Overture Magazine 2013-2014 November-December 2013 | Page 30

{ Program Notes
vs. doubt. The tenor’s beautiful, hushed
“At a Calvary near the Ancre” in turn
offers the message of Christ’s suffering on
the Cross and forgiveness of humankind,
yet also fiercely condemns leaders who
push their subjects into war. This poem
actually takes the place of the Requiem
text’s “Agnus Dei.”
The final movement, “Libera Me,”
begins as a slow, dragging death march,
dominated by drums; the music gradually
accelerates in tempo, volume, and urgency
as the soprano soloist enters. Chorus and
soloist frantically cry out to God for salvation as the “Dies Irae” music returns in
the orchestra. After the soprano’s hysterical high C, the whole movement collapses
in on itself, dying away into isolated cries
from the chorus as we tumble down from
the battlefield into the subterranean world
of “Strange Meeting.”
Despite its spare setting—tenor and
baritone soloists over the barest orchestral accompaniment—this poem is the
emotional climax and “message” of the
War Requiem. The tenor-soldier meets
in the baritone “the enemy you killed,
my friend,” who tells him of what he
has learned in death: “the truth untold/
The pity of war, the pity war distilled.”
In this moment of reconciliation, the

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28 O v ertur e |

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Cathedral of St. Michael

two antagonists find that, now united in
death, they are no longer enemies. As they
unite their voices in “Let us sleep now,”
the entire tripartite apparatus of the War
Requiem—male soloists and chamber
orchestra; soprano soloist, adult chorus
and large orchestra; children’s choir and
organ—locks together for the only time
in the work for a serene, drawn-out coda
reminiscent of one of Britten’s favorite composers Gustav Mahler. But the
serenity is broken by the “diabolus”—the
dissonant tritone tolling in the bells—as
the “Requiem aeternam” theme returns
for the last time. Peace may reign for
now, Britten seems to tell us, but man’s
old devil—war—still lurks, ready to rage
again. And in the words of Wilfred Owen,
quoted by Britten on the score’s title page:
“All a poet can do today is warn.”
Instrumentation: Main Orchestra: Three flutes,
piccolo, two oboes, English horn, three clarinets,
bass clarinet, piccolo clarinet, two bassoons,
contrabassoon, six horns, four trumpets, three
trombones, tuba, timpani, percussion, piano,
organ and strings. Chamber Orchestra: Flute,
piccolo, oboe, English horn, clarinet, bassoon,
horn, percussion, harp and string quintet.
Notes by Janet E. Bedell, Copyright ©2013