The BBC has pulled an advert for a pacifist organisation that was due to appear in the programme for the Prom's performance of Benjamin Britten's "War Requiem". The choral work, which is a mediation on the cycle of war, will be performed at this year’s Proms concerts at the Royal Albert Hall.
The piece was written in the 1960s for the reconsecration of Coventry Cathedral, which was partially destroyed during the Second World War and gave voice to Britten’s strongly held pacifist beliefs.
The Peace Pledge Union (PPU), of which Britten was a member, is an organisation that has been campaigning for pacificism since 1934. It had paid for an advert to appear in the Proms programme on the night of the “War Requiem” performance. The advert explained that Britten’s choral piece is “a profound expression of his personal renunciation of war” and told the reader that the composer was an active member of the Peace Pledge Union during his lifetime.
This story is from the August 09, 2024 edition of The Independent.
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This story is from the August 09, 2024 edition of The Independent.
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