The Defiant Requiem
Last night, I watched a beautiful documentary on PBS, Defiant Requiem . It is the true story of a 1944 performance of Verdi's beautiful Requiem Mass in Terezín, a Nazi concentration camp. The performance was arranged by inmate and conductor, Rafael Schächter. It was performed by a chorus of his fellow prisoners, many of whom would be shipped out to face death following the performance. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jason-apuzzo/voices-raised-in-resistan_b_3029488.html?utm_hp_ref=entertainment The link above is for a great article by Jason Apuzzo, of The Huffington Post. "Know before whom you stand." A wall of the secret synagogue at Terezin. There's not much to add to Apuzzo's article, other than: 1. My favorite quote, amongst many: Survivor Edgar Krasa says of the Requiem , "It was a prayer that overcame hunger ... you were there [singing] in that cellar and you were a different person." Another survivor who sang in th...