What makes Olivier Messiaen's œuvre so special is, to a great extent, his ability to coalesce various influences, inspirations, and convictions into a wholly individual and perfectly coherent musical language. This includes the development of the modal harmonies of earlier centuries as much as it does an engagement with rhythms from non-European traditions. The wealth of colors in his works stems, in part, from Messiaen's synaesthetic ability to perceive chords as various shapes and colors. As an enthusiastic ornithologist, he spent much time in nature, notating birdsong and then working those, in stylized form, into his compositions. But most importantly, Messiaen's work is governed by his profound faith. Messiaen once said of himself that he didn't primarily see himself as a composer but as an "ornithologist and rhythmist".