Customer Reviews

Music for the End of Time

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Music for the End of Time is a children's picturebook based on the true story of French composer Olivier Messiaen, who was captured by the Germans during World War II and sent to a prison camp in Gorlitz (now part of Poland). Despite the bleak living conditions, he received the gift of a small miracle - the opportunity to write music again. With the aid of three fellow musicians also taken prisoner, the song of a beautiful nightingale, and the permission of a German officer, he was able to compose and play the now-famous "Quartet for the End of Time", in a performance appreciated like no other by his fellow prisoners. The emotionally touching pastel illustrations add the perfect quality to this simple story about keeping hope alive in the darkness.

Music for the End of Time would be perfect as PART of a unit on the Holocaust. Messian brought hope to all in Stalag 8A and that is amazing. My suggestion is that before you read the book, start off by letting students listen to the "Quartet for the End of Time" by Olivier Messian (I use a video of a violinist from YouTube). Ask students what they hear, the feeling conveyed by the composer, etc. Then, play it in the background as you read this book. At the end of the story, ask them the same questions. It makes the hope, music, and Messian come alive to students. If you are looking for a book to introduce the Holocaust, then I highly recommend Terrible Things by Eve Bunting.

This story is based on the experience of Olivier Messiaen, a Christian French composer. In 1941, he is detained in a German prison camp, but he is granted permission to play a piano and compose his music. A German officer leads him to the piano and he eventually becomes inspired by the song of a nightingale, which he translates into a sonata. Two new prisoners arrive carrying their instruments in cases and before long, voila!-- chamber music for a camp concert in front of 5,000 prisoners. The camp is described as desolate, and the first illustration does show a dejected line of khaki-clad prisoners being guarded through the gates by German guards and a dog. The prisoners are sent to their barracks where they receive non-striped khaki uniforms and mattresses made of straw, but the lovely pastel illustrations down play the harshness of the surroundings. There is no Jewish content.. The now-famous piece Messiaen composed there, is: Quartet for the End of Time. For ages 8 and up. Reviewed by Marcia Posner

"Quartet for the End of Time" is a 20th century classic, but hardly an item that most children would relate to. The music demands sophisticated listening for most adults, though like any music a listener may choose just to daydream with or without Messiaen's own descriptive commentary. The children's storybook format is charming on its own, though the depiction of a POW camp is heavily sugar-coated. "Schindler's List" this is not! "Music for the end of time" hardly evokes the brutal harmonies or mystic vision of the actual music, but might just get someone started down the path to exploring a composer well worth discovering, especially in this [2008] his centennial year.