Benjamin Britten wrote his War Requiem for the consecration of new cathedral in Coventry, England, to stand next to the ruins of the 14th-century church that had been destroyed in a World War II bombing raid.
The air raid was in 1940, and the dedication services were in 1962, when it seemed just possible that the European wars were finally over and done with.
Well, they weren’t, and we’ll hear a performance of Britten’s anti-war paean, timely once again, on this Sunday’s program.