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Quartet for the End of Time: On Music, Grief and Birdsong
A personal reckoning with grief, doubt, faith and poetry set to one of the most celebrated musical works of the twentieth century, from the award-winning poet and librettist.
The story goes like on a freezing winter night in 1941, a new piece of chamber music was performed to a crowd of prisoners of war on a three-stringed cello, clarinet, violin and pub piano with sticky keys. It was the premiere of Olivier Messiaen’s Quatuor pour la fin du Temps.
Listeners since then have been captivated by the ecstatic music and mythology of Messiaen’s masterpiece. Michael Symmons Roberts’ own lifelong fascination with the Quartet– having chanced upon it in a record shop in his late teens and fallen in love with its title - leads him on a quest to understand its enigmatic power. His fascination – at times frustration – with Messiaen’s vision opens into an exploration of grief, of personal faith and doubt, of the end of time and what may lie beyond it. Interwoven with poetry and wit, this book is an expansive evocation of music, loss, hope and time, seen through the lens of the Quartet's technicolour, apocalyptic vision.
Quartet for the End of Time is a moving, intimate and unforgettable book, attentive to ways of listening – in our noisy world – to birdsong, music, poems and radio silence, and to the call and response that we may find.
The story goes like on a freezing winter night in 1941, a new piece of chamber music was performed to a crowd of prisoners of war on a three-stringed cello, clarinet, violin and pub piano with sticky keys. It was the premiere of Olivier Messiaen’s Quatuor pour la fin du Temps.
Listeners since then have been captivated by the ecstatic music and mythology of Messiaen’s masterpiece. Michael Symmons Roberts’ own lifelong fascination with the Quartet– having chanced upon it in a record shop in his late teens and fallen in love with its title - leads him on a quest to understand its enigmatic power. His fascination – at times frustration – with Messiaen’s vision opens into an exploration of grief, of personal faith and doubt, of the end of time and what may lie beyond it. Interwoven with poetry and wit, this book is an expansive evocation of music, loss, hope and time, seen through the lens of the Quartet's technicolour, apocalyptic vision.
Quartet for the End of Time is a moving, intimate and unforgettable book, attentive to ways of listening – in our noisy world – to birdsong, music, poems and radio silence, and to the call and response that we may find.
304 pages, Hardcover
Published April 17, 2025
5 people are currently reading
36 people want to read
About the author
Michael Symmons Roberts
27 books20 followersMichael was born in 1963 and spent his childhood in Lancashire, England before moving south with his family to Newbury in Berkshire in the early ‘70’s. He went to comprehensive school in Newbury, then to Oxford University to read Philosophy & Theology.
After graduating, he trained as a newspaper journalist before joining the BBC in Cardiff as a radio producer in 1989. He moved with the BBC to London, then to Manchester, initially in radio, then as a documentary filmmaker. His last job at the corporation was as Executive Producer and Head of Development for BBC Religion & Ethics, before he left the BBC to focus on writing.
His 4th book of poetry – Corpus – was the winner of the 2004 Whitbread Poetry Award, and was shortlisted for the T.S. Eliot Prize, the Forward Prize for best collection, and the Griffin International Prize. His 6th collection - Drysalter - was the winner of the 2013 Forward Prize and was shortlisted for the T.S. Eliot Prize.
He has previously received the Society of Authors’ Gregory Award for British poets under 30, the K Blundell Trust Award, and was shortlisted for the T.S. Eliot Prize for his 2001 collection Burning Babylon. In 2007 he received a major Arts Council Writers Award.
His continuing collaboration with composer James MacMillan has led to two BBC Proms choral commissions, song cycles, music theatre works and operas for the Royal Opera House, Scottish Opera, Boston Lyric Opera and Welsh National Opera. Their WNO commission - The Sacrifice - won the RPS Award for Opera in 2008, and their Royal Opera House / Scottish Opera commission - Clemency - was nominated for an Olivier Award.
His work for radio includes A Fearful Symmetry - for Radio 4 - which won the Sandford St Martin Prize, and Last Words commissioned by Radio 4 to mark the first anniversary of 9/11. His first novel – Patrick’s Alphabet – was published by Jonathan Cape in 2006, and his second – Breath – in 2008. He is a trustee of the Arvon Foundation, and Professor of Poetry at Manchester Metropolitan University. In 2012 he was made a Fellow of the English Association, for services to the language arts.
He is married with three sons, and lives near Manchester. (source: http://www.symmonsroberts.com/about_l...)
After graduating, he trained as a newspaper journalist before joining the BBC in Cardiff as a radio producer in 1989. He moved with the BBC to London, then to Manchester, initially in radio, then as a documentary filmmaker. His last job at the corporation was as Executive Producer and Head of Development for BBC Religion & Ethics, before he left the BBC to focus on writing.
His 4th book of poetry – Corpus – was the winner of the 2004 Whitbread Poetry Award, and was shortlisted for the T.S. Eliot Prize, the Forward Prize for best collection, and the Griffin International Prize. His 6th collection - Drysalter - was the winner of the 2013 Forward Prize and was shortlisted for the T.S. Eliot Prize.
He has previously received the Society of Authors’ Gregory Award for British poets under 30, the K Blundell Trust Award, and was shortlisted for the T.S. Eliot Prize for his 2001 collection Burning Babylon. In 2007 he received a major Arts Council Writers Award.
His continuing collaboration with composer James MacMillan has led to two BBC Proms choral commissions, song cycles, music theatre works and operas for the Royal Opera House, Scottish Opera, Boston Lyric Opera and Welsh National Opera. Their WNO commission - The Sacrifice - won the RPS Award for Opera in 2008, and their Royal Opera House / Scottish Opera commission - Clemency - was nominated for an Olivier Award.
His work for radio includes A Fearful Symmetry - for Radio 4 - which won the Sandford St Martin Prize, and Last Words commissioned by Radio 4 to mark the first anniversary of 9/11. His first novel – Patrick’s Alphabet – was published by Jonathan Cape in 2006, and his second – Breath – in 2008. He is a trustee of the Arvon Foundation, and Professor of Poetry at Manchester Metropolitan University. In 2012 he was made a Fellow of the English Association, for services to the language arts.
He is married with three sons, and lives near Manchester. (source: http://www.symmonsroberts.com/about_l...)
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Displaying 1 of 1 review
November 2, 2025
The performance of Messiaen's Quartet for the End of Time at Sheffield's Crucible Theatre this November was a happy coincidence with the publication of Symmon Roberts' book on the work. I discovered the Quartet for myself (specifically the achingly beautiful fifth movement) some 15 years ago but aside from the details surrounding its composition and famous premiere I had paid little attention to the music itself.
Messiaen's Quartet is in fact the frame that holds a wider discussion together. Thankfully it is not a book comprehensible only to musicologists (Symmons Roberts is open about his own lack of musical knowledge) although I think that some familiarity with the piece would be useful to any would-be reader. Only when non-retrogradable rhythms is discussed did I feel that I needed a little more explanation. Symmons Roberts ranges over his reaction to the death of his parents at the time of Covid and some more philosophical musings around his own faith with occasional diversions to other thinkers such as Simone Weil.
The book is constructed in eight parts, each part corresponding to one of the movements of the quartet. The movement is described, perhaps with help from a musician who has played the piece. Symmons Roberts writes with great sensitivity and thoughtfulness, making the book a deeply interesting, moving and enjoyable read. Just occasionally it felt like it meandered in a way that Messiaen never does. I found the discussion of the myths surrounding the first performance in the Silesian labour camp very interesting but what I found most helpful was Symmons Roberts' discussion of the composition of his own poetry and his poetic reaction to his parents' death.
The performance by Ensemble 360 at the Crucible was stupendous. I am sure that I got more out of it having read the book, and similarly appreciated the book more for seeing the music. Ultimately, though, the music with its themes of eternity and immortality spoke eloquently enough for itself.
Messiaen's Quartet is in fact the frame that holds a wider discussion together. Thankfully it is not a book comprehensible only to musicologists (Symmons Roberts is open about his own lack of musical knowledge) although I think that some familiarity with the piece would be useful to any would-be reader. Only when non-retrogradable rhythms is discussed did I feel that I needed a little more explanation. Symmons Roberts ranges over his reaction to the death of his parents at the time of Covid and some more philosophical musings around his own faith with occasional diversions to other thinkers such as Simone Weil.
The book is constructed in eight parts, each part corresponding to one of the movements of the quartet. The movement is described, perhaps with help from a musician who has played the piece. Symmons Roberts writes with great sensitivity and thoughtfulness, making the book a deeply interesting, moving and enjoyable read. Just occasionally it felt like it meandered in a way that Messiaen never does. I found the discussion of the myths surrounding the first performance in the Silesian labour camp very interesting but what I found most helpful was Symmons Roberts' discussion of the composition of his own poetry and his poetic reaction to his parents' death.
The performance by Ensemble 360 at the Crucible was stupendous. I am sure that I got more out of it having read the book, and similarly appreciated the book more for seeing the music. Ultimately, though, the music with its themes of eternity and immortality spoke eloquently enough for itself.
Displaying 1 of 1 review