1944 年法國作曲家梅湘在他出版的《我的音樂語言的技巧》中明揭他對 於音樂的時間層面：節奏的關懷，戰爭期間完成於集中營的作品《為時間終結 的四重奏》即具體展現了他在書中闡述的節奏理論。終其一生，梅湘作品裡的 時間與節奏層面均為其重要關懷所在。而梅湘在巴黎高等音樂院教學生涯晚年 的學生如格理塞和穆海爾等人，他們在1970 年代末期開創的「頻譜樂派」，在 時間觀與節奏論方面不但承繼了梅湘的關懷，更受到二次戰後電子音樂音響觀 念的影響，呈現出和梅湘音樂不同的發展面貌。
延續個人對於梅湘早年作品的研究，本文將以梅湘和頻譜樂派的時間觀與節奏論為探討對象，除了參酌梅湘晚年著作《節奏、色彩與鳥類學論》和格理塞《文集──或頻譜音樂的創意》中關於時間與節奏的論述，更透過這兩位作曲家作品的討論，嘗試梳理梅湘和頻譜樂派的傳承關係，並揭示這兩代作曲家在時間觀與節奏論，乃至於音樂書寫風格的主要差異。

In Technique of My Musical Language, Olivier Messiaen clearly presents his personal interest in “time” and “rhythm.” They are perfectly treated in his Quatour pour la Fin du Temps, which was written in a prisoner-of-war camp of the German army during the Second World War. In addition to rhythm, the particularity of Messiaen’s music consists of his treatment of harmonic color and orchestral timbre. Messiaen’s Chronochromie presents both the elements “time” and “color,” wholeheartedly. As a teacher, Messiaen inspired a number of musicians in his famous class of “Musical Analysis and Aesthetic” at the Conservatoire of Paris. In the 1970’s, two of his pupils, Gérard Grisey and Tristan Murail, established and developed the “Spectral School,” which has succeeded his interests in time and color and inspired many young composers.
First, our research will focus on the discourses of Messiaen and Grisey regarding time and rhythm in reference to Messiaen’s last theoretical work, Traité de Rythme, de Couleur, et d’ornithologie, and Écrits ou l’Invention de la Musique Spectrale of Grisey. By introducing the ideas of Messiaen and those of Grisey, we will attempt to determine the relationship between “spectral music” and the ideas of Messiaen particularly in the domain of time and rhythm. Finally, we will try to find the intricate evolutionary process from Messiaen to s “Spectral School” in the context of contemporary French music.