Few western musical repertories speak more to the imagination than the Requiem mass for the dead. Yet, surprisingly, despite the significance of Requiem settings for our musical culture, the literature concerning them is sparse. The Book of Requiems presents essays on the most important works in this tradition, from the origins of the genre up to the present day. Each chapter is devoted to a specific Requiem, and offers both historical information and a detailed work-discussion. Conceived as ...

WORLD WAR 2. Tilsit, East Prussia/ Germany.

Elsbeth Zimmermann is married to Fritz Krauledat. She is eight months pregnant when her husband is killed at the Russian front, wearing a German uniform.

Early 1945. On the run for the Soviet Army, Elsbeth arrives as a desperate war refugee with her nine-month-old toddler Joachim in the bombed out State of Thuringia. That part of Germany will soon be occupied by the American Armed Forces. Although, by a strange twist of fate, she will end up in the ...