G-NET II

Olivier Messiaen (FR) Olivier Messiaen (EN) "... In 1940 Messiaen was captured as prisoner of war, and while incarcerated he composed his Quatuor pour la fin du temps ("Quartet for the end of time") for the four instruments available, piano, violin, cello and clarinet. The piece was first performed by Messiaen and fellow prisoners to an audience of inmates and prison guards ..." Quatuor pour la fin du temps The piece was composed in highly unusual circumstances. Messiaen had been captured by the German army during World War II (World War II: A war between the Allies (Australia, Belgium, Bolivia, Brazil, Canada, China, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Czechoslovakia, Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Ethiopia, France, Greece, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, India, Iran, Iraq, Luxembourg, Mexico, Netherl) and was held as a prisoner of war (prisoner of war: A person who surrenders to (or is taken by) the enemy in time of war) in Görlitz (Görlitz: görlitz (image:ltspkr.png pronunciation, lusatian: zhorjelc, czech zhorelec)... [follow hyperlink for more...]) in Silesia (Silesia: A region of central Europe rich in deposits of coal and iron ore; annexed by Prussia in 1742 but now largely in Poland) . He had managed to retain some manuscript paper and upon discovering a violin (violin: Bowed stringed instrument that is the highest member of the violin family; this instrument has four strings and a hollow body and an unfretted fingerboard and is played with a bow) ist, a cellist (cellist: Some who plays a violoncello) and a clarinet (clarinet: A single-reed instrument with a straight tube) tist among his fellow prisoners, he wrote a short trio (trio: A set of three similar things considered as a unit) for them. He later wrote the Quatuor for the same trio plus himself at the piano (piano: A stringed instrument that is played by depressing keys that cause hammers to strike tuned strings and produce sounds) . The work was premiered to an audience of 5000 POWs and guards in Stalag VIII A on January 15, 1941. Messiaen later recalled the occasion, saying "never have I been heard with as much attention and understanding." Messiaen wrote in the preface to the score that the work was inspired by the tenth chapter of the Book of Revelation (Book of Revelation: The last book of the New Testament; contains visionary descriptions of heaven and of conflicts between good and evil and of the end of the world; attributed to Saint John the apostle) which says, "And I saw another mighty angel come down from heaven, clothed with a cloud: and a rainbow was upon his head, and his face was as it were the sun, and his feet as pillars of fire. . . . and he set his right foot upon the sea, and his left foot on the earth. . . . And the angel which I saw stand upon the sea and upon the earth lifted up his hand to heaven, and sware by him that liveth for ever and ever, . . . that there should be time no longer: But in the days of the voice of the seventh angel, when he shall begin to sound, the mystery of God should be finished. . . ."