Bohuslav Martinu: Memorial to Lidice (Památník Lidicím)

Bohuslav Martinu: Memorial to Lidice (Památník Lidicím); Europa Philharmonie, Dirigent: Reinhard Seehafer; LIVE-Recording

Lidice is a village in the Czech Republic just northwest of Prague. On 10 June 1942, all 173 men over 16 years of age from the village were murdered. Another 11 men who were not in the village were arrested and murdered soon afterwards along with several others already under arrest. Several hundred women and over 100 children were deported to concentration camps; a few children considered racially suitable for Germanisation were handed over to SS families and the rest were sent to the Chełmno extermination camp where they were gassed to death. After the war ended, only 153 women and 17 children returned. 
Bohuslav Martinů composed his Memorial to Lidice in 1943 as a response to the massacre. The piece quotes from the Czech St Wenceslas Chorale, as well as, in the climax of the piece, the opening notes (dot-dot-dot-dash = V in Morse code) of Beethoven's 5th Symphony. [wikipedia]

Видео Bohuslav Martinu: Memorial to Lidice (Památník Lidicím) канала EuropaPhilharmonie