A Child of Our Time

Identifier
irn671444
Language of Description
English
Alt. Identifiers
  • RG-91.0084
Dates
1 Jan 1941 - 31 Dec 1941
Level of Description
Item
Source
EHRI Partner

Creator(s)

Scope and Content

English composer Michael Tippett (1905-1997), a committed pacifist, conceived the oratorio A Child of Our Time after he learned of the November 1938 Kristallnacht (Night of Broken Glass) pogrom in Germany and Austria. Wishing to communicate a universal message of tolerance, Tippett omitted any reference to current events in his libretto. He drew musical inspiration from baroque-era composers Bach and Handel and from African American spirituals. A Child of Our Time, named after a novel by anti-Nazi writer Odon von Horwath, was completed in 1941 and first performed in London in March 1944. The excerpted passage below occurs at the beginning of Part II: A star rises in mid-winter. Behold the man! Behold the man! The scape-goat! The scape-goat! The child of our time.

Note(s)

  • Performed by City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra and Chorus conducted by Michael Tippett, Birmingham, England, October 1991.

Subjects

Genre

This description is derived directly from structured data provided to EHRI by a partner institution. This collection holding institution considers this description as an accurate reflection of the archival holdings to which it refers at the moment of data transfer.