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BookPrinted Material
Author Rischin, Rebecca, 1967-

Title For the end of time : the story of the Messiaen quartet / Rebecca Rischin.

Publication Info. Ithaca, N.Y. : Cornell University Press, 2003.

Item Status

Location Call No. Status OPAC Message Public Note Gift Note
 Moore Stacks  ML410.M595 R57 2003    Available  ---
Description xii, 175 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm
Bibliography Includes discography (pages 135-138), bibliographical references (pages 155-159), and index.
Contents The quartet begins -- The quartet in prison -- Preparing the premiere -- Intermède -- The premiere -- The quartet free -- After the quartet -- Into eternity.
Summary Publisher's description: Olivier Messiaen (1908-1992) was one of the great composers of the twentieth century. The premiere of the French composer's Quartet for the End of Time on January 15, 1941 at -4 degrees Fahrenheit in Stalag VIII A, a Nazi prison camp, has been called one of the great stories of twentieth-century music. A devout Catholic with an interest in mysticism and the supernatural, Messiaen was also a poet and an accomplished amateur ornithologist. He mixed sounds as a painter mixes colors, associating specific shades with certain modes and chords. This book is the first comprehensive history of the composition and premiere of the Quartet for the End of Time. Based on testimonies by the musicians and their families, witnesses to the premiere, former prisoners, and on documents from Stalag VIII A, For the End of Time examines the events that led to the Quartet₂s composition, the experiences of the musicians in the camp, the contradictory accounts, the composer's interpretive preferences, and the musicians' problems in execution and how they affected the premiere and subsequent performances. Rebecca Rischin explores the musicians' life in the prison camp, their relationships with each other and with the German camp officials, and their intriguing fortunes before and after the momentous premiere. For the End of Time is distinguished by Rischin's extensive interviews and intimate correspondence with camp survivors who witnessed the Quartet's premiere and members of the Messiaen circle, including the cellist Etienne Pasquier and the violinist Jean Le Boulaire, relatives of the clarinetist Henri Akoka, and Messiaen's widow, Yvonne Loriod. The book is generously illustrated with photographs of the musicians, press releases from the premiere, autographs, letters, and pen-and-ink drawings of the camp's layout. Included are wartime photos of the camp and its prisoners along with present-day views of the camp site, which Rischin visited in 1995.
Subject Messiaen, Olivier, 1908-1992. Quatuor pour la fin du temps.
Prisoners of war as musicians -- France.
Prisoners of war as musicians.
France.
Prisoners of war as musicians -- Germany.
Germany.
World War, 1939-1945 -- Prisoners and prisons.
World War (1939-1945)
Music -- First performances -- Germany.
Music -- First performances.
ISBN 0801441366 alkaline paper
9780801441363 alkaline paper