A multi-dimensional analysis of a modernist work composed in captivity: Olivier Messiaen, "Quartet for the End of Time"

In this thesis, the compositional process of the work entitled Quatuor pour la fin du temps (Quartet for the End of Time) by Olivier Messiaen, the physical environment in which the work was composed, the non-musical motivations in the work and the techniques utilized in the compositional language will be examined. The main objective of this research is to determine the influential effects of non-musical motivation during the composition process of Quatuor pour la fin du Temps on the musical elements of the composition. Technical elements such as Indian rhythms / Indian modes, Greek rhythms, Medieval Classical rhythmical principles, French organ music tradition, synthetic modes/synthetic rhythms and total serialism, along with a set of concepts such as Catholicism, Ornithology (bird-science) and Synesthesia are among the topics to be analyzed in the context of Quatuor pour la fin du temps.