The horrors of the Second World War have prompted many composers to bear witness to their social, political or religious commitment in their music.
In Germany, Hanns Eisler was one of those artists who rejected fascism and placed their art in the service of resistance. Pursuing his fight during his exile in the United States, he was better off than his Czech colleague Erwin Schulhoff, whose art was branded as degenerate by the Nazis, resulting in his deportation to the concentration camp of Wülzburg, which he did not survive.
During the same period, the French composer Olivier Messiaen created his Quatuor pour la fin du temps, an apocalyptic vision written during his captivity in a prisoners of war camp in Germany. In this piece, the composer expresses his catholic faith in a transcendental way, using ingenious composition techniques to translate the notion of eternity into music.
Het Collectief (8 musicians)
Liesbeth Devos, sopraan
Calendar
2016.11.15 Philharmonic Hall Kiev (UKR)
2015.10.14 L'Arsenal Metz (F) - première