War Requiem

The War Requiem, Opus 66, by Benjamin Britten is a secular requiem written for soprano , tenor and baritone soloists, choir, boys choir, organ , orchestra and chamber orchestra . It is considered as one of the most impressive classical works of the twentieth century. The work is dedicated to four victims of war.

Content

 * 1 Composition
 * 1.1 Structure
 * 1.2 Theme
 * 1.3 Orchestration
 * 2 Premiere
 * 3 Discography

Composition
The War Requiem was written on the occasion of the inauguration of the new Cathedral of Coventry on 30 May 1962. The original fourteenth-century cathedral was completely destroyed by bombing in the Second World War . Britons opted for a traditional Latin Requiem Mass which is performed by the choir and soprano soloist.Occasionally extinguish the liturgical sounds off, and move the focus toward a chamber with two male soloists. They depict nine war poems of Wilfred Owen, a soldier who was killed in November 1918 in the trenches of France , a week before the armistice. Occasionally the boys in between. Although the three groups alternate with each other in the beginning, they appear to be increasingly interwoven with one another during the play.

[Structure edit ]
The work is divided into six parts:
 * Requiem aeternam (10 minutes)
 * Requiem aeternam (choir and boys choir)
 * "What passing bells" (tenor soloist)
 * Dies irae (27 minutes)
 * Dies irae (chorus)
 * "Bugles sang" (baritone soloist)
 * Liber scriptus (soprano soloist and choir)
 * "Out there, We walked quite friendly up to Death" (tenor and baritone soloists)
 * Recordare (women's)
 * Confutatis (men)
 * "Be slowly lifted up" (baritone soloist)
 * Dies irae (chorus)
 * Lacrimosa (soprano and chorus) interrupted by "Move him, move him" (soprano soloist and choir, tenor soloist)
 * Offertory (10 minutes)
 * Domine Jesu Christe (boys')
 * Quam olim Abrahae (chorus)
 * Isaac and Abram ("So Abram rose") (tenor and baritone soloists)
 * Hostias et preces tibi (boys')
 * Reprise or Quam olim Abrahae (chorus)
 * Sanctus (10 minutes)
 * Sanctus and Benedictus (soprano soloist and choir)
 * "After the blast of lightning" (baritone soloist)
 * Agnus Dei (4 minutes)
 * Agnus Dei (choir) interrupted by "One ever hangs" (chorus, tenor soloist)
 * Libera me (23 minutes)
 * Libera me (soprano soloist and choir)
 * Strange Meeting ("It seems that out of battle I escaped") (tenor and baritone soloists)
 * In paradisum (boys choir, chorus and soprano soloist)
 * Requiem aeternam (boys')

[Theme edit ]
Benjamin Britten, who atheist and convinced pacifist was, had chosen to both the futility of war, as the hypocrisy of the church in times of war to take under the microscope. Owen, who had enjoyed a few years of seminary, struggled throughout his life with this theme. This is the reason that there are many Christian allusions in the poems found. The theme is best suited in the Offertory : the choir sings the stirring fugue "Quam olim Abrahae promisisti et Semini eius" (What is promised to Abraham and his descendants). The following poem about the sacrifice of Abraham Owen hereby seamlessly. Customize the message is clear in the last two lines of the poem:
 * "... Sacrifice the ram of pride Instead of him."
 * But the old man would not so, but slew his son,
 * and half the seed of Europe, one by one.

After the final blow to the ecclesiastical authority, the choir goes slowly with the same fugue, but this time without the glee with which began the choir.

A recurring motif is the interval C and F #, which augmented fourth or tritone is called. It is among others hear the church bells at the beginning of "Requiem aeternam," and the end of "Libera me". Another common motif is the octotonic ladder that shake heaven and earth stakes in "Libera me". Finally, it deserves Sanctus also a special attention: the text "Pleni sunt coeli et terra gloria tua" (Heaven and earth are full of your glory) the eight-voice choir, which all twelve tones are used. In addition, each member of the choir sings the text separately at a different pace, creating a chaos of sounds.

[Orchestration edit ]
With
 * soprano , tenor , baritone
 * Boys'
 * 3 flutes which one also piccolo, two oboes , one English horn , 3 clarinets which 1 also E-flat clarinet and bass clarinet , two bassoons , one contrabassoon
 * Six horns, four trumpets , three trombones , 1 tuba
 * timpani, 4 male / female percussion , 1 piano , 1 organ
 * violins , violas , cellos , double basses
 * 1 flute / piccolo, 1 oboe / English horn, 1 clarinet, 1 bassoon, 1 horn,
 * 1 male / female percussion, 1 harp, small organ or harmonium
 * 2 violins, 1 viola, 1 cello and double bass 1

[Premiere edit ]
For the British premiere was the soprano Galina Vishnevskaya from the Soviet Union, the tenor Peter Pears (also the partner of Brits) from England and the baritone Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau in Germany designated as a sign of reconciliation. Unfortunately, the soprano was not allowed to leave the country for this occasion. She was replaced by Heather Harper . On the first gramophone recording of the War Requiem is Vishnevskaya to hear.

The premiere was conducted by the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, led by Meredith Davis and the Melos Ensemble , led by British themselves. It was a great success. Brits later wrote about his music: "I hope that the people thought-provoking." On the title page of the score is a quote from Owen: "My subject is War, and the unfortunate war poetry is in this deplorable A poet can only warn..."

The Dutch premiere took place at the Holland Festival in 1964. The Amsterdam Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra and the Netherlands Radio Choir were conducted by Bernard Haitink . The Chamber Orchestra (consisting of musicians from the Concertgebouw Orchestra) was led by British themselves. The soloists were Vishnevskaya, Fischer-Dieskau and Pears, the first time they played together.

[Discography edit ]
The work has included numerous times, including by the composer himself.