Editing War Requiem (section)

==Premiere and notable performances==
===Premiere===
For the opening performance, Britten intended that the soloists should be [[Galina Vishnevskaya]] (a Russian), [[Peter Pears]] (an Englishman) and [[Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau]]<ref>{{cite news | url=https://www.theguardian.com/friday_review/story/0,,178263,00.html | title=Golden cords |newspaper=[[The Guardian]]| location=UK | author=Stephen Moss | date=31 March 2000 | access-date=18 December 2016 | archive-date=6 March 2016 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160306145513/http://www.theguardian.com/friday_review/story/0,,178263,00.Html | url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite news | url=http://arts.guardian.co.uk/features/story/0,,1487614,00.html | title=It is the start of the final episode |newspaper=[[The Guardian]]| location=UK |author=[[Martin Kettle]]| date=20 May 2005 | access-date=18 May 2007 | archive-date=11 May 2008 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080511093143/http://arts.guardian.co.uk/features/story/0,,1487614,00.html | url-status=live }}</ref> (a German), to demonstrate a spirit of unity. Close to the premiere, the Soviet authorities did not permit Vishnevskaya to travel to Coventry for the event,<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/2/08a29326-8fc4-11e1-beaa-00144feab49a.html#axzz1u57BU24A |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221210221205/https://www.ft.com/content/08a29326-8fc4-11e1-beaa-00144feab49a#axzz1u57BU24A |archive-date=10 December 2022 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live |title=Battle of Britten |date=5 May 2012 |publisher=[[Ft.com]] |author=Richard Fairman |access-date=6 May 2012 }}</ref> although she was later permitted to leave to make the recording in London. With only ten days' notice, [[Heather Harper]] stepped in and performed the soprano role.<ref>{{cite news | url=https://www.classical-music.com/features/works/brittens-war-requiem-the-story-of-how-britten-came-to-compose-his-most-famous-piece | title=Britten's War Requiem: the story of how Britten came to compose his most famous piece | work=BBC Music Magazine (Classical Music.com) | author=Michael White | date=2024-02-21 | access-date=2024-04-12}}</ref>

Although the Coventry Cathedral Festival Committee had hoped Britten would be the sole conductor for the work's premiere, shoulder pain forced his withdrawal from the main conducting role.<ref>Reed, Philip & Cooke, Mervyn (eds). ''Letters from a Life: The Selected Letters of Benjamin Britten: Vol. 5, 1958–1965''. Boydell Press, 2010: p. 335.</ref> He did, however, conduct the chamber orchestra, and this spawned a tradition of separate conductors that the work does not require and Britten never envisaged.<ref>[[Paul Kildea]], ''Benjamin Britten: A Life in the Twentieth Century'', p. 458</ref> The premiere took place on 30 May 1962, in the rebuilt cathedral with the [[City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra]], conducted by [[Meredith Davies]]<ref>{{cite news | url=http://arts.guardian.co.uk/news/obituary/0,,1447681,00.html | title=Obituary for Meredith Davies |work=The Guardian |location=UK | author=Philip Reed | date=30 March 2005 }}</ref> (accompanying soprano and chorus), and the [[Melos Ensemble]], conducted by the composer (accompanying tenor and baritone).<ref>[http://www.brittenpears.org/?page=britten/works/requiem.html#first Britten–Pears Foundation] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150923194647/http://www.brittenpears.org/?page=britten%2Fworks%2Frequiem.html#first |date=23 September 2015 }} first performance</ref> At Britten's request, there was no applause following the performance.<ref>See souvenir programme of the 1962 Coventry Cathedral Festival and Michael Foster: "The Idea Was Good&nbsp;– the story of Britten's War Requiem" pub. Coventry Cathedral Books 2012</ref> It was a triumph, and critics and audiences at this and subsequent performances in London and abroad hailed it as a contemporary masterpiece.<ref>See Peter Evans "Britten since the War Requiem" in ''Listener'', 28 May 1964: cited in {{harvnb|Cooke|1996|p=79}}</ref> Writing to his sister after the premiere, Britten said of his music, "I hope it'll make people think a bit." On the title page of the score he quoted Wilfred Owen:

{{blockquote|<poem>My subject is War, and the pity of War.
The Poetry is in the pity...
All a poet can do today is warn.</poem>}}

Because of time zones, the southern hemisphere premiere was about 12 hours ahead of that in North America, though they were on the same day, 27 July 1963. The southern hemisphere premiere was at the [[Wellington Town Hall|Town Hall]] in Wellington, New Zealand, with [[John Hopkins (conductor)|John Hopkins]] conducting the New Zealand National Orchestra (now the [[New Zealand Symphony Orchestra]]) and the [[Christchurch City Choir|Royal Christchurch Musical Society]], with soloists Peter Baillie, Graeme Gorton and Angela Shaw.<ref>{{Cite news |author=F.P. |date=29 June 1963|title=''War Requiem'' a Moving Experience |url=https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/CHP19630729.2.147 |access-date=8 June 2024 |newspaper=[[The Press]]|location=Christchurch, New Zealand|page=14|volume=CII |issue=30195}}</ref> The North American premiere was at [[Tanglewood]], with [[Erich Leinsdorf]] conducting the [[Boston Symphony Orchestra]] with soloists [[Phyllis Curtin]], Nicholas Di Virgilio, [[Tom Krause]] and choruses from [[Chorus pro Musica]] and the [[Columbus Boychoir]], featuring boy soprano Thomas Friedman.<ref>{{cite journal | url=http://mq.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/content/citation/XLIX/4/510 | last=Lang | first=Paul Henry | title=Current Chronicle: Lenox, Massachusetts | journal=[[The Musical Quarterly]]| volume=49 | issue=4 | pages=510–517 |date=October 1963| doi=10.1093/mq/XLIX.4.510}}</ref>

The Dutch premiere took place during the [[Holland Festival]], in 1964. The [[Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra|Concertgebouw Orchestra of Amsterdam]] and the Netherlands Radio Choir were conducted by [[Bernard Haitink]]; the chamber orchestra (consisting of Concertgebouw Orchestra instrumentalists) by Britten himself. The soloists were Vishnevskaya, Fischer-Dieskau and Pears, in their first public performance together.

===Other notable performances===
The [[English Chamber Choir]] performed the work at ''Your Country Needs You'', an evening of "voices in opposition to war" organised by [[The Crass Collective]] in November 2002.

To commemorate the eve of the 70th anniversary of the destruction of the original cathedral, a performance of the Requiem took place in the new cathedral on 13 November 2010,<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.classicfm.com/composers/britten/news/war-requiem-concert-broadcast-classic-fm/|title=War Requiem concert broadcast on Classic FM|website=Classic FM|access-date=2018-04-12|archive-date=13 April 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180413043050/http://www.classicfm.com/composers/britten/news/war-requiem-concert-broadcast-classic-fm/|url-status=live}}</ref> featuring the soprano Claire Rutter, the tenor Daniel Norman, baritone Stephen Gadd, The Parliament Choir, Saint Michael's singers, [[Deutscher Chor London]], the ESO Chamber Orchestra, The Southbank Sinfonia and Coventry Cathedral Girls' Choir. It was conducted by Simon Over and Paul Leddington Wright.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://parliamentchoir.org.uk/sites/parliamentchoir.org.uk/files/Flyer-for-War-Requiem-Coventry2.pdf|title=Flyer for War Requiem Coventry 13 November 2010|website=Parliament Choir|access-date=2018-04-10|archive-date=13 April 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180413043133/http://parliamentchoir.org.uk/sites/parliamentchoir.org.uk/files/Flyer-for-War-Requiem-Coventry2.pdf|url-status=live}}</ref> A recording was made and broadcast a day later on [[Classic FM (UK)|Classic FM]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.classicfm.com/composers/britten/news/war-requiem-concert-broadcast-classic-fm/|title=War Requiem concert broadcast on Classic FM|website=Parliament Choir|access-date=2018-04-12|archive-date=13 April 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180413043050/http://www.classicfm.com/composers/britten/news/war-requiem-concert-broadcast-classic-fm/|url-status=live}}</ref> A second performance with the same performers took place on 17 November 2010 at Westminster Cathedral.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://parliamentchoir.org.uk/sites/parliamentchoir.org.uk/files/Flyer-for-War-Requiem-Nov10.pdf|title=Flyer for War Requiem 17 November 2010|access-date=2018-04-12|archive-date=12 April 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180412212129/http://parliamentchoir.org.uk/sites/parliamentchoir.org.uk/files/Flyer-for-War-Requiem-Nov10.pdf|url-status=live}}</ref>

A 50th anniversary performance was given by the [[City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra]] conducted by [[Andris Nelsons]] at Coventry Cathedral on 30 May 2012.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.cbso.co.uk/?page=concerts/viewConcert.html&cid=2386&m=05&y=2012|title=50th Anniversary Performance: Britten's War Requiem|date=30 May 2012|publisher=[[City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra]]|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120304170918/http://www.cbso.co.uk/?page=concerts%2FviewConcert.html&cid=2386&m=05&y=2012|archive-date=4 March 2012}}</ref>

As part of Lincolnshire Remembers commemoration of the centenary of the end of the First World War, Lincoln Cathedral hosted a performance of Britten's War Requiem. On Saturday 3 November 2018, singers from Lincoln Choral Society, Gainsborough Choral Society, Scunthorpe Choral Society, Grimsby Philharmonic Society, Louth Choral Society, Neustadt Liedertafel, and the Choristers of Lincoln Cathedral were joined by the Lincolnshire Chamber Orchestra. The soloists were Rachel Nicholls (soprano), Alessandro Fisher (tenor) and Julien Van Mallaerts (baritone). The organist was Jeffrey Makinson, and the pianist was Jonathon Gooing. The conductors were Mark Wilde, Susan Hollingworth and Aric Prentice.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Wellman|first=Ed|date=23 July 2020|title=Lincolnshire Remembers – ''War Requiem'', Benjamin Britten|url=https://www.sirenonline.co.uk/archives/59336|website=Siren Online}}{{Dead link|date=January 2025 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref>