Quartet for the End of Time : On Music, Grief and Birdsong

Author: Symmons Roberts, Michael

20th century & contemporary classical music

Published on 19 February 2026 by Vintage Publishing (Vintage) in the United Kingdom.

Paperback | 304 pages
197 x 129 x 21 | 214g

‘Wonderful’ Spectator‘This is a remarkable book’ TLSA 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. Strange, ecstatic and apocalyptic – listeners of Olivier Messiaen’s masterpiece, Quartet for the End of Time, have been captivated by its music and mythology since the first extraordinary performance in a prisoner of war camp in 1941.

After discovering his music by chance as a teenager, Michael Symmons Roberts’s own fascination with the Quartet leads him on a quest to understand its enigmatic power.

What follows is a moving, unforgettable exploration of grief, of personal faith and doubt, of the end of time and what may lie beyond it.

‘A rich, lively, profound book' Rowan Williams‘An outstanding writer’ Sunday Times