Quartet for the End of Time - Quatuor pour la fin du temps Flashcards
What is Movement 2’s idea that it is based on?
The book of revelation - Angel announcing the end of time
What is the form of movement 2?
Ternary - ABA’
What mode of limited transposition is featured in movement 2?
Mode 3
What are 2 outside influences on movement 2’s melody?
Plainchant - B section - Middle section
Birdsong - Clarinet
What is a chord on the dominant?
Every note of the major scale - Dominant usually on the bottom
What is a chord of resonance?
The overtones of the harmonic series
What are some modernist features in movement 2?
Unresolved dissonances, Non-functional harmony, Use of new chords
What is a modernist feature of rhythm utilised in movement 2?
Use of a time signature with no clear beat
What are some influences on the rhythm in movement 2?
Free rhythm of birdsong
Rhythm of plainchant in middle section
What is the texture in movement 2?
Layered
What is Movement 6’s idea that it is based on?
Six trumpets announcing various catastrophes - with 7th trumpet sounding the end of time
What is the texture of movement 6?
Monophonic
What are the modes of limited transposition used in movement 6?
Modes 1 and 2
Mode 1 = whole tone
Mode 2 = Octatonic
What are some rhythmic techniques used in movement 6?
Added values
Non-retrogradable rhythms
Augmentation and diminution
Contribution of Messiaen to the chamber music genre?
Harmonic innovation - Modes of limited transposition + new chords
Unconventional circumstances and instrumentation
What are some musical features of modernism?
Neotonality and atonality
Complexity of rhythm
Bitonality
Frequent modulations to distant keys
Virtuosic writing
How is the quartet for the end of time different to traditional chamber music?
More movements
Not all movements feature all players
Programmatic
New musical language
