Created in the 1940s, Dallapiccola’s short opera Il prigioniero is a poignant statement of resistance against fascism, politically as well as aesthetically, where shattered hope becomes the cruellest torture. – Luigi Nono wrote music of equally gripping power for the voices of murdered victims in Il canto sospeso, which is based on passages from farewell letters written by captured European resistance fighters sen­tenced to death. Two of the most important works of the 20th century.