A Special Performance by the Author

Music, Love, and Survival
Part 2: Leaving Family Behind

In this part of her performance, Mona describes the terrible decision Lisa’s parents had to make after the violence of Kristallnacht. As Lisa prepares to leave home on the Kindertransport, she takes careful note of every detail of her family’s home. She takes solace in the music of Debussy, and makes her mother promise not to change a thing in the apartment.

Questions to Discuss With Students

• When Lisa arrives home saddened at the news that her lessons must end, her mother encourages her to play a nocturne by Chopin.  A “nocturne” is a composition for piano that is inspired by, or that evokes, the night. Nocturnes can have many moods—tranquil, expressive, lyrical, gloomy. Now that you have heard this nocturne by Chopin, why do you think Lisa’s mother encouraged her to play it at this moment?
• Imagine that you are about to leave your home, never to see it again. Close your eyes and picture each specific detail of a room in your home. Write briefly about these details and why they are important to you.

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