Why cannot . . . the wheat be divided?
And the soldiers sent home? . . .
And the enemies forgiven?
It was the first performance of The War God, a cantata for orchestra and choir. Although they found it next to impossible to understand the wordsfrom a poem by Briton Stephen Spendermost of the listeners in Manhattan's CBS studio were genuinely moved by the rich orchestration. After the performance, the cantata's composer, gaunt, chestnut-haired Richard Arnell, tall (6 ft.), 27-year-old Briton in a grey flannel suit, coolly explained: "It goes beyond simple pacifism by only presenting the facts and offering no moral conclusions."