| Timeline |
| 1908 |
Born Olivier Eugene Prosper Charles Messiaen in Avignon, France, 10 December |
| 1916 |
Begins composing at age 8, before learning to read music |
| 1919 |
Enters the Paris Conservatory at the age of 11 |
| 1931 |
Appointed organiste titulaire of La Trinité in Paris. |
| 1932 |
Marries Claire Delbos
|
| 1936 |
Inducted into Ecole Normale de Musique in Paris and Schola Cantorum |
| 1939 |
Called to serve in the French armed service |
| 1940 |
Taken prisoner by the Nazis |
| 1941 |
Composes Quatuor pour la fin du temps in 1941 while imprisoned; after release was appointed Professor of harmony at the Conservatory
|
| 1943 |
Begins a series of seminars on analysis and composition for a private group of avant-garde artists, 'les fleches,' including Pierre Boulez and Karlheinz Stockhausen |
| 1965 |
Commissioned by the French government to write a dedication to those who died during the two World Wars: Et exspecto resurrectionem |
| 1966 |
Appointed professor of composition at the Paris Conservatory |
| 1978 |
Retirement from the Conservatory |
| 1992 |
Died April 27, 1992, Clichy, near Paris |
