Olivier Messiaen
When World War II broke out Messiaen was made a prisoner of war in 1940.  While he was held in a Silesian camp he composed a work which was to become a very famous piece of chamber music: the Quatour pour la fin du temps ("Quartet for the end of time") for piano, violin, cello, and clarinet.  He composed for these instruments because they were the instruments available. The piece was first performed by Messiaen and fellow prisoners to an audience of 5000 inmates and prison guards. He played a poorly maintained upright piano in freezing conditions and the trio played third-hand unkempt instruments. The work is about the life at the prison camp. Today the work is seen as   one of 20th-century classical music's acknowledged masterpieces. The title's "end of time" alludes to the Apocalypse. It is also about the way that Messiaen, through rhythm and harmony, used time in a manner completely different from other people..