Fête des belles eaux explained

Fête des belles eaux, or Festival of the beautiful waters in English, is a 1937 composition by French composer Olivier Messiaen.[1] The work is scored for six ondes Martenots and was commissioned for the 1937 Paris Exposition.[2] The work was written to accompany the movement[3] of the fountains at the Exhibition.

Structure

This composition is in eight movements and takes approximately 30 minutes to perform. The movement list is as follows:

The melodic theme used in the fourth movement was also used later in the fifth movement ("Louange à l'Éternité de Jésus") of Messiaen's Quatuor pour la fin du temps.

External links

Notes and References

  1. News: Music Obituaries - Yvonne Loriod . 18 May 2010. The Daily Telegraph. 25 September 2013.
  2. Book: Christopher Dingle. Christopher Dingle. Messiaen's Final Works. Ashgate Publishing. 2013. 9780754606338. 28 September 2013.
  3. News: Strange echoes of another world. Ivan Hewett. Ivan Hewett. 15 March 2005. The Daily Telegraph. 1 October 2013.