“Do we want the new millennium to be like the last? Or do we join with Tennyson when he tells us to Ring out the thousand wars of old, Ring in the thousand years of peace?” Guy Wilson, former Master of the Armouries
This is the question posed by Karl Jenkins’s master work The Armed Man. When commissioned to write a piece to celebrate the Royal Armouries Museum moving from London to Leeds, and to bring in the new millennium, Jenkins chose to build on the model put forth in Britten’s War Requiem, and write a work chastising war, and championing peace. Browse our sheet music and scores, and explore all the wonderful editions of this great work with Stretta Music today.
On receiving the commission, Karl Jenkins decided to dedicate The Armed Man to the victims of the Kosovo Crisis. Using Britten’s War Requiem as a structural basis, Jenkins follows the structure of the Latin Mass but intertwines various other musical elements and texts.
The title comes from the 15th century French folk song, “L’homme armé”, which he quotes throughout the work, and he chose to write for soprano soloist, meuzzin, chorus and orchestra. The work is interspersed with calls to prayer, folk themes, and texts by Tennyson, Kipling, John Dryden, Jonathan Swift and Guy Wilson. Jenkins also uses texts from the Bible, depictions of animals dying in the Khandava Forest from the Mahabharata, and Sankichi Toge’s account of the aftermath of the Hiroshima bombing.
The Premier, which took place on the 25th of April 2000 at the Royal Albert Hall, London, was a huge success. Grant Llewellyn conducted, and Julian Lloyd Webber featured as cello soloist. The premier recording was released the following year by Virgin Records, featuring the National Youth Choir of Great Britain (who also sung the premier in London), and this recording was re-released in 2019 by Decca. The Armed Man is a favourite of both professional and amateur choirs all around the world, and the work has been made into two films.
A Mass for Peace
for: Soloists, mixed choir, orchestra
Piano reduction
Item no.: 143808
for: Mixed choir (SATB), piano
Score
Item no.: 443784
from "The Armed Man" (A Mass for Peace)
for: Brass band
Score, Parts
Item no.: 656181
from "The Armed Man: A Mass for Peace"
Contemporary Choral Series
for: Mixed choir (SATB), piano; cello ad lib.
Score
Item no.: 619749
A Mass for Peace
for: Brass band
Score, Parts
Item no.: 1010499
for: Mixed choir (SATB), piano
Score
Item no.: 1660555
for: Soloist (soprano), mixed choir (SATB), orchestra
Score (spiral binding)
Item no.: 577814
A Mass for Peace
for: Brass band
Score
Item no.: 659355
A cappella motet from The Armed Man: A Mass For Peace
for: SSATTBB[B] a Cappella
Score
Item no.: 906905
for: Concert band
Score
Item no.: 863214
A cappella motet from "The Armed Man: A Mass for Peace"
Contemporary Choral Series
for: Mixed choir (SSAATTBB) a cappella
Choir score
Item no.: 635304
Music from "The Armed Man", "Adiemus" and more
for: Piano
Music score
Item no.: 689614
from "The Armed Man": A Mass For Peace mds idnv
for: Voice (medium), piano
Single edition
Item no.: 374674
A cappella motet from The Armed Man: A Mass For Peace
for: SATBB a Cappella
Score
Item no.: 910954
aus: The Armed Man
for: Piano 4 hands
Ensemble score
Item no.: 587470
1st movement
for: Concert band
Score, Parts
Item no.: 865285
for: Brass band
Score
Item no.: 1144923
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