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The Works：Non-visual Photography & in the studio: HKU MUSE's 80 Years of the Messiaen Quartet

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French composer, organist and teacher Olivier Messiaen was a devout Catholic and an enthusiastic ornithologist who integrated birdsong, Catholic theology, and mystical and religious themes into his music. Early in World War II, he was interned in a Nazi prisoner-of-war camp in Gorlitz, Germany. While there, he wrote “Quartet for the End of Time”, composing for the instruments and musicians available: clarinet, violin, cello and piano. They rehearsed in in the camp bathroom and gave the piece its premiere in front of some 400 prisoners and German officers on 15th January 1941. On the 8th October, the University of Hong Kong’s MUSE is presenting a concert to mark the 80th anniversary of the quartet. Earlier this week, the musicians who will be performing came to our studio to tell us more.

Messiaen sometimes said that for him, music was not just “tonal”, “modal” or “serial”, music was about colour. “I see colours when I hear sounds,” he said. “But I don’t see colours with my eyes, I see colours intellectually in my head.” This ability, to experience one of your senses through another, is called synaesthesia. Not all of us experience it, but those living with an impairment of one sense do sometimes find ways to make up for it by making unconventional or additional use of the others.
Category
문화 - Culture
Tags
Chinese Works, Hong Kong, The Works
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