Quatuor pour la fin du temps by Oliver Massiaen

The Quartet for the End of Time, by Oliver Massiaen, is arguably one of the most beautiful pieces of music ever written. It is heartwrenching and, in my opinion, turns the feeling of heartbreak into something tangible. Honestly, you’ll be hardpressed to find a piece with more soul and raw emotion in it. Here’s a little background on this piece, which explains a lot of the emotions it relays to the listener, from my own prior knowledge with some dates provided by Massiaen’s Wiki. In 1940 (WWII), Massiaen was imprisoned at Stalag VIII-A, a prisoner of war camp in Poland. There, he met a violinist, a cellist and a clarinetist among his fellow prisoners. He wrote a trio for them, which he eventually made into his Quatuor pour la fin du temps ("Quartet for the End of Time"). The Quartet was first performed in January 1941 to an audience of prisoners and prison guards with Massiaen playing on a poorly kept piano in freezing weather.

I guess what fascinates me the most about this piece is the time period in which it was written. The fact that Massiaen wrote this piece while struggling to survive in a torture camp not only astounds me, but speaks volumes about the power of music. Music was just as important to Massiaen’s survival as food and water. Music was something he could not live without. By writing this piece, Massiaen gave hope not only to his fellow musicians, but to the rest of the prisoners present as well. In the direst of situations imaginable, there was still room for music, still room to create and have beauty and hope. That, my friends, is something we can all learn from this.

As with all musical experiences I’ll write about, I invite you to turn off (or silence) your phone. Close your Facebook window. Hit play and close your eyes. Shutting off the lights really adds to the experience as well. Sit for a moment and shut away everything but what you hear. It’s in these moments that we can reach inside of ourselves and really tune in to what the music is saying, what it makes us feel and what we’ll take away from it. When I first heard this piece, the room was dark and I had my eyes closed. It moved me and touched me in a way that I’d never experienced with music, and I think that having these almost religious experiences with music is incredibly important; not only for the understanding of music, but also for the exploration of the innermost self. If you only take just one thing away from this post when you listen to the piece, it should be that every piece of music, classical or not, has something to say. You just have to be willing and open to feeling it.

Happy Listening,

Hanae

Quatuor pour la fin du temps (V. "Louange à l'Éternité de Jésus")