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Quatuor Pour La Fin Du TempsQuatuor pour la fin du temps, also known by its English title Quartet for the End of Time, is a piece of chamber music by the French composer Olivier Messiaen. It was written about 1940 and is generally regarded as one of his most important works. The piece was composed in highly unusual circumstances. Messiaen had been captured by the German army during World War II and was held as a prisoner of war in Grlitz in Silesia. He had managed to retain some manuscript paper and upon discovering a violinist, a cellist and a clarinettist among his fellow prisoners, he wrote a short trio for them. He later wrote the Quatuor for the same trio plus himself at the piano. 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 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. . . ." The work is in eight movements, each with a title. Not all the instruments play in every movement: - "Liturgie de cristal" (Liturgy of crystal) - for the full quartet
- "Vocalise, pour l'Ange qui annonce la fin du Temps" (Vocalise, for the Angel who announces the end of time) - for the full quartet
- "Abme des oiseaux" (Abyss of birds) - for solo clarinet
- "Intermde" (Interlude) - for violin, cello and clarinet
- "Louange l'ternit de Jsus" (Praise to the eternity of Jesus), for cello and piano
- "Danse de la fureur, pour les sept trompettes" (Dance of fury, for the seven trumpets) - for the full quartet
- "Fouillis d'arcs-en-ciel, pour l'Ange qui annonce la fin du Temps" (Mingling of rainbows, for the Angel who announces the end of time) - for the full quartet
- "Louange l'immortalit de Jsus" (Praise to the immortality of Jesus) - for violin and piano
A typical performance of the work lasts about fifty minutes.
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