Olivier Messiaen's Quartet for the End of Time, Part 9

Overview of the fifth movement

The fifth movement is the first of two movements written in the key of E.  Reflecting the concept of eternity in its title, the duration of “Louange à l’Èternité de Jésus” is one of the longest movements in Quatuor resulting in part from a unchanging and very slow tempo. Irregular phrase durations also characterize the movement. This irregularity results from Messiaen’s un-balancing of phrases with the addition or subtraction of a sixteenth note that create rhythmically asymmetrical measures. The fifth movement is therefore dynamic in terms of phrase duration as well as melodic contour and gradual contrasts of expression.  

The Melody of the fifth movement

Messiaen places the cello melody, characterized by lyricism and gradual contrasts of expression, in a high tessitura that never strays below B3.  As with the third and fourth movements, the melody of the fifth movement uses Messiaen’s Mode 2 for pitch content.

The Accompaniment

The piano accompaniment of the fifth movement initially appears to be rather simple:  Three-voice chords, which gain a fourth voice after Reh. D, sustain harmonies by repeating the chords in sixteenth notes.  The accompaniment is dynamic, however, in that it contains a harmonic progression that ascends into a higher register before returning to the register in which it began. 

The Harmonic Rhythm

The harmonic rhythm is slow. New harmonies typically coincide with a new note in the cello melody.  The first sixteenth note of a new harmony is accented.  Although the harmony may change beneath a sustained note of the cello, as in the fifth measure of Reh. A, this the exception.  Therefore, the harmonic rhythm of the accompaniment is largely dependent upon the irregular duration of phrases comprising the cello melody. 

This results in a number of instances in which a typical grouping of four sixteenth notes is extended to five, or eight sixteenth notes are reduced to seven in order to accommodate a segment of cello melody with the duration of five or seven sixteenth notes, respectively.  This technique of creating an irregular harmonic rhythm by tying it to the irregular phrase duration of the cello melody eliminates the possibility of accurately perceiving hypermeter as previously discussed. 

The Continued Fun of Hypermeter

By inhibiting the listener’s ability to perceive hypermeter while simultaneously providing a clear rhythmic pulse, the listener is less able to accurately perceive the passage of greater spans of time while still experiencing a sense of movement.  Thus, the fifth movement creates for the listener a sense of suspension, and therefore the end, of time.

This blog post series is continued here.