Sept haïkaï

Sept haïkaï — esquisses japonaises (Seven Haiku: Japanese Sketches) is a composition for piano and small orchestra by Olivier Messiaen.

The set of Sept haïkaï were composed by Messiaen in 1962 after a trip to Japan while he was on honeymoon with his new second wife, Yvonne Loriod.

They were influenced by the sounds of Indian rhythms, Gagaku, the music of the Noh theatre, and the birdcalls of Japan, which he had first incorporated in Chronochromie.

[1] Messiaen also used an underlying melodic-rhythmic structure similar to the isorhythms used by fourteenth century composers such as Vitry and Machaut.

[2] Sept haïkaï are dedicated to Loriod, Pierre Boulez, Seiji Ozawa, Yoritsune Matsudaira, Sadao Bekku, Mitsuaki Hayama, Fumi Yamaguchi, and "to the landscapes, to the music and to all the birds of Japan".