In February 2022, as the Russian tanks rolled across Ukraine, my orchestra was rehearsing Karl Jenkins’ Armed Man: A Mass for Peace. This work takes a 15th Century French army tune and weaves it through a traditional Mass (with a few additions, like the Mullah’s call) to tell the story of the war in Kosovo that raged through 1998 and 1999. He wrote it at the start of the new millennium as a message of hope – hope that finally there will be no more warfare and people can live in peace.
Jenkins also wrote his Mass for Peace in memory of the victims in Kosovo. It tells both the story of the slow descent into war and of the survivor guilt that many experience after such life changing events. Two of the evocative movements (also lesser heard) are Charge, which depicts the guns firing by seemingly random timpani notes, and Now the guns have stopped. In the latter the singer laments he has survived when his friends have not and the words speak of the loneliness of that emotional place.
As my orchestra rehearsed this work in that February, I inevitably felt tears streaming down my face (thank goodness I’m not a wind player!). The music made me think of Ukraine and wonder even more deeply what I would do in that situation. These were people like me, with similar hopes and dreams, watching their country being invaded and having to choose how to respond. The music brought it home.
But this Mass for Peace is just that – a cry for peace against the violence in our world. It is a call to wage peace with the same intensity that others would wage war. And so, I invite you to take the time to sit in quiet and listen to the Benedictus – the blessing. As you listen, make this your prayer for peace, for the peace makers, and for those who do not have peace in their lives.