to him at the time (with the notable exception of the Conservatoire and several others). The compass lasted to C6 (61 note manuals) and G4 (32 note pedalboard). Paul Griffiths suggests that the piece was written contemporaneously with La nativité du Seigneur. The scholar Christopher Brent Murray, on the other hand, believes that the Prélude may have been composed in January 1928 and submitted on the 25th of that month. According to him, Messiaen may have referred to the piece as the examination submission. The lack of the usual Bien, which appears on Messiaen's manuscripts as a marking of approval, also points to the theory that this is a conservatoire assignment. It, however, appears on the Offrande's manuscript. The work's manuscript of twenty pages (six pages of music) lies in the Bibliothèque nationale de France. Structure The piece has a duration of 9 minutes and a total of 89 bars. It is in E major and has an unchanging time signature of . It opens with a brief three-measure introduction, marked Sans hâte (without haste; 96 BPM) with Messiaen's dictated registration being Flutes at 8' and 4' pitch on the Récit (swellbox closed) and a Flûte harmonique on the Positif. Originally, Messiaen dictated the addition of a pedal part to this, with a pedal coupler enabled for the Positif, but this was removed. The work proper begins with the marking of Lent (adagio; 58 BPM) lasts from measures 4 to 17. Here, Messiaen calls for: Récit: voix célestes Positif: flûte 4', quintaton 16' Grand-Orgue: fonds 8' sans principal Pédale: flûte 16' acc. P[ositif] Hakim revised the registration, changing it to: Récit: voix céleste, gambe 8' Positif: flûte 4', quintaton 16' Grand-Orgue: fonds 8' Pédale: flûtes 16' et 8' acc. P.[ositif] Modéré, presque vif (Moderately, almost quick), marked at 152 BPM, is the final section of the piece (which crescendoes to a thunderous staccato climax); which contains the development, the recapitulation, and coda. Here, high Gs appear in the Pedal. They can be omitted if the organ compass is insufficient. The work closes with a slow and quiet coda which calls for a Flûte 8' on the Récit, Flûte 4' and Quintaton 16' on the Positif, and Flûte 4' on the Pedal (which eventually disappears). It ends extremely quietly with a ppp mark. The introduction, Lent, and Modéré, presque vif, can be classified as sections, and are divided by fermatas. Edits