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Essay / Research Paper Abstract
A 15 page research paper that offers musical analysis of Oliver Messiaen's most famous work, Quatuor pour la fin du Temps (Quartet for the End of Time). This report particularly focuses on the sixth movement of this eight-movement quartet, which is quite distinctive rhythmically and exemplifies Messiaen's treatment of rhythm. The writer argues that the first two measures of this movement offer a rhythmic motive that provides the basis for the rest of the movement. Through repetition, added rhythmic values, augmentation and subtraction, virtually every rhythmic idea in the remainder of the movement evolves from these two measures. Before addressing the sixth movement directly, however, in order to explore how Messiaen accomplishes this remarkable development, the writer discusses the movement in relation to the rest of the work and briefly looks at his background. Bibliography lists 10 sources.
Page Count:
15 pages (~225 words per page)
File: D0_khmesfin.rtf
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Unformatted sample text from the term paper:
in Gorlitz, Germany (Ross). The music was the "Quartet for the End of Time" by Oliver Messiaen and the premiere took place in the unheated barrenness of Barrack 27 (Ross).
Sitting in the front row, shivering along with everyone else, were the German officers of the camp (Ross). The impact of this music was tremendous as the audience was transported
temporarily out of their grim surroundings and into the timeless eternity predicted by the Book of Revelation. Messiaen was in his early 30s and serving in a menial capacity for
the French medical corps when he was taken prisoner by German forces during World War II in 1940 (Pople 1). He was sent to a prisoner-of-war camp known as Stalag
VIIIA, which was located in a small town about 65 miles from Dresden. Stripped of his uniform, somehow Messiaen managed to retain his haversack, which contained some greatly valued musical
scores. This small musical library, he commented later, brought him solace during the bleakness of his captivity (Pople 1). In additional to keeping his cherished manuscripts, another near miracle occurred.
Not only was he able to retain his small library of scores, but a German officer also gave Messiaen music paper, pencils and erasers (Pople 7). Messiaen soon made
friends with the three other musicians in Stalag VIIIA: cellist, Etienne Pasquier; clarinettist, Henry Akoka and a violinist, Jean le Boulaire (Pople 7). With Messiaen at the piano, this
combination of circumstance and available musical talent dictated the instruments employed for his most famous work, Quatuor pour la fin du Temps (Quartet for the End of Time). The
sixth movement of this eight-movement quartet is quite distinctive rhythmically and exemplifies Messiaens treatment of rhythm. The first two measures of this movement offer a rhythmic motive that provides the
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