Friday, May 30, 2025

It is the 30th of May 2025. Welcome to the Christian History Almanac, brought to you by 1517 at 1517.org; I’m Dan van Voorhis.

It is a musical week- especially with a 20th century emphasis here on the Almanac- from Bruce Cockburn the other day, and this weekend you get the promised show on Thomas A. Dorsey and the birth of Gospel music. And today we remember what might be the most significant piece of church music, or choral music, written in the 20th century.

It was on this, the 30th of May in 1962, that Benjamin Britten’s War Requiem was debuted at the Coventry Cathedral. Let’s weave together some of the momentous events and places that make this, in my own opinion and that of others, the most striking piece of choral and ecclesiastical music composed last century.

Benjamin Britten was amongst the most popular British composers who showed an ability to work with secular themes- from Paul Bunyan, Henry James’ “the Turn of the Screw” to A Midsummer Nights Dream. But he also worked in the tradition of the church, putting to music the parable of the Prodigal Son, the story of the Fiery Furnace from Daniel, and the Sonnets of John Donne.

The War Requiem was commissioned, and Britten, who had composed the music for the coronation of Queen Elizabeth, was an obvious choice. And it was going to be performed at Coventry Cathedral- the famous cathedral in the West Midlands had a long, checkered past. It was built in the 700s, was destroyed by marauding troops on various occasions, was destroyed by Henry VIII in his grab at church lands for his own wealth, and then, once rebuilt, bombed by the German Luftwaffe in 1940. Almost 600 people were killed in the bombing, and the cathedral was left in ruins. The decision to rebuild was held in conjunction with a Christmas service held in the ruins of the cathedral that year.

The Cathedral would be rebuilt, but amidst the ruins of the old Cathedral as a reminder of the tragedies of War. It was not to be rebuilt in defiance but as a sign of reconciliation. Britten’s War Requiem would fit this model perfectly- with a nod to the historical roots of the cathedral, amidst the inhumanity of war, and with a call for peace.

The piece features a full orchestra, a chamber orchestra, soloists, and choir as well as a children’s choir. The text borrows from the traditional Latin requiem mass but also has interpolated the anti-war poetry of Wilfrid Owen- a British soldier who was killed just hours before the armistice ended the First World War. Among his better known poems “Anthem for a Doomed Youth” and “At A Calvary near Ancre” are used while the tritone is also employed- the so-called “devils chord” which was banned for use in church music in the Middle Ages was juxtaposed with the angelic voice of the youth choir to create an experience like few others.

This 88 or so minute work, with six movements, sounds at once operatic and unsettling, with Britten trying to balance the memory of the war, with the performance amidst the ruins, with an appropriate message of hope. Britten had hoped to have the major soloists represent the various countries that were at war. Unfortunately, by early 1962, when the performance was planned, the Berlin Wall had just gone up, the Cold War was on, and the Requiem took on another level of significance amidst the new global conflict.

Despite complications in trying to get the piece ready for its debut, it was a smashing success. It sold some 200,000 copies in one year- a remarkable feat for a Requiem Mass in the early 1960s. Britten was almost embarrassed by its universal critical acclaim, but it has stood the test of time and was selected by the Library of Congress in 2019 to be preserved for the National Recording Registry for its cultural, historical, and aesthetic significance. This whole script was researched and written with the magnificent 2023 Remastered version with the London Symphony Orchestra- available on all worthwhile streaming services. We remember Benjamin Britten and his famous War Requiem, which had its debut at Coventry Cathedral on this day in 1962.

The Last word for today comes from the daily lectionary- on the road to Pentecost, but back with some Revelation today- from the last chapter:

6 The angel said to me, “These words are trustworthy and true. The Lord, the God who inspires the prophets, sent his angel to show his servants the things that must soon take place.”

7 “Look, I am coming soon! Blessed is the one who keeps the words of the prophecy written in this scroll.”

8 I, John, am the one who heard and saw these things. And when I had heard and seen them, I fell down to worship at the feet of the angel who had been showing them to me. 9 But he said to me, “Don’t do that! I am a fellow servant with you and with your fellow prophets and with all who keep the words of this scroll. Worship God!”

This has been the Christian History Almanac for the 30th of May 2025, brought to you by 1517 at 1517.org.

The show is produced by a man who will only use Spotify to stream his music… It’s either that, or the opposite- he is Christopher Gillespie.

The show is written and read by a baby Gen X, elder Millennial who spent WAY too much on tapes and CDs to now have the streaming services run everything… I need a requiem for owning my own music…  I’m Dan van Voorhis.

You can catch us here every day- and remember that the rumors of grace, forgiveness, and the redemption of all things are true…. Everything is going to be ok.