Messiaen's Rhythmic Influence

The opening measures of Trumpet Sonata, Op. 1 present a concept of musical time favored by Olivier Messiaen. The first movement of this sonata does not have a time signature, only the marking "Allegro moderato." Given this general tempo indication and the notation of two half notes to begin the piece, one is immediately led to believe that the movement will be somewhat slow. This changes when the next two measures accelerate the overall perception of time in the movement. The half notes become quarter notes and the quarter notes then become eighth notes, which accelerates the perception of time. This acceleration becomes more salient when time is later slowed down through motivic augmentation.

R1 is the first of the rhythmic motives to be subjected to this Messiaen perception of time. Whereas the opening of the movement accelerates the perception of time, the augmentation of R1 slows down the perception of time.

R2 also undergoes augmentation, played here by the trumpet. The slowed perception of time is further supported by the fact that the trumpet is playing a retrograde row form, R8. The prolongation of the listener's sense of time, paired with the retrograde pitch material, likely serves as a way of notating musical memory. Time is quite the philosophical phenomenon, and it appears as though Davies is highlighting the sense of eternal time by moving it forward and backwards. He has not defined the constraints of time, rather, he has created a sense of only being able to perceive the present moment.