Messiaen

Messiaen’s Quartet for the End of Time: Visions of Eternity

by

One of the 20th century’s most mystical and transcendent works was created in a frigid, overcrowded German prisoner-of-war camp during the gloomy second winter of World War II. It was not his captivity, nor premonitions of a coming fiery apocalypse that inspired Olivier Messiaen (1908-1992) to compose the provocatively titled Quartet for the End of Time (“Quatuor pour la fin du temps”), but serene spiritual visions of the “eternity of space and …

Read more

Olivier Messiaen: Three Mystical Reflections for Holy Week

by

“My faith is the grand drama of my life,” wrote the French composer and organist Olivier Messiaen (1908-1992). “I’m a believer, so I sing words of God to those who have no faith.” Indeed, Messiaen’s music revels in the awe and wonder of the divine. Often, it drifts into haunting, deeply meditative territory where time seems to be suspended. From the bright, angelic colors of the human voice to the muted rumble …

Read more