Page 236 - HandbookMarch1

fire: and he had in his hand a little book open: and he set
his right foot upon the sea, and his left foot on the earth,
and cried with a loud voice, as when a lion roareth: and
when he had cried, seven thunders uttered their voices.
And when the seven thunders had uttered their voices, I
was about to write: and I heard a voice from heaven saying
unto me, seal up those things which the seven thunders
uttered, and write them not. And the angel which I saw
stand upon the sea and upon the earth lifted up his hand
to heaven, and sware by him that liveth for ever and ever,
who created heaven, and the things that therein are, and
the earth, and the things that therein are, and the sea,
and the things which are therein, that there should be
time no longer [il n’y aura plus de temps]: but in the days
of the voice of the seventh angel, when he shall begin to
sound, the mystery of God should be finished, as he hath
declared to his servants the prophets.

The eight movements of the work bear such titles as “Crystal Liturgy,”
“Dance of Fury,” and “Tangle of Rainbows.” Two movements—the
fifth and the final one—are titled Louanges, or hymns of praise,
respectively to the “Eternity of Jesus” and the “Immortality of Jesus.”

But the word “time” is also a kind of pun. It refers to musical
time—the steady beat that underpins conventional Western music.
Here that sense of regular time is frequently suspended, though
it does not disappear altogether. Instead, Messiaen emphasizes
rhythms that expand and contract, unfold in irregular repeating
patterns, behave like palindromes, and otherwise disrupt the
listener’s expectations. Many of these techniques are derived from
Messiaen’s close study of Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring, particularly its
volcanic final section, “Danse sacrale.” He also bases his rhythms
on Hindustani classical music: the piano part in the opening
movement is based on a tala, or rhythmic cycle, recorded by the

8 | Princeton University Concerts princetonuniversityconcerts.org | 9