''Fête des belles eaux'', or ''Festival of the beautiful waters'' in English, is a 1937 composition by French composer

Olivier Messiaen Olivier Eugène Prosper Charles Messiaen (, ; ; 10 December 1908 – 27 April 1992) was a French composer, organist, and ornithology, ornithologist. One of the major composers of the 20th-century classical music, 20th century, he was also an ou ...

. The work is scored for six ''

ondes Martenot The ondes Martenot ( ; , ) or ondes musicales () is an early electronic musical instrument. It is played with a lateral-vibrato Keyboard instrument, keyboard or by moving a ring tied to a wire, creating "wavering" sounds similar to a theremin. D ...

s'' and was commissioned for the

1937 Paris Exposition The ''Exposition Internationale des Arts et Techniques dans la Vie Moderne'' (International Exposition of Art and Technology in Modern Life) was held from 25 May to 25 November 1937 in Paris, France. Both the Palais de Chaillot, housing the Mu ...

. The work was written to accompany the movement of the fountains at the Exhibition.

Structure

This composition is in eight movements and takes approximately 30 minutes to perform. The movement list is as follows: The melodic theme used in the fourth movement was also used later in the fifth movement ("''Louange à l'Éternité de Jésus''") of Messiaen's ''

Quatuor pour la fin du temps ''Quatuor pour la fin du Temps'' (), originally ''Quatuor de la fin du Temps'' ("''Quartet of the End of Time''"), also known by its English title ''Quartet for the End of Time'', is an eight-movement piece of chamber music by the French composer ...

''.

References

External links

Olivier Messiaen: Fête des belles eaux (1937)
(YouTube) {{DEFAULTSORT:Fete des belles eaux 1937 compositions Chamber music by Olivier Messiaen Exposition Internationale des Arts et Techniques dans la Vie Moderne World's fair music Suites (music)