Oliver Messiaen was a French composer and organist whose works reflected a deep spirituality and appreciation for his Roman Catholic faith. Messiaen's most well-known works, "Quartet for the End of Time," was composed while he was a prisoner of war in Nazi Germany. The piece was first performed to an audience of inmates and prison guards.

Messiaen entered the Paris Conservatoire when he was 11 years old and was appointed organist at the church of La Trinite de Paris in 1931, a post he held until his death. When France feel to Germany in 1940, Messiaen, who was a medical auxiliary to the French army, was made a prisoner of war. He was released in 1941 and became professor of harmony and eventually composition at the Paris Conservatoire.

Messiaen's music was rhythmically complex and influenced by his both travels and interest in ornithology. His melodies were based on "modes of limited transposition," one of Messiaen's own compositional innovations.

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