Benjamin Britten’s War Requiem in Context of the Historical Requiem Tradition

Authors

Bonnie Ashby, Brigham Young University
Dr. E. Harrison Powley, Brigham Young University

Keywords

Benjamin Britten, War Requiem, historical Requiem

College

Fine Arts and Communications

Department

Music

Abstract

The focus of this project has changed as I have researched and analyzed Benjamin Britten’s War Requiem, studied the history of the Requiem mass, and compared other major historical Requiems. Britten=s contribution to the Requiem tradition is unique in its contemporary sound and the insertion of Wilfred Owen’s poetry into the liturgical text. Yet, the War Requiem is strongly rooted in the historical tradition of Requiem settings. The first section of my paper describes that tradition: its origins in Gregorian chant, the ways it changed through the Baroque, Classical, and Romantic eras, and the major Requiem settings of each era. The second section of my paper compares Britten’s twentieth century work with its closest nineteenth century predecessors: the Requiems of Verdi, Berlioz, and Cherubini. My goal in this section is to show how the War Requiem, though modern in sound, derived from the Requiem tradition and is essentially conservative in its approach to the liturgy.

Recommended Citation

Ashby, Bonnie and Powley, Dr. E. Harrison (2013) "Benjamin Britten’s War Requiem in Context of the Historical Requiem Tradition," Journal of Undergraduate Research: Vol. 2013: Iss. 1, Article 2311.
Available at: https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/jur/vol2013/iss1/2311