About

The work was composed in 2003 at the request of the editor and translator Matej Venier. Its programmatic background is drawn from a chapter of Fyodor Dostoevsky’s novel Demons, in which the character Lyamshin stages the Franco-Prussian War at the piano. The conflict is metaphorically represented by two well-known melodies: the French La Marseillaise and the German song O mein lieber Augustin. The virtuosic satire is reinforced by a narrator who delivers the accompanying text.

Lyrics by

F. M. Dostoevsky