Fête des belles eaux

Fête des belles eaux, or Festival of the beautiful waters in English, is a 1937 composition by French composer Olivier Messiaen. The work is scored for six ondes Martenots and was commissioned for the 1937 Paris Exposition. 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:

1. Premières fusées (First rockets)

2. L'eau (The water)

3. Les fusées (The rockets)

4. L'eau (The water)

5. Les fusées (The rockets)

6. L'eau (à son maximum de hauteur) (The water (at its maximum height))

7. Superposition de l'eau et des fusées (Superposition of the water and the rockets)

8. Feu d'artifice final (Firework finale)

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.