Ed Zubrow writes about Britten's War Requiem:

>I think in a way the chorus plays the same role that the townspeople do
>in Peter Grimes or that Captain Vere (Captain Truth?) plays in Billy Budd.
>
>In short, the establishment is trapped.  Trapped by its assumptions and its
>rituals.  Unable to see the humanity in the "other" -- whether Grimes, Billy
>or the Germans.

It happens that there are many points raised in his post that I disagree
with - that's a matter of opinion, of course - and in fact some (though not
all) of my points of difference have now been touched on by others - but
the points raised in the above quote do in my view beg further comment.
Take Captain Vere, for example.  The whole point about Vere is that he
never fails to see 'the humanity in the "other"' - both the fine points of
Billy Budd himself and the tortuous mind-set and desires of Claggart.  Vere
sees and understands all, sometimes only too clearly.  Throughout the tale
Vere is clear-sighted, intelligent and sensitive to the whole dynamic of
the situation:  this is made quite apparent in his soliloquies.  Vere,
guided by his lights and principles, is not trapped but in fact liberated.
At the end he says of Billy, "He has saved me, and blessed me, and the love
that passes understanding has come to me ... I'm content...  I am an old
man now, and my mind can go back in peace..." This hardly suggests a man
who is trapped, rather one who did the right thing at the time, and in
retrospect has no regrets.

In 'Peter Grimes' the roles of the chorus and of the 'establishment'
are at the very least equivocal.  The townspeople can be seen as being
depicted as poor hard-working folk struggling to eke a living out of
the cruel sea, ready with a sea-shanty when the need arises ('Old Joe
has gone fishing'), with 'characters' among them such as 'Auntie' and
her nieces.  Conventional? Unable to see the humanity in Grimes? With his
history of violence and incompetence, his impossible dreams of riches and
respectability, and his ultimate paranoia (cf the mad scene) one could say
that the townsfolk and we the audience see right through him.  And Peter's
only true friends advise him to hide himself away at sea and kill himself!
The 'establishment', represented by the Rector and Mr Swallow, is shown to
be reasonable and fair-minded, ready to act at the behest of the townsfolk
yet not prepared to condemn out of hand like an unthinking lynch-mob.  One
man's conventional is another man's normative.  The great paradox about
'Peter Grimes', in my view, is that while as a study of social isolation
and exclusion the work is flawed, unsatisfactory and ultimately
disappointing (read George Eliot's 'Silas Marner' instead), musically
and as opera it is superb.

But one cannot talk of the 'role' of the chorus in the War Requiem as
though it were also an opera.  The War Requiem doesn't work like that.
Don't forget that, if the chorus is made up of ordinary people, so were
'Tommy' and 'Fritz' (and 'Ivan' for that matter) ordinary men.  The pity of
war lies at least in part in the very ordinariness of its participants and
its victims:  as Shakespeare wrote, "When beggars die there are no comets
seen; the heavens themselves blaze forth the death of princes".  It is well
understood that the Latin mass with its long tradition was for Britten in
some measure a vehicle for the expression of a spiritual norm transcending
time and place, against which the horror of twentieth century actuality
would appear in sharp relief.  The soprano soloist also of course sings
only in Latin.  We are told that this was because Britten wanted to write
a part for a Russian, specifically Vishnevskaya, who was unhappy about
singing in English but agreed to Latin.

As it turned out, Vishnevskaya was refused permission to travel to England
from behind the iron curtain for the first performance of the War Requiem
(though she did subsequently record it), so they had to find a substitute
at short notice to join Peter Pears and Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau.  That
substitute was Heather Harper, and she has in the last few years recorded
that role which she premiered.  It's on Chandos CHAN 8983/4 www.chandos.net
together with other 'War Requiem' works by Britten:  the Sinfonia da
Requiem and the little-known Ballad of Heroes (a premier recording, texts
by W H Auden and Randall Swingler.)

I am of course delighted to learn that the War Requiem is still being
performed from time to time, especially because it can be so complicated
to stage (although it is possible to do it with only one conductor, if the
orchestras know the piece very well -- but not many do, of course).  There
was a spate of performances five years ago (50th anniversary of the end of
the war) including its premieres in Athens (celebrating the anniversary of
the Battle of Crete) and in Jerusalem.  For the Athens concert all the
singers were imported from England, including the boys, but for the concert
with the Israel Phil (under Gary Bertini, at the Binyanei Ha'Uma) the boys'
choir was local, and it was fascinating to see them there, singing church
Latin in their yarmulkas!  Considering the difficulties of the part even
for experienced church choirboys, the young Israelis did extremely well.

Of course at that time (during the 1990s) performances of the War Requiem
had another resonance.  The 'Recordare' section, written for ladies' chorus
and one of the most beautiful pieces of music of the twentieth century --
certainly one of my 'magic moments' -- is followed by the poem, "Be slowly
lifted up, thou long black arm / Great gun towering t'ward Heaven, about to
curse ... Reach at that arrogance ..." This had a contemporary significance
because of the activities of Saddam Hussein with his 'Supergun' and Scud
missiles reminding one (as though reminder were needed!) that this work
with its WW1 poetry is still chillingly relevant today.

Alan Moss