Messiaen’s Quatuor pour la fin du temps (1941) (Quartet for the End of Time) is a piece that is filled with pictorial representations of the text upon which he drew inspiration and speaks to a hopeful view of his capture by the Germans in World War II and imprisonment at Stalag VIII-A.
Messiaen was born in Avignon, France on 10 December 1908 into a highly cultured family, his father a literary scholar and his mother a poetess. At a young age he taught himself to play the piano and began composing. After the end of World War I, the family moved to Nantes, where Messiaen received his first formal music lessons, and in 1919 he entered the Paris conservatory, where he was a highly successful student until his graduation in 1930. (http://holocaustmusic.ort.org/places/camps/western-europe/messiaenolivier/)
https://www.catholiceducation.org/en/culture/music/olivier-messiaen.html
He was drafted for the war as an auxiliary nurse because of his poor eyesight. During his time in the war he was brought to a prisoner of war camp, Stalag VIII-A. There he met a clarinetist (Henri Akoka), violinist (Jean le Boulaire), and cellist (Étienne Pasquier). These were musicians caught in the same turmoil as he and he had decided to write this quartet for them and himself to play. (http://classicalfm.ca/station-blog/2018/12/06/war-prison-music-loving-nazi-guard-yet-stunning-quartet-emerged/)
The Quartet for the End of Time is related to, as Messiaen notes in the preface, an excerpt from the book of Revelation; 10:1–2, 5–7:
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 …
The movement I am focusing on is Fouillis d’arcs-en-ciel, pour l’Ange qui annonce la fin du Temps (Tangle of Rainbows, for the Angel who Announces the End of Time). This movement is considered to be one of the most musically multihued movements in the quartet by Messiaen as he was a synesthete. This movement is described by Messiaen as using the “angel” theme from movement 2, but now the angel arrives in full force, especially the rainbow that covers him. Messiaen feels this movement as though “passing through the unreal and suffer, with ecstasy, a tournament; a roundabout compenetration of superhuman sounds and colors.” (http://www.princetonuniversityconcerts.org/docs/1819_Messiaen_Up_Close_Program.pdf) I interpret his preface as expressing an aural way of escaping the real and political world; to have something purely beautiful and beyond comprehension.
Obviously Messiaen was caught in all the troubles of WWII; casualties, war crimes, genocide, concentration camps, and slave labor, so I believe him to have written this piece as a musical expression of the beauty of his devotion to Catholicism. He wrote this piece to express all the thoughts of the time at the end of time and I interpret that to mean the time after your life has ended. Toward the end of this movement, the piano is arpegiating complex chords and giving a shimiering “rainbow” as a kaleidoscope of color to show a glimpse of his perception of heaven.(http://www.marthasumma.com/pdf/4tet_for_the_end_of_time.pdf) This could definitely be a reason to believe that he wanted something to sound like an out of this world experience and something “beyond.”
Pianist: Matthew Schellhorn
Soloists of the Philharmonia Orchestra: James Clark (violin), Barnaby Robson (clarinet), David Cohen (cello)
I have found mixed interpretations of its premiere:
from Messiaen: “Never was I listened to with such rapt attention and comprehension.” (Joseph Stevenson, All Music Guide to Classical Music: The Definitive Guide to Classical Music (All Media Guide, 2005), 843)
and
from the premiere performers: “The audience, as far as I remember, was overwhelmed at the time. They wondered what had happened. Everyone. We too. We asked ourselves: ‘What are we doing? What are we playing?'”
(http://holocaustmusic.ort.org/places/camps/western-europe/messiaenolivier/)
Lamell argued that music and politics “are two entirely different worlds: Political discourse is one realm, and music is another realm.” (http://musicologynow.ams-net.org/2017/09/does-music-trump-politics-dennis-prager.html) I agree with this point and that is a main argument for why I believe this piece to be a morale booster and a heavenly separation from the political struggle during WWII. I believe that music should not be affected by political movements as pieces that are specifically apolitical can be just as beautiful, if not more. The Quartet was meant to be part of Messiaen’s “commitment to apolitical art” (http://holocaustmusic.ort.org/places/camps/western-europe/messiaenolivier/) and I think his separation is very well accomplished.
Featured photo credit:
https://www.androidcentral.com/get-lost-space-out-world-wallpaper-wednesday
Hi Ben, I really loved reading this article! I thought it was really interesting that, when so many people wrote about pieces influenced by or attempting to influence politics, you brought to light that some pieces can be apolitical in nature. However, do you think that because Messiaen wrote this piece while at a POW camp, it is a reflection of his thoughts of impending death or destruction of humanity? One could argue that this is a political approach to this composition, as it reflects the devastating mental effects of the war. Another thought: do you think that a work of art can influence politics without meaning to? Despite its religious subject matter, I have always been taught this piece surrounded by details of Messiaen’s imprisonment and political context.
I enjoyed your visual aids a lot! I would have liked more images/videos of the sheet music throughout the article (maybe specific excerpts of the piece to prove a particular point). I also liked the different colored backgrounds of texts, which let them stand out from regular paragraphs. Nice job!