Britten - War Requiem - Agnus Dei

Playlist of all four parts of War Requiem: The War Requiem, Op. 66 is a large-scale, non-liturgical setting of the Requiem Mass composed by Benjamin Britten in 1962. Interspersed with the traditional Latin texts are pasted, collage-like, settings of Wilfred Owen poems. The work is scored for soprano, tenor and baritone soloists, chorus, boys’ choir, organ, and two orchestras (a full orchestra and a chamber orchestra). The War Requiem was commissioned for the reconsecration of Coventry Cathedral on May 30, 1962 after the original fourteenth century structure was destroyed in a World War II bombing raid on the night of November 14, 1940. As a pacifist, Britten was inspired by the commission, which gave him complete freedom in choosing the type of music he would like to compose. He conceived of setting the traditional Latin Mass for the Dead interwoven with nine poems about war by the English poet Wilfred Owen. Owen, who was