Tippett’s A Child of Our Time – Sheet Music & Scores

“I would know my shadow and my light, So shall I at last be whole.” A Child of Our Time

Although the main inspiration and themes of Michael Tippett’s A Child of Our Time is Kristallnacht, oppression and persecution, this is a work of great optimism. Through this work, Tippett hoped to show the futility of war, and the power of peace. Browse our sheet music and scores, and explore all the marvellous editions of this innovative work with Stretta Music today.

A Child of Our Time – A Jungian work for all those who are oppressed

Conception

As Tippett embarked upon his career, he began to become more and more concerned with the political uncertainty of the day, and he devoted much of his time to helping the homeless. As the right-wing influence from central Europe became more prevalent, Tippett became a communist, and then a pacifist. He felt compelled to write a politically provocative work, and the events of Kristallnacht in Germany in November 1938 had a profound effect on Tippett. The idea that the young 17 year old Jewish refugee Herschel Grynszpan’s assassination of the German Diplomat Ernst vom Rath could spark such an act of persecution against a whole race, and prove to be such a defining moment in the lead-up to the Second World War was the inspiration for Tippett’s A Child of Our Time.

Execution

Tippett had been undergoing Jungian psychoanalysis, to deal with the depression brought on by such political unrest. When he found his theme, Kristallnacht, he went straight to a relatively new acquaintance, T.S Eliot. Eliot’s advice on being asked to write the text for A Child of Our Time was that Tippett should undertake this task himself. From this moment on, Tippett always wrote his own librettos.

Both Handel’s Messiah and Bach’s Passions formed the structural jumping board for Tippett. He wrote in Bach’s recitative, aria, ensemble and chorus style, but he wanted something new and unexpected for the chorales. Tippett chose to use Five Americana Spirituals to take the place of the classical chorales. The work is written for SATB Soloists, Chorus and Orchestra, and has the same basic form as Handel’s Messiah. In Tippett’s own words:

“Part I of the work deals with the general state of oppression in our time. Part II presents the particular story of a young man’s attempt to seek justice by violence and the catastrophic consequences; and Part III considers the moral to be drawn, if any.”

Reception

Although Tippett finished working on A Child of Our Time in 1941, he chose not to premier the work immediately, due to its pacifist message. Despite passing the tribunal as a conscientious objector, in 1943 Tippett was ordered to support the war effort with non-combatant duties. He felt he had to refuse, and was sentenced to three months in prison. On his release, he knew he had to bring this work to life.

The Premier took place on the 19th of March 1944, Walter Goehr conducted, and the soloists were Joan Cross, Soprano, Margaret McArthur, Mezzo-Soprano, Peter Piers Tenor, and Roderick Lloyd, Bass. The reviews were excellent, and the Times believed that Tippett articulated the “conflict of the inevitable with the intolerable” admirably. A Child of Our Time became a huge international success, appealing to the oppressed all around the world, and it firmly placed Michael Tippett as one of the foremost contemporary composers of the day.

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