Editing War Requiem (section)

==Musical analysis==
The [[interval (music)|interval]] of a [[tritone]] between C and F{{music|sharp}} is a recurring [[motif (music)|motif]], the occurrence of which unifies the entire work.<ref>{{cite news | url=https://www.theguardian.com/music/2011/sep/22/benjamin-britten-war-requiem | title=War and the pity of war |newspaper=[[The Guardian]]|author=[[Ian Bostridge]]| date=2011-09-22 | access-date=2024-04-12}}</ref> The interval is used both in contexts that emphasize the harmonic distance between C and F{{music|sharp}} and those that resolve them harmonically, mirroring the theme of conflict and reconciliation present throughout the work.<ref>[[Arnold Whittall]], ''The Music of Britten and Tippett'', Cambridge University Press, 1982 ({{ISBN|0-521-38501-6}}).</ref> The ''Requiem aeternam'', ''Dies irae'', and ''Libera me'' movements end in a brief choral phrase, consisting mainly of slow half notes, each first and second phrase ending on a tritone's [[Consonance and dissonance|discord]], with every last (''i.&nbsp;e.'' third) phrase resolving to an F-major chord; while at the end of the ''Agnus Dei'' the tenor (in his only transition from the Owen poems to the Requiem liturgy, on the key words, ''Dona nobis pacem'' – Give us peace) outlines a [[perfect fifth]] from C to G before moving down to F{{music|sharp}} to resolve the chorus's final chord. At the end of the ''Dies irae'', the tenor sings (from Owen's "Futility") "O what, what made fatuous sunbeams toil, to break earth's sleep at all?" The notes of "at all" form the tritone and lead into the choir's formal resolution. In the final Owen setting, "Strange Meeting", one of the most prominent expressions of the tritone is sung by the tenor, addressing an opposing soldier with the words "Strange friend". This poem is accompanied by sporadic detached chords from two violins and a viola, which include the tritone as part of a [[dominant seventh chord]]. At the end of the poem, the final string chord resolves to the [[tonic (music)|tonic]], bringing the work to its final, reconciliatory ''In paradisum''. On a more practical level, Britten facilitated musical execution of the tritone in the closing bars by having the F{{music|sharp}} sung in one voice, but the C in another.<ref>{{cite news | url=http://arts.guardian.co.uk/features/story/0,,981816,00.html | title=Come let us mumble |newspaper=[[The Guardian]]|location=UK |author=[[Michael Berkeley]]| date=21 June 2003 }}</ref>

Four other motifs that usually occur together are distinct brass [[fanfare]]s of the ''Dies irae'': a rising [[arpeggio]], a falling arpeggio followed by a repeated note, a repeated fourth in a dotted rhythm ending in a diminished arpeggio, and a descending scale. These motifs form a substantial part of the melodic material of the piece: the setting of "Bugles sang" is composed almost entirely of variations of them.

Another linking feature can be found in the opening of the final movement, ''Libera Me'', where the slow march tune in the double basses (preceded by two drums outlining the rhythm) replicates the more-rapid opening theme of the first poem, ''Anthem for Doomed Youth''.

One striking juxtaposition is found in the [[Offertory|Offertorium]], a [[fugue]] in the repeating three-part-time scheme {{music|time|6|8}}, {{music|time|9|8}}, {{music|time|6|8}} where the choir sings of God's promise to [[Abraham]] ("Quam olim Abrahae promisisti, et semini eius" – "which you once promised Abraham and his seed"). This frames Owen's retelling of the offering of [[Isaac]], in which the angel tells Abraham to:

{{blockquote|<poem>'... offer 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.</poem>}}

As the male soloists sing the last line repeatedly, the boys sing "Hostias et preces tibi, Domine" ("Sacrifice and prayers we offer thee, Lord"), paralleling the sacrifice of the Mass with the sacrifice of "half the seed of Europe" (a reference to World War I). The "reprise" of "Quam olim Abrahae" is sung in inversion, diminuendo instead of crescendo.

The whole of the Offertorium is a reference to Britten's earlier ''[[Canticle II: Abraham and Isaac]]'' from 1952. Britten here uses much of the musical material of the earlier work, but the music in the Requiem is twisted into much more sinister forms.

Although there are a few occasions in which members of one orchestra join the other, the full forces do not join until the latter part of the last movement, when the tenor and baritone sing the final line of Owen's poem "[[Wikisource:Strange Meeting|Strange Meeting]]" ("Let us sleep now&nbsp;...") as "In Paradisum deducant" ("Into Paradise lead them&nbsp;...") is sung first by the boys' choir, then by the full choir (in 8-part canon), and finally by the soprano. The boys' choir echoes the ''Requiem aeternam'' from the beginning of the work, and the full choir ends on the resolved tritone motif.