LDV49.1

First, let’s talk about your background. What were your first musical experiences? If I ended up making music, it was owing to circumstances! I lost my sight when I was nine years old as a result of an accident, and I then attended a specialised school in Nancy where music was taught. So I only started studying music after I lost my sight. If those words had any meaning, I could even say that I only made music because I lost my sight . . . The music sung in church, in Latin in those days, was very important to me. The melodies were very beautiful. Very early on, I was attracted by keyboard instruments because the institute had a piano, and that made me want to try it . . . The sound immediately appealed to me. One of my teachers, Robert Barth, encouraged me to persevere despite the problem of my left hand, which the accident had also severely damaged. He opened my ears to a great diversity of music – including Messiaen – and I remain eternally grateful to him for that. At the same time, my interest in music also came from the fact that my family sang a lot. Many tunes frommy childhood still come to mind today. So popular songs and hymns were my earliest musical nourishment. The idea that I should concentrate on the organ came a little later. With that in mind, I attended the Institut des Jeunes Aveugles in Paris, where I was able to meet such charismatic musical personalities as Gaston Litaize and André Marchal, and then the Conservatoire, which more or less a prerequisite in those days. At the time, it was generally agreed that it was the best in France, even the best in the world! I stayed there four years in all. 52 MESSIAEN_THE ORGAN WORKS