Ictus

Olivier Messiaen composed his Quatuor pour la fin du temps (Quartet for the End of Time) in 1940, during the Second World War, when he was a prisoner of war in a German camp in Görlitz. Its origins in these tragic circumstances led to it becoming an iconic work. BOZAR now includes it in a weekend devoted to the theme of the apocalypse. The work is, however, more poignant than tragic. Its two slow movements, Louanges, are exceptionally tender, while the rhythmic Danse de la fureur demonstrates an extraordinary resilience. Here, too, for the first time, we hear the birdsong so characteristic of the music of the composer-ornithologist Messiaen.