Title: Le Merle noir
English title: The Blackbird
Genre: chamber
Composition Date: 1952, March (Paris)
Publisher: Leduc (Paris)
Instrumentation: flute, piano
Duration: 6 minutes.
Premiere: Unknown.
Dedication: Unknown.
Movements: Unknown
Notes:
  • Written (as a commission) as a test piece for the Paris Conservatoire's flute examination.
  • Erroneously dated by Messiaen as having been composed in March 1951. (Hill, Simeone, p. 199).
Program notes: