Messiaen's Own Description of "Apparition....."

"It is the Bride of Christ made of heaven's stones, which are the souls of the elect."

From Olivier Messiaen: The Organ Works; commentary by Paul Griffiths:

"Now at La Trinité, Messiaen created here a piece in chords that move slowly and with the utmost determination. Harmony and implacable rhythm together provide an image of the unalterable edifice appearing from out of confusion. The work is an "enormous and granite-like crescendo", in which the church comes ever nearer until it blinds us with C major [pure white light, according to his colour code] long sustained by both manuals and pedals. There is then a corresponding departure."