Visions de l'Amen

Visions de l'Amen ("Visions of the Amen") is a suite of seven pieces for two pianos by the French composer Olivier Messiaen (1908–1992), commissioned for the Concerts de la Pléiade[1] that were held during the German occupation of Paris.

Contemporaneous to the composition of this work is the publication of Messiaen's theoretical treatise, Technique de mon langage musical (1944), which is a summation of the musical materials and compositional methods he had developed up to the midpoint of his career.

Visions de l’Amen includes abundant examples of Messiaen's rhythmic organization (including rhythmic pedals and non-retrogradable rhythms), chords of resonance, stylized birdsong, and his unique modes of limited transpositions.

[2] According to Messiaen's "author's note" attached to the original score,[3] the work takes its inspiration from a quote of Ernest Hello: "Amen, word of Genesis, which leads to Revelation; Amen, word of Revelation, which is the consummation of Genesis".

The secondo part (played by himself) he assigned "the principal melody, thematic elements, all that demands emotion and strength".