The Classical Music Book

(Tuis.) #1

283


Guards patrol a German POW camp
in World War II. Messiaen composed
Quartet for the End of Time while
a prisoner at Camp Stalag VIII-A,
premiering the work to 5,000 fellow
prisoners outside in freezing weather.

See also: Prélude à l’après-midi d’un faune 228–231 ■ A Child of Our
Time 284–285 ■ Gruppen 306–307 ■ Apocalypse 322 ■ In Seven Days 328

MODERN 1900 –1950


hand toward Heaven saying, “There
shall be no more time,” in reference
to the suffering of the period in
which Messiaen was writing.

Reflective and evocative
In the first movement of the piece,
two birds, accompanied by a
plaintive piano and whistling
cello, set the bucolic scene. A loud
interruption heralds the second
movement with a fast and frenzied
unison in the strings, while a
distant, slow melody, suspended
by soft raindrops in the piano,
establishes the pattern of the
reflective and unhurried mood that
characterizes the work. Cascades
of notes end the movement.
In the third movement, the
clarinettist plays a sad pastorale,
juxtaposed with very long notes
moving from silence to ear-piercing
volume. Birdsong—something that
fascinated Messiaen and absorbed
his later years—reappears, adding
a surreal note. After a short trio
interlude comes the spiritual center
of the piece—the fifth movement’s

slow and expressive cello melody,
accompanied by throbbing
harmonies on the piano. In the
sixth movement, the quartet play
in unison to emulate the “seven
trumpets” of the Apocalypse,
negotiating complex dance
rhythms, dynamic contrasts, and
fluctuating tempos. A quiet melody
follows and others interrupt until a
loud unison, accompanied by
cascades of piano notes, leads to a
brutal, triumphant conclusion. The
violinist plays the last notes that
slowly rise to a hushed, lonely end.
Within its eight movements,
the Quartet contains most of the
elements that characterize
Messiaen’s distinctive style and
would later influence his pupils,
including Pierre Boulez and
Karlheinz Stockhausen. ■

Olivier Messiaen


Born in Avignon, France, in
1908, Messiaen was a highly
musical child and studied
at the Paris Conservatoire
from the age of 11, publishing
his eight Préludes while still
a student. He was also a
deeply committed Roman
Catholic from childhood
onward and combined his
two passions as organist of
La Trinité in Paris from 1931.
At this time, the composer
wrote a number of religious
organ pieces and also works
for his wife, the violinist and
composer Claire Delbos, whom
he married in 1932.
In 1941, following his World
War II imprisonment in Silesia,
Messiaen was appointed
professor of harmony at the
Paris Conservatoire. During
the 1950s and 1960s, he
pursued his interest in
birdsong with a number of
works imitating their sounds.
Internationally acclaimed, he
died in Paris in 1992.

Other key works

1932 Thème et variations
1946–1948 Turangalîla-
symphonie
1951 Livre d’orgue
1959 Catalogue d’oiseaux

US_282-283_Messiaen.indd 283 26/03/18 1:01 PM

Free download pdf