Fête des belles eaux
From Infogalactic: the planetary knowledge core
Fête des belles eaux is a 1937 composition by French composer Olivier Messiaen.[1] The work is scored for six ondes martenots and was commissioned for the 1937 Paris Exhibition.[2] The work was written to accompany the movement[3] 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:
- Premières fusées
- L'eau
- Les fusées
- L'eau
- Les fusées
- L'eau (à son maximum de hauteur)
- Superposition de l'eau et des fusées
- Feux d'artifice final
The melodic theme used in L'eau was also used later in the fifth movement of Messiaen's Quatuor pour la fin du temps.
