From the Prison Camp to Reflections on Eternity: Olivier Messiaen and the Quartet for the End of Time

This course will explore a unique work in music history: a composition for clarinet, violin, cello, and piano first performed in a German prisoner-ofwar camp on 15 January 1941 before several thousand prisoners. While incarcerated, the thirty-one-year-old Messiaen ruminated on the abyss, the angel announcing the apocalypse, and the end of time in an astonishing musical creation. This magnificent and haunting piece will be performed at the Highlands-Cashiers Chamber Music Festival the weekend of July 20-21. If you plan to come to the concert, this class will immeasurably enhance your enjoyment of this performance.