#classical #music
Last installment of the Requiem series this year. Christmas coming up - not the best time for morbid music.
Speaking of morbid music, here's Benjamin Britten's War Requiem. Britten was one of the most renowned composers of the 20th century. He was also an outspoken pacifist, became a Conscientious Objector during World War II, made friends with a Soviet musician, Rostropovich, in the middle of Cold War and wrote hymns to pacifism, the most popular of which is War Requiem.
To me, War Requiem is one of the most "serious" Requiems I have heard. This is probably due to the extensive use of tritone, which is a specific interval (C and F#) that has a dissonant, foreboding, restless sound. Because of its unappealing color, tritone has traditionally been avoided in the Western music and even called "diabolus in musica". In the 20th century tritone started being used more and more, both in classical music and in jazz. (Try Jimi Hendrix' Purple Haze, which uses tritone). We are now mostly immune to its effect. Still, Britten's music sounds dark and serious.
If you don't want to listen to the whole thing, just try one or two fragments: the very beginning, the Libera Me and especially the Lacrimosa.
Above is a video of the Lacrimosa. The sound in the video is horrible, but it is Vishnevskaya (one of the greatest sopranos of the 20th century), so it's good to watch anyway.
Here's a YouTube video of Libera Me: