It would surely have been unthinkable for Messiaen to have omitted from the Quatuor this unpretentious little movement, which was composed initially as a free-standing piece for his three fellow prisoners (see pp. 7–8). Nonetheless, both its title and the composer's programme note confirm, by their failure to make any mention of the apocalypse, that the ‘Intermède’ stands outside the orbit of what was to become the work's greater inspiration.

Mood

If ‘Abîme des oiseaux’ presents a meditation on freedom and hope through an escape from ‘the equal and measured time of classical music’ and an invocation of birdsong, the ‘Intermède’ is escapist in a contrasting way: it evades through its musical lightheartedness the sombre if uplifting reflections that occupy the remainder of the Quatuor. It does this in an exactly contrasting way, through its conspicuous use of regular rhythms and phrasing; and also – whilst it makes considerable use of Messiaen's modes – through its clear tonal orientation and formal layout.

Although Messiaen generally and most typically tackled lofty themes in his music, this is by no means the only piece he wrote that is lightweight in tone. (He would doubtless have recognised as a young man that his much admired teacher Paul Dukas, though a serious and self-critical composer, was nonetheless famously capable of humour in music.)