The geophone is a percussion instrument, invented by the French composer Olivier Messiaen for use in his piece for piano and orchestra Des canyons aux étoiles... ("From the canyons to the stars…"). This article is about the country For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic France topics. A composer (literally meaning 'one who puts together' is a person who creates Music, usually in the medium of notation, for Interpretation and Performance Olivier Messiaen ( December 10 1908 &ndash April 27 1992 was a French Composer, organist and ornithologist. The piano is a Musical instrument played by means of a keyboard that produces sound by striking steel strings with Felt covered hammers An orchestra is an instrumental ensemble, usually fairly large with string brass woodwind sections and possibly a percussion section as well Des canyons aux étoiles… (From the Canyons to the stars is a twelve-movement work by the French Composer Olivier Messiaen. It consists of a drum filled with thousands of small lead pellets, and is played by swirling it around slowly so that the noise of the pellets resembles the sound of dry shifting earth. Characteristics Lead has a dull luster and is a dense, Ductile, very soft highly

Messiaen commissioned a Parisian instrument maker to construct one to his design, and he carried this instrument worldwide to early performances of the piece (which was given its first performance in New York). New York ( is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States and is the nation's third most populous Messiaen's wife, Yvonne Loriod, commented that when she and the composer first collected the new instrument from the maker in her car it made a "splendid crescendo" whenever they went round a corner. Yvonne Loriod (born 20 January 1924, Houilles, Paris, France) is a French Pianist, and the widow of composer

Messiaen also included the instrument in his only opera, Saint-François d'Assise, which was first performed in Paris 1983. Opera is an art form in which Singers and Musicians perform a Dramatic work (called an opera which combines a text (called a Libretto Other works that use the geophone include Asyla by Thomas Adès, …towards a Pure Land by Jonathan Harvey, and the opera The Sacrifice by James MacMillan. Thomas Adès (born in London, 1 March 1971) is a British Composer, Pianist and conductor. Jonathan Harvey (born 3 May, 1939 in Sutton Coldfield) is a British composer The Sacrifice is an Opera in three acts composed by James MacMillan with a Libretto by the Poet Michael Symmons Roberts based on

References

• Peter Hill and Nigel Simeone (2005). Messiaen. Yale University Press, New Haven and London. ISBN 0-300-10907-5.