Â鶹Éç

On the evening of 30 May 1962, the queue outside Coventry Cathedral stretched all the way up the street. Tempers were fraught and as the clock ticked closer to 8pm, it became apparent that not everyone would be in their seats in time for the world premiere (and live radio broadcast) of Britten’s War Requiem. Despite a lengthy Â鶹Éç introduction, two minutes and 20 seconds of nothing were transmitted before the opening bells of the Requiem tolled. But for radio listeners at home, it was all part of the catharsis, and many thanked the Â鶹Éç for the deeply felt memorial pause. This was an audience primed for peace and reconciliation. And where better to find it?

The War Requiem was commissioned for the consecration of Coventry's visionary new cathedral. Through the glass, worshippers could still see the poignant ruins of the old St Michaels, destroyed in 1940 by the Luftwaffe. Those in the audience that night felt the shiver at Wilfred Owen’s words: "I am the enemy you killed, my friend..." But in later years, the War Requiem courted controversy. For some, the intimate settings of Owen’s poetry combined with the "public" face of the Requiem, with its Old Master ghosts – Mozart, Verdi - placed the work in a stubborn no-mans land. Sacred and secular, past and present, earthy and transcendent...

What did Britten seek to create? A monument? A memorial? If the War Requiem has raw edges - if it fails to assimilate gritty violence into older traditions, then perhaps that’s also its strength. Like Coventry Cathedral, it’s a work that will never simply disappear into the landscape. After the premiere, Britten wrote to his sister: "The idea of the War Requiem did come off I think... I hope it’ll make people think a bit."

This is one of 100 significant musical moments explored by Â鶹Éç Radio 3’s Essential Classics as part of Our Classical Century, a Â鶹Éç season celebrating a momentous 100 years in music from 1918 to 2018. Visit bbc.co.uk/ourclassicalcentury to watch and listen to all programmes in the season.

This is an excerpt from a recording by the Â鶹Éç Symphony Orchestra with the Scottish Festival Chorus and Choristers of St Mary's Episcopall Cathedral with conductor Martyn Brabbins.

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