Editing War Requiem (section)

==Composition==
The ''War Requiem'', first performed on 30 May 1962, was commissioned to mark the consecration of the new [[Coventry Cathedral]], which was built after the original 14th-century structure was [[Coventry Blitz|destroyed in a World War II bombing raid]]. The reconsecration was an occasion for an arts festival, for which [[Michael Tippett]] also wrote his opera ''[[King Priam]]''.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.its.caltech.edu/~tan/Britten/britwar.html |access-date=3 August 2013 |publisher=Caltech |title=Purpose |archive-date=6 August 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130806201352/http://www.its.caltech.edu/~tan/Britten/britwar.html |url-status=live }}</ref>

Britten, a [[pacifism|pacifist]] and [[conscientious objector]], was inspired by the commission, which gave him complete freedom in deciding what to compose. He chose to set the traditional [[Requiem|Latin Mass for the Dead]] interwoven with nine poems about war by the English poet [[Wilfred Owen]]. Owen, who was born in 1893, was serving as the commander of a rifle company when he was killed in action on 4 November 1918 during the crossing of the [[Sambre–Oise Canal]] in France, just one week before the [[Armistice of 11 November 1918|Armistice]]. Although he was virtually unknown at the time of his death, he has subsequently come to be revered as one of the great [[war poet]]s.

Philip Reed has discussed the progression of Britten's composition of the ''War Requiem'' in the Cambridge Music Handbook publication on the work.<ref>{{cite journal | jstor=737454 | last=Evans | first=Peter | title=Review of ''Britten: "War Requiem"'' (Cambridge Music Handbook series), by Mervyn Cooke | journal=[[Music & Letters]]| volume=78 | issue=3 | pages=466–468 |date=August 1997| doi=10.1093/ml/78.3.466 }}</ref> Britten himself acknowledged the stylistic influence of Requiems by other composers, such as [[Requiem (Verdi)|Giuseppe Verdi]]'s, on his own composition.<ref>{{cite news | url=http://arts.guardian.co.uk/fridayreview/story/0,,999907,00.html | title=In his own words |newspaper=[[The Guardian]]| location=UK | author=Paul Kildea | author-link=Paul Kildea | date=18 July 2003 | access-date=10 May 2008 | archive-date=12 May 2008 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080512151956/http://arts.guardian.co.uk/fridayreview/story/0,,999907,00.html | url-status=live }}</ref>  David B. Greene has discussed Britten's 'indictment' of religious music in this work.<ref>{{cite journal | jstor=41178932 | last=Greene | first=David B. | title=Britten's ''War Requiem'': The End of Religious Music | journal=Soundings: An Interdisciplinary Journal | volume=83 | issue=1 | pages=89–100 | date=Spring 2000}}</ref>

Britten dedicated the work to Roger Burney, [[Britten's Children|Piers Dunkerley]], David Gill, and Michael Halliday. Burney and Halliday, who died in the war, were friends of [[Peter Pears]] and Britten, respectively. According to the Britten-Pears Foundation's ''War Requiem'' website, Dunkerley, one of Britten's closest friends, took part in the 1944 [[Normandy landings]]. Unlike the other dedicatees, he survived the war but took his own life in June 1959, two months before his wedding. None of the other dedicatees have known graves, but are commemorated on memorials to the missing.<ref>[http://www.warrequiem.org/dedicatees.html "Dedicatees"]  {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141129022246/http://www.warrequiem.org/dedicatees.html |date=29 November 2014 }}. Britten–Pears Foundation ''War Requiem'' web site. Retrieved 14 November 2014. Further details of the war service of [http://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/2368859 Burney] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190123071606/https://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/2368859 |date=23 January 2019 }}, [http://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/2467728 Gill] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190123071638/https://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/2467728 |date=23 January 2019 }} and [http://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/2563938 Halliday] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190123071531/https://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/2563938 |date=23 January 2019 }} are available on the [[Commonwealth War Graves Commission]] website.</ref>