The composer Hans Werner Henze describes his Ninth Symphony for mixed chorus and orchestra (words by Hans-Ulrich Treichel after the novel "The Seventh Cross" by Anna Seghers) as follows:"What happens in this symphony is an apotheosis of terror and pain. It is a summa samarium of my creative output, the attempt to come to terms with the assaults of an arbitrary and unpredictable world. (...) A German reality, this symphony is above all an expression of enormous respect for the people who dared to resist in the time of Nazi-Fascist terror and who gave their lives to defend freedom of thought."