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BBC Radio 3 is a radio channel that started transmitting on the 30th September 1967. It replaced Third Programme.

BBC Radio 3

Radio 3

Discovering Music

Music: Classical

Programme which examines a different piece of music each week

Programme which examines a different piece of music each week, looking at the musical form or the composer's style, and exploring the many things contributing to the overall experience

Benjamin Britten

Discovering Music: Britten's Sinfonia da Requiem

18/04/2013

Britten's Sinfonia da Requiem

BBC Radio 3 - Discovering Music, Britten's Sinfonia da Requiem

Stephen Johnson explores Britten's Sinfonia da Requiem.

Stephen Johnson explores Britten's Sinfonia da Requiem. Written in 1940, the work was commissioned by the government of Japan.

Written in 1940, the "Sinfonia da Requiem" was commissioned by the government of Japan, who asked Britten to create a work celebrating the 2600th anniversary of the ruling dynasty. For his part, looking ahead in some ways to the Requiem he would write some years later, Britten, who was a dedicated pacifist, produced a kind of musical plea for peace, which uses part of the Catholic liturgy as movement headings. The overall tone of the score and its links with Christianity resulted in the Japanese commissioners feeling that the composer had rather misunderstood their wishes. Instead, the piece was first performed in America, with a personal dedication to the memory of Britten's parents.

Live music and the arts: broadcasts more live music than any other radio network. Classical music is its core. Genres include world and new music, jazz, speech and drama.

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