ABSTRACT
This chapter provides an overview of Messiaen's activities in the spring of 1941, with his transition from prisoner of war to harmony professor; a history of the origins of the Portique project and its context as part of celebrating the new national holiday on 11 May; a description of the pageant with its cast of hundreds. Hill and Simeone indicate a 10 March 1941 letter from Messiaen to composer Claude Arrieu as the first sign of activity from Messiaen upon his return from captivity, with word of his new job with the Association Jeune France coming shortly afterward in a letter dated 12 March. While Messiaen knew he had the job with the Association Jeune France on 12 March, his dossier for the job of harmony professor at the Conservatoire was received by the ministerial administration on 20 March, five days after the official deadline.
