Messiaen’s song cycles Trois Mélodies (1930) and Harawi (1945) were both inspired by the loss of a loved one: the Mélodies are a memorial to his mother who had died three years previously and Harawi was written shortly after his wife Claire Delbos had begun to suffer from the long illness that would ultimately lead to her death. But far from resorting to misery, the shimmering beauty of Messiaen’s music leaves the listener with a sense of hope and transcendence.