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Music written and/or performed during World War II in Europe.
Kletzki: Symphony No. 3 (“In memoriam”)
A symphony completed in October 1939, shortly after Germany invaded Kletzki’s native Poland. Ultimately the war would kill his urge to compose, and he wrote nothing new from 1942 to his death in 1973.
Prokofiev: The Year 1941
While not Prokofiev’s most famous or celebrated work, this is a direct and contemporary musical response to war.
Messiaen: Quartet for the End of Time
Written and performed while Olivier Messiaen was a POW during World War II.
Martinu: Memorial to Lidice
A piece written in 1943 to the memory of victims of a Nazi atrocity (see a history here).
Shostakovich: Piano Trio No. 2
The final movement of this trio (1944) is said to have been inspired by Shostakovich’s horror at stories of Jewish people being forced to dig and then dance on their own graves at Nazi death camps. See commentary by Erik Levi.
Prokofiev: The War Sonatas (Piano Sonatas 6, 7, and 8)
Three piano sonatas composed 1939-1944.
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