Yo Ma Ka:

Invented syllables in Messiaens Cinq Rechants

Sivan Eldar
12/17/06

Cinq Rechants (1948), the third work in Olivier Messiaens Tristan Trilogy,
represents the culmination of his harmonic/melodic and rhythmic musical
techniques, which he originally discussed in Techniques of My Musical Language
(1944). Cinq Rechants also utilizes Greek versification techniques, in its artistic
combination of Greek meters and the Renaissance chant-rechant (coupletrefrain) structure. Messiaen rediscovered the latter during his analysis of Claude
le Jeunes Le Printemps (1603). As in Le Printemps, rhythm, here the result of
the Greek versification, becomes a structural element as it underscores the
couplet-refrain form. However, most unique to Cinq Rechants is Messiaens
technique of text usage, particularly his use of pseudo-Sanskrit syllables. Like the
rhythms, a number of invented syllables are used as structural elements both
within each of the five movements and within the work as a whole. I will analyze
Messiaens use of invented text on both the lower level, as it connects between
and adds on to couplets to create variety within each movement, and the higher
level, as it references and develops a select number of syllables throughout the
five movements.
Messiaen composed Cinq Rechants, scored for twelve solo voices, for the
virtuosic Paris-based Chorale Couraud. It was completed only one month after
the Turangalila-symphony (1948), the second section in the trilogy, and three
years after the song cycle Harawi (1945), the first section in the trilogy.
Particularly in relation to Harawi and Turangalila-symphony, but also in relation to
his body of work as a whole, Cinq Rechants remains one of Messiaen most
infrequently performed works. In a review from the 1951 German premiere,
Everett Helm writes for the Musical Quarterly: the sensation of the evening was
provided by the Chorale Couraud of Paris, performing Messiaen's Cinq Rechants
2

for 12 unaccompanied mixed voices. Anyone who has seen the score must have
wondered whether it is humanly possible to perform it: the difficulties of
intonation, rhythm, and ensemble are grotesque. The Chorale Couraud provided
a positive answer; the performance was superb and exciting, [but] the Chorale
had rehearsed the work for a full year before the first performance (Helm, 1951,
p.139). Helm was right: Cinq Rechants, with its consistent use of unconventional
modes and rhythms is uncharacteristic for a vocal ensemble. However, it is
important to recognize that at the same time, these musical techniques make the
work quite typical as Messiaens works (particularly among his instrumental
works). As Robert Sherlaw Johnson notes: a great deal of the material of Cinq
Rechants is derived from the subsidiary themes of Turangalila and some from
Harawi (Johnson, 1975, p.95). What is particularly unique to Cinq Rechants is
then not its melodic/harmonic material and rhythmic techniques, which are
apparent in most of Messiaens works from the 1940s, but rather its manipulation
of verse.
The French text of Cinq Rechants, like that of Harawi, is a surrealist
attempt to make fresh connections between French words. But, in the irrational
spirit of surrealism, Messiaen also borrows syllables and sounds from other
languages: Quechua (a South American dialect) and Sanskrit. In Cinq Rechants,
he takes this technique even further by inventing words from Sanskrit syllables
and juxtaposing them against the French text (see figure 1). Addressing the
invente
Introduction

Couplet 1

Mayoma kalimolimo mayoma kalimolimo

Your eyes voyaging in the past
Solar melody of curved flower garden
tktktktk
Diamond-shaped my flower forever
Flako flako
Philter Iseult oarsman of love

Flako flako
Fairy Vivian to my song of love
Circle of day

Figure 1
Rechant V - translation

invented words and syllables in Cinq Rechants, Messiaen explains: The

symbols are chosen for their softness or their violence of attack and for their
aptitude in stressing the music rhythms.1 In order to understand the structural
function of the invented text we must then first understand the structural function
of rhythm.
Greek versification generates the rhythms of phrases in Cinq Rechants.
The title is in homage to Claude le Jeunes Le Printemps, which Messiaen
describes as a masterwork of choral writing and rhythm.2 Messiaen borrows Le
Printemps structure of chants-rechants alterations, only replacing the name
chant with a couplet (two lines of verse). In Le Printemps, the Greek meters,
which consist of combinations of arsis (unstressed, short) and thesis (stressed,
long) are presented at the beginning of each chanson and remain fixed
throughout (see figure 2). Furthermore, in le Jeunes structure each

Figure 2
Le Printemps Rechant II

1
2

Messiaen, program notes accompanying Cinq Rechants (MHS 1187)

Ibid.

representation of the refrain (rechant) is an exact repetition of the first refrains

rhythm, melody, verse and number of voices, while each representation of the
couplet (chant) maintains the same original rhythm but varies in text and number
of voices.
While using le Jeunes structure rather strictly, Messiaen does add some
of his own innovations. Similar to Le Printemps, each representation of the
refrain in Cinq Rechants is the same as the first refrain. But in the couplet,
instead of varying the verse at each representation, Messiaen adds additional
vocal layers, with either new musical material or material from the refrain.
Messiaen therefore does not separate text from rhythm in either his refrain or
couplet. Another innovation to the original structure is Messiaens addition of a
coda to each chanson (or Rechant) and sometimes an introduction. This results
in the structure that can be seen in figure 3.
Rechants I
Rechants II
Rechants III
Rechants IV
Rechants V

I-R-V-R-V-R-C
V-R-V-R-C
I-V-R-V-R-V-C
R-V-R-V-R-V-R-C
I-V-R-R-V-C

Figure 3
R=refrain, V=verse, I/C=intro/coda

As mentioned, in Cinq Rechants Messiaen creates sonic variety in the

couplets through layering. More specifically, the material being layered on top of
the original couplet of each Rechant is usually a made-up word or syllable (a
Sanskrit syllable, a pseudo-Sanskrit word or a hard consonant). This method
substitutes le Jeunes method, in which the rhythm of the couplet is independent
of the verse, and therefore secondary to the accents of the Greek meters.
Messiaen, by juxtaposing new syllables against the repetitions of the couplets,
5

reuses his invented language, and hence develops the sonic qualities of each
syllable within a Rechant. One example of this method of layering is found in
Rechant I. The Rechant opens with a melodious line that uses pseudo-Sanskrit
words: hayo kapritama . It then follows with a refrain in three sections. The
first presents Greek versification of long-short-short-long-short-long-long on
French verse, the second hard spoken consonants t k t k and the third a series
of accented laughter-like sounds ha ha ha. Next comes the couplet, which
juxtaposes two lines of verse one in French and one in the invented words of
the introduction: hayoma kapritama. The length of the verse in each line
corresponds with its rhythm, which cycles twice and ten times respectively (the
verse of the top line is much longer and hence its rhythmic cycle is longer). The
refrain is then presented unchanged. The second representation of the couplet,
which follows the refrain, is twice as long as the original one. In this
representation Messiaen adds new layers of sound by juxtaposing the hard
consonants from the refrain and a new bass line with French verse, against the
original couplet; these also have cyclical rhythmic lines. Finally, the refrain
reappears for the third time with a slight sonic alteration that is achieved through
the addition of the syllable um in the soprano. Rechant I is concluded with a
coda, which is an exact repetition of the introduction.
This first example shows the development of pseudo-Sanskrit words and
syllables within a Rechant: words from the introduction appearing over a new
melodic and rhythmic line in the couplet, and words from the refrain layered
against the original couplet to achieve sonic variety. Another example of verse
development within a single Rechant is found in Rechant II. Here Messiaen
opens with the couplet, which consists of alterations between slow melodious
6

solos and four-voice textures, all with French verse. The refrain, with a rhythmic
line based on Greek versification, then cycles four times, using the pseudoSanskrit words: mayoma kapritama ssarima. The second representation of the
couplet presents a similar syllabic development to that seen in Rechant I as two
new contrapuntal spoken lines are layered against the original couplet. Both lines
develop the syllables from the refrain: mayoma yomata makrita and also
present new syllables: noma ladja, while cycling three and a half times. The
refrain is then repeated unchanged and the Rechant is concluded with a coda
that singles out the developed material from the refrain (previously juxtaposed
against the couplet). Perhaps Messiaen does this to emphasize his use of the
invented syllables as a unifying element between the refrain and couplet and to
emphasize the various sonic possibilities that exist within the same syllables, and
their potential for development within the same Rechant.
Development of Sanskrit syllables takes place on a larger scale as well.
Figure 4 presents all the invented syllables that are used in Cinq Rechants and
the movement/s in which each of them appears. Messiaen incorporates into his
work no less than 31 invented syllables:.

I
II
III
IV
V

I
II
III
IV
V

Ha

Pri

Ka

Li

Ta

Ri

Ma

Kri

La

Ssa

Dja

Na

Pa

Ra

Va

fla

II

III

IV

yo

No

Rhi

Mi

Tri

Gui

Ki

Cheu

sou

Mo

Lo

Ro
Ko
Do
re

Figure 4
Pseudo-Sanskrit syllables and their location in Cinq Rechants

More than 50% of these are developed only within their Rechant. But three
syllables are common to all five movements: Yo, Ma, Ka. Interestingly, these
three syllables also open the composition: (ha)yo(ma) ka(pritama), followed by:
(ma)yoma ka(pritama). Perhaps this is done to denote their structural
significance, since Messiaen uses their various combinations at important
structural points throughout the work. Some of those combinations include: yo
ka ma, yo ma ka (Rechant I), ma yo ma ka (Rechants II, III), ma yo, yo ma
(Rechant III), yo ka ma (Rechant IV), ma yo ma, (ha)yo (Rechant V). In
Rechants I-III, in addition to their other combinations, the syllables are combined
so to repeat the opening combination (ma)yoma kapritama. It is in Rechant III
the middle movement where Messiaens develops them on both the small and
large-scale.
The process by which the three syllables yo, ma, ka are developed in
the third Rechant is unique among the five movements. The syllables appear
only towards the end of the introduction of Rechant III: mayoma (ssari) (ssari)
(mane) (thi)ka(ri). They then appear spoken for the second time in the first
couplet, comprising the original opening pseudo-Sanskrit verse: mayma
kapritama. Then they are repeated in each couplet, each time with the addition
of one more voice (starting with one bass and adding up to three basses and
tenor). Surprisingly, towards the end of the third couplet, the spoken words are
left alone, making the syllables absolutely clear with a unison ff. This is followed
by a subito tutti pp on the syllables yoma, which falls exactly at the golden
section (.618) of the whole work. It then leads to the climax, a twelve-voice canon
at the eighth note on the syllable ha. This is Messiaens first deployment of all
twelve parts simultaneously. Following a short pause, the piece reaches the final
8

section of its climax: a twelve-voice fff cluster sustained on the syllable yo and
concluded on the syllable ma. The Rechant then draws to a close with a quiet
coda.
Messiaens use of the three syllables in the opening, the climax, and the
final coda of the work is not coincidental. They become structural elements on
both the micro and macro level on which the piece is constructed. Most
interestingly, the syllables also fall on non-retrogradable rhythms, which perhaps
explains Messiaens original claim that syllables were chosen for their aptitude in
stressing the music rhythms. Structurally, non-retrogradable rhythms and
ragavardhana coincide with the Sanskrit syllables at critical points. In the same
way that Messiaen creates different combinations and textural permutations of
the three syllables yo, ma, ka, he transforms these rhythms through
techniques of added value, augmentation and diminution, therefore generating
rhythmic variety while maintaining structural unity. A study comparing his
methods of rhythmic permutation so widely studied by scholars with his
methods of syllabic permutation in Cinq Rechants would likely reveal interesting
correlations; this in return could shed more light on his text-use methodology in
seminal vocal works like Harawi.

Bibliography:
Davidson, A. E. (2001). Olivier Messiaen and the Tristan myth. Westport:
Praeger Publishers.
Helm, E. (1951). Current Chronicle, The Musical Quarterly, Vol. 38, No. 1 (Jan.,
1952), 136-145.
Johnson, R. S. (1975). Messiaen. London: J. M. Dent.
Wiest, L. J. (1990). Olivier Messiaens Cinq Rechants: The importance of rhythm
as a structural element. University of Arizona, graduate degree dissertation.
9