Olivier Messiaen
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Olivier Eugène Prosper Charles Messiaen was a French composer, organist, and ornithologist. One of the major composers of the 20th century, he was also an outstanding teacher of composition and musica
Messiaen in 1937
Messiaen with his mother and father in 1910
Paul Dukas's composition class at the Paris Conservatoire, 1929. Messiaen sits at the far right; Dukas stands at the centre.
Église de la Sainte-Trinité, Paris, where Messiaen was titular organist for 61 years
Quatuor pour la fin du temps
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Quatuor pour la fin du Temps, originally Quatuor de la fin du Temps, also known by its English title Quartet for the End of Time, is an eight-movement piece of chamber music by the French composer Oli
Olivier Messiaen
…1930s. After the fall of France in 1940, Messiaen was interned for nine months in the German prisoner of war camp Stalag VIII-A, where he composed his Quatuor pour la fin du temps (Quartet for the End of Time) for the four instruments available in the prison—piano, violin, cello and clarinet. The piece was first performed by…
Invitation to the premiere