The End of Time - Messiaen

Olivier Messiaen: Quartet for the End of Time
Exchange program of Splendor (Amsterdam) and Svilara (Novi Sad, Serbia, European Capital of Culture 2022)

Julija: 'In the light of my wish to connect my two homes Novi Sad and Amsterdam, I have the great privilege to invite you to this, for me very special concert. The mission of Violeta Djerkovic (director of Svilara) and me is an exchange program of Splendor and Svilara as an aftermath of my hometown Novi Sad experiencing a year of cultural swirl and expansion of perception being The European Capital of Culture 2022.

Svilara - an old Silk factory is one of the eight Cultural stations that were created and adapted at attractive locations in Novi Sad. They have their own programme autonomy and aim to be authentic and accessible, bringing cultural and artistic content everywhere and to everyone. Our aim is to connect the Splendor concept and its musicians who are famous for their unique and spontaneous ways of programming, experimenting and communicating with the audience and translate it into a form of inspiration for Svilara to set up a similar community of musicians and audience in Novi Sad.

We performed the ‘Quartet for the End of Time' by Olivier Messiaen on the 18th of June, as a part of the NEO Festival within the Fortress of Peace programme arch of Novi Sad The European Capital of Culture 2022. Now we are happy to play this monolithic piece in Amsterdam in de Uilenburgersjoel.'

Olivier Messiaen (1908-1992):
Quatuor pour la fin du temps / Quartet for the End of Time, for clarinet, violin, cello and piano
I Crystal liturgy -
II Vocalise, for the Angel who announces the end of time
III Abyss of birds
IV Interlude
V Praise to the eternity of Jesus
VI Dance of fury, for the seven trumpets
VII Tangle of rainbows, for the Angel who announces the end of time
VIII Praise to the immortality of Jesus

Shinnosuke Inugai (piano),
Aleksandar Tasić (clarinet),
Julija Hartig (violin),
Marko Miletić (cello)

About the Quartet for the End of Time
Messiaen wrote this monumental piece for the instruments and players available to him in the camp Görlitz (clarinet, violin, cello, and piano) where he was a prisoner of war. This unconventional combination presented some challenges in tonal blend. He brilliantly overcame them by grouping them in more conventional chamber-music settings: clarinet, cello, and piano; violin and piano; violin, cello, and piano adding the the three movements that referenced passages from his earlier works.

The serene “Louange à l’éternité de Jésus” (“Praise to the Eternity of Jesus”) for cello and piano was roughly based on a part of Fête des belles eaux (Celebration of the Beautiful Waters), a piece for six ondes martenots, while the roots of “Louange à l’immortalité de Jésus” (“Praise to the Immortality of Jesus”) were also in the 1930 organ piece Diptyque. The otherworldly “Abîme des oiseaux” (“Abyss of the Birds”) was composed for clarinetist Henri Akoka before the two were transported to Görlitz. Once Messiaen was given access to a piano, he began composing the remaining five movements. Each movement relates to the apocalyptic Book of Revelation, vividly depicted in The Cloisters Apocalypse, an illuminated manuscript from around 1330. The quartet’s fury unfolds in whirling rhythms, but alongside them a vision of eternity sings beautifully in passages of ethereal calm.

“When I arrived at the camp, I was stripped of all my clothes, like all the prisoners,” Messiaen said. “But naked as I was, I clung fiercely to a little bag of miniature scores that served as consolation when I suffered. The Germans considered me to be completely harmless, and since they still loved music, not only did they allow me to keep my scores, but an officer also gave me pencils, erasers, and some music paper.” And so he began to compose. The first performance was on the evening of January 15, 1941, in a freezing cold barack of the camp Gorlitz. For many in attendance it was the first time they heard chamber music of any kind. “Never had I been listened to with so much attention and understanding,” Messiaen recalled.

PLEASE TAKE NOTE: This concert will take place in de Uilenburgersjoel - Nieuwe Uilenburgerstraat 91