Kevin Sutton wrote:

>Ed Zubrow wrote:
>
>
>>I don't have a score, but I would be interested to know the harmony of the
>>final amen.  I'm pretty certain it is not a standard cadence.
>
>It is a c-f# tritone resolving through a series of chords to an F major
>chord.  The signature harmonic motif of the entire piece.

Until you've SUNG this final passage, you have no idea of the special hell
that Britten puts the chorus through.  The overtones that build up in those
dissonant tri-tone chords can be almost physically affecting, and trying to
keep the whole passage in tune can give you terrible head- and ear- aches.
But it does make the final F major chord a wonderful release.

Bruce