This chapter details the history of Messiaen’s family. It examines Messiaen’s relationships with his parents, Pierre Messiaen and Cécile Sauvage, his two wives, Claire Delbos and Yvonne Loriod, and his son Pascal. It reveals that Messiaen’s private life was complex and sometimes difficult, but also that these relationships had a profound effect on his understanding of himself as a composer, his compositions, and the performance of his music.

This chapter examines Messiaen’s pianistic techniques and virtuosity in Vingt Regards sur l’enfant-Jésus (1944). In particular, it focusses on Yvonne Loriod, who gave the first performance of the work at the Salle Gaveau in March 1945 at the age of only twenty-one, and whose phenomenal virtuosity enabled Messiaen to explore new complexities of musical thought and pianistic expression. It demonstrates how Messiaen’s pianistic style can be understood as part of a tradition reaching back to Chopin, Liszt, and Mussorgsky, while also exploring its parallels in Albéniz and Ravel.

Matthew Schellhorn, who attended lessons with Loriod in the 2000s, discusses her background and her personal and artistic involvement with Messiaen. He examines her as an artist in her own right, discussing her discography, her own compositions, and her activities as a teacher, and thereby brings her character into focus.