In particular, I ll be looking for the following: " a close-reading of your artifact (description + formal or technical analysis)

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1 ! Remember, your individual consultation with me on your working draft is this week. You may bring a paper copy or upload a draft to EEE Dropbox labeled Research Rough Draft. In particular, I ll be looking for the following: " a close-reading of your artifact (description + formal or technical analysis) " a specific, argumentative claim (thesis) about how and why your artifact generates meaning in a given cultural milieu " humanistic research questions (questions about meaning and modes of interpreting of human artifacts) and humanistic scholarly sources (at least 6!) " adequate historical/cultural context to situate your artifact and its reception " literature review that describes scholarly conversation (not just a laundry list of sources) " statement of the larger significance of this artifact or research! Finally, remember that we will be conducting peer review on Wednesday during section meeting. Please bring two (2!) paper copies of working draft to class.

2 Benjamin Britten, modern classical composer # Born in 1913 in Suffolk # Was a conscientious objector during WWII, initially granted only non-combatant service in the military, but appealed and gained an unconditional exemption from service # Wrote the opera Peter Grimes during the war, a piece that adapts the work of poet George Crabbe: "I hear those voices that will not be drowned" # Gave recitals in Germany to concentration camp survivors after the war, and claimed that what he saw at Bergen-Belsen effected his perception for the rest of his life # Was commissioned to write the War Requiem in 1958 to consecrate the modernist reconstruction of Coventry Cathedral designed by Basil Spence # The Requiem premiered in 1962 and was meant to commemorate the dead of both World Wars; intersperses the traditional Requiem Mass with poems by Wilfred Owen

3 Wilfred Owen, poet # Born in 1893, began studying poetry in 1904 # Early work influenced by romantic poetry, especially Keats (intuition over reason, sensual/emotional) # Reinvented modern poetry vivid, realistic poems, angry, terse verse # Second to Shakespeare in terms of popularity among English poets # Voluntarily enlisted in 1915 # Blown into the air by a mortar, landing on a corpse; later trapped in a dugout for four days with a severe concussion # After a week on the front line he wrote in a letter home, The people of England needn t hope. They must agitate. # Returned to war in July 1918, killed a week before the armistice. His parents were informed of his death as the armistice bells were ringing. # Wrote all of his war poetry in 15 months

4 Let s watch a performance of the tenor solo of Owen s Anthem for a Doomed Youth, the central section of the Requiem aeternam (the first movement of the War Requiem). You may follow along with the text of Owen s poem on your handout. $ What, in your opinion, are the key sounds that make up this section of the movement? What real-world sounds might the orchestra evoke? $ How does the musical score enhance, contradict, or generally interact with Owen s poem? Professor Herbert claimed in lecture that there are a series of thematic and formal antitheses within the Requiem aeternam: 1. Owen s poetry is about a lack of salvation for modern war victims, thus is in ironic tension with the Requiem mass. 2. The main choir seems to hang in suspended irresolution in contrast to the boys choir, which seems to represent a heavenly, timeless stability. 3. Britten s use of the tritone conveys conflict, or a lack of resolution.

5 In music theory, a tritone is a musical interval (the difference between two pitches) composed of three adjacent whole tones. The tritone is dissonant, thus is critical in the study of musical harmony. As Prof. Herbert mentioned in lecture last week, the tritone was avoided in medieval ecclesiastical music because of this dissonant quality. By the early 18 th century, the tritone was referred to as diabolus in musica ( the Devil in music ). In Romantic and modern classical music, composers often used the tritone to express themes of darkness: hell, the devil, or the horrors of warfare. The resolution (or reconciliation) of minor chords with major chords is often used to portray the struggle of good with evil. Section of Hieronymus Bosch's The Garden of Earthly Delights (c ) depicting musicians' hell

6 Formal observation: The tritone interval between C and F is a recurring motif in Britten s War Requiem, the occurrence of which unifies the entire work. Two scholarly interpretations of Britten s use of the tritone: " Arnold Whittall in the The Music of Britten and Tippett (1982) argues that the interval is used both in contexts that emphasize the harmonic distance between C and F and those that resolve them harmonically, mirroring the theme of conflict and reconciliation present throughout the work. " J. Bridcut, in Essential Britten, a pocket guide for the Britten Centenary (2010), contends The idea that the chorus and orchestra are confident in their wrong-headed piety is repeatedly disputed by the music. From the instability of the opening tritone that unsettling interval between C and F sharp accompanied by the tolling of warning bells eventually resolves into a major chord for the arrival of the boys singing 'Te decet hymnus [ You are praised ]. $ Research writing review: briefly describe (in one or two sentences) the scholarly conversation between Whittall, Bridcut, and Herbert regarding Britten s use of tritone in the War Requiem.

7 Let s turn to the Offertorium, the third movement of the War Requiem. It is made up of the following sections: Domine Jesu Christe (boys' choir) Sed signifer sanctus (chorus) Quam olim Abrahae (chorus) Isaac and Abram (tenor and baritone solo) Owen's The Parable of the Old Man and the Young Hostias et preces tibi (boys' choir) Reprise of Quam olim Abrahae (chorus) There are two Biblical references you will need to understand to understand the mass and Owen s parable: Jacob Epstein, St. Michael s Victory over the Devil (1958), on the entrance to the rebuilt Coventry Cathedral 1) St. Michael the Archangel is the patron saint of soldiers and the sick. In scripture, St. Michael is the leader of all of the angels and the army of God, the first to combat Satan. He is also the angel who will call humans away from life on earth toward their heavenly judgment.

8 2) The Biblical story of the sacrifice of Issac in the Book of Genesis 22:1-19 (text on your handout) Caravaggio, The Sacrifice of Issac (1603)

9 Now let s watch the Offertorium: $ How is the biblical parable reframed or retold in the War Requiem? What kinds of tensions exist between the Requiem lyrics and Owen s poem? How does each represent moral of story of the sacrifice of Issac? $ Is there still a dissonance between redemption and hope as well as a lack of resolution, as we saw in the Requiem aeternam? $ Do any vocal segments or musical passages convey innocence or a sense of not knowing what is being asked of them?

10 Britten s formal legacy and the importance of the War Requiem in 20th century classical music is undisputed. Imagine growing up in cities that looked like this. The massive bombings of the English Midlands (the area that includes the cities of Coventry and Birmingham) during World War II created a haunting landscape for other kinds of musicians as well. (Above) Coventry Cathedral and (left and below) devastation after German strategic bombing (Blitz of Birmingham)

11 including the pioneering black metal band Black Sabbath, formed in Birmingham in 1968 (a mere 20 miles from Coventry). The band s early work often focused on the horrors of war and the social instability that follows massive destruction. The band held deep anti-war convictions, and made music in the late sixties and early seventies in protest of Vietnam. Geezer Butler described the song War Pigs (1970) as about how these rich politicians and rich people start all the wars for their benefit and get all the poor people to die for them."

12 Let s watch a video of the band playing the song that made them famous, Black Sabbath (1968) (lyrics on your handout). As you watch, think about the following questions: $ How does a completely different musical genre (black metal) thematize the struggle between good and evil? $ Can you recognize any formal similarities between this song and Britten s War Requiem (especially in the riff)? The main riff of Black Sabbath was one of the first examples in heavy metal to utilize a dissonant harmonic progression with the tritone G-C. After Black Sabbath, the tritone became a mainstay in metal for decades to come.

13 For example, the south Los Angeles thrash metal band Slayer titled their eighth album Diabolus in Musica (2000) as an homage to the devil s interval and Black Sabbath s innovative use of the tritone. Closer to Coventry and the sound that Britten made famous there, the Beatles (who grew up in Liverpool, another Midlands city devastated by the war) often used the tritone in their psychedelic work of the late sixties, as in The Inner Light (1968).