist catholic, the music is suberb, rich and subtle. All as you expect from Messiaen, who I think, is along with Stravinsky and Ligeti one of the greatest composers of this almost gone century. In some parts there is a great building tension which makes for exemple the kiss of St. Francis of a Leper and the healingof that leper -for non believers non-event of childish, 19th centery catholic believe- a great drama of wagnerian magtitude. The texts contrasts in my opinion stark with the music which is modern, eventfull and new. Messiaen makes you believe in the story and the grace of God on St. Francis even if you are not a catholic or do not believe in a God at all and that's what a makes him geat artist. If only fundamentalists of other Religions could make their believes in such a rich music, the world could be a better place.

Not easy but a must
This is not an easy opera. It is important to keep this in mind. A good amount of effort will be needed in order to enjoy this music, especially if you are not fond on modern classical music or of the music composed by Messiaen. After saying this, if you are still interested in this kind of music, i got to say this is an impressive opera-. Don't expect passion like in the italian operas or lots of sound like Strauss but slowness and spirituality. It seems that nothing happens but when you enter into the opera you'll feel the hipnotical quality of the music and the introvertion that keeps going on along the opera. There are some really extraordinary moments such as when Saint Francis meets his angel when you can have an insight of Heavens. Well, that's what Messiaen tries to do it and he really gets it. The belgium baritone Van Damn is extrordinary as saint Francis, altough i still the old Orfeo performance with Fischer Dieskau. Some of the other singer, altough, are not french native speakers and you feel the difference. I mean, lots of times they don't sound french at all. The american conductor Nagano was a close friend of the composer and they worked together on this score, so he knows perfectly well the score ( i want to make clear i'm not a great fan of Nagano, he is at his best here but i think this score really deserves a better conductor). Saint Francis has been a legend for many years. It's an opera that any really opera lover should, at least, know. This is an excellent opportunity to get to know this difficult but wonderful work.