 The work is based on the short story "La torture par l'espérance" ("Torture by Hope") from the collection "Nouveaux contes cruels" by the French writer Auguste Villiers de l'Isle-Adam and from "La Légende d'Ulenspiegel et de Lamme Goedzak" by Charles de Coster.Some of the musical material is based on Dallapiccola's earlier choral work on a similar theme, "Canti di prigionia" (1938).Dallapiccola composed "Il prigioniero" in the period of 1944–1948.