War Requiem The chamber orchestra accompanies the intimate settings of the English poetry, while soprano, choirs and orchestra are used for the Latin sections; all forces are combined in the conclusion. The Requiem has a duration of approximately 80-85 minutes. The "War Requiem", first performed on 30 May 1962, was commissioned to mark the consecration of the new Coventry Cathedral, which was built after the original fourteenth-century structure was destroyed in a World War II bombing raid. The reconsecration was an occasion for an arts festival, for which Michael Tippett also wrote his opera "King Priam". Britten, a pacifist, was inspired by
Thomas Coventry, 1st Earl of Coventry eldest son from his first marriage, Thomas. Lady Coventry later remarried and died in 1724. Thomas Coventry, 1st Earl of Coventry Thomas Coventry, 1st Earl of Coventry ("ca." 162915 July 1699), known as the Hon. Thomas Coventry from 1640 to 1687 and as the Lord Coventry from 1687 to 1697, was an English politician who sat in the House of Commons at various times between 1660 and 1687 when he succeeded to the peerage.. Coventry was the younger son of Thomas Coventry, 2nd Baron Coventry, and his wife Mary (née Craven). Thomas Coventry, 1st Baron Coventry, was his grandfather. In