Apparition de l'Eglise eternelle

This piece, the third published by Messiaen in 1932, is written as a big arch.
The piece has 65 bars and starts with ground stops and reeds in the Récit .
The volume increases gradually, going through manual changes, until bar 35 through 39, where the summit of the composition is reached with a ten-fingered C-Majot chord. After that the volume decreases till the end of the composition in pianissimo.

I could not fully comply to the registrations Messiaen perscribed, but tried to fit them as much to the character of St. Omer as possible.

The tempo of this piece, as in his first published composition. “Le Banquet Céleste” is Tres Lent (Very Slow)
Messiaen himself wrote a poem to this piece, which unfortunately was not published with the music.

These are the words:

Faite des pierres vivantes,
Faite des pierres du ciel,
Elle apparaît dans le ciel :
C’est l’Épouse de l’Agneau!
C’est l’Église du ciel
Faite des pierres du ciel
Qui sont les âmes des Élus.
Ils sont en Dieu et Dieu en eux
Pour l’éternité du ciel!

Made from living stones,
Made from the stones of heaven,
She appears in the sky:
It is the bride of the Lamb
It is the church of the heavens
Made from the stones of heaven,
Which has the souls of the chosen ones
They are in God and God is in them
Throughout the eternity of heaven.

(My own rather clumsy translation, sorry!)