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Barber's Adagio is one of the most beautiful pieces of classical music ever written, hands down. Americans relate it to war and the pity of war because it was promenantly featured in the movie Platoon. Last year my choir performed a choral version of it. I like it even better than with strings. The text is that of the Agnus Dei, which means:
Lamb of God who takest away the sins of the world, have mercy on us; Grant us peace.
We all fought tears as we sang it. It was incredibly moving.
I also highly recommend Benjamen Britten's War Requiem. Try to find the original recording with the great man himself conducting and Dietrich Fischer-Diskau, Peter Pears, and Galiena Vishnevskaya soloing. Britten juxtaposes the original Latin requiem mass with the works of Wilfred Owen, a WWI poet. Get into the text. It's striking. It's all I listened to for weeks last fall.
Leonard Bernstein's Chichester Psalms wouldn't be amiss, either. The second movement contrasts the pacific Psalm 23 (The Lord is my Shepherd) with the bellicose Psalm 2 (Why do the nations rage so furiously together) and presents a very stunning picture of the innocence of life amid the ravages of war. It ends with Psalm 133:1, "Behold, how pleasing it is for brethern to dwell together in unity."
Now that's a lovely thought.
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History doesn't repeat itself, but it often rhymes.
Mark Twain
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