Set in Prague, where particularly under the reign of Rudolf II, the city was a European centre for alchemy. Prague has also always had a long and tragic Jewish history of pogroms and expulsions from the 9^th century until the Holocaust. The character, Ehud, was partly inspired by Primo Levi, a chemist. Ehud’s tattoo of the Auschwitz serial number is Primo Levi’s. He takes the same route home after being freed from the camp and there are other references, including to his soldier’s uniform, chemistry degree, the fact he wrote short stories, and ultimately the cost of writing stories so that we all don’t forget, creating a hole inside him that got bigger and bigger until his suicide by jumping off a balcony. 

Instruments used: Clarinet, Piano, Nord Electro, Percussion, Strings

Artwork with permission from Claudia Vitari