BELA BARTOK composed his Sonata for violin solo (1944) after emigrating from Hungary to the USA on the outbreak of World War II. Political developments in Hungary and surrounding dictatorships became such an unbearable torment, that after long hesitation he said farewell to his fatherland. Before the October Revolution of 1918, SERGEY PROKOFIEV had been the enfant terrible of Russian music. His pointed, granite-like touch and - for that time - petrifying harmonies invariably caused violent controversies. In 1933, after a voluntary exile of fifteen years, homesickness brought him back to his fatherland.

PAUL HINDEMITH's name was established as a prominent contemporary composer, which led to his appointment in 1927 as composition teacher at the Berlin Hochschule für Musik. However, the rise to power of the Nazis brought an end to Hindemith's activities and performances of his music. His two 'crimes' were the composition of 'degenerate' music and his association with Jews. Via Switzerland he went into exile in the USA.