6 - BENJAMIN BRITTEN: WAR REQUIEM

Composer Benjamin Britten wrote War Requiem in 1962 to commemorate the rebuilding of the war-damaged Coventry Cathedral. He incorporated the traditional, codified Latin text of the Requiem—a mass for the dead—interspersed with verses by Wilfred Owen, a British officer and poet who wrote in the trenches of the First World War. More than 200 performers gathered in the Vladislav Hall of Prague Castle to give a symbolic performance of a piece that is rarely staged due to its complexity and the large number of performers required.