Kendal Parish Church

Today's the day ...................... for a Requiem

Last night was light-hearted fun - tonight was something much more serious and very thought-provoking.

We went to a performance by the Cumbria Choral Initiative Chorus & Orchestra of Benjamin Britten's War Requiem in Kendal Parish Church. Britten was commissioned to write a major work for the opening of Coventry Cathedral in May 1962 - and the Requiem was the result. It takes the formal words of the latin Requiem Mass and intersperses them with the words of some of the poems of Wilfred Owen.

His poems express Owen's deep understanding of and sympathy for the sufferings of his fellow soldiers - and directs the listener's attention to the futility of war and to the hypocrisy of those who send others to fight, particularly in the cause of patriotism.

The combination of Britten's profound music and Owen's poems is an unforgettable mix. It was a very moving experience ........................