Exile, displacement, survival, a desire for peace – the works presented in this concert were written before, during and after the Second World War and form a triad that reads as a declaration of musical and political intent. Kurt Weill began work on his second symphony during Hitler’s takeover of power; Béla Bartók received the commission to write his Concerto for Orchestra after having fled to the USA and it secured him a new livelihood; and 1942/43 Arnold Schönberg composed his «Ode to Napoleon» as an artistic attack on tyranny and an affirmation of democracy.