Opera Scotland

Child of Our Time A Child of Our Time

Tours by decade

Tours by location

Music

Michael Tippett (born London, 2 January 1905;  died London, 8 January 1998)

Text

Michael Tippett

 

Premieres

First Performance:  London (Adelphi Theatre),  March 1944.

First Performance in Scotland:  Edinburgh (Usher Hall)  1966 Festival, perhaps earlier.

 

Soloists

Soprano.

Alto.

Tenor.

Bass.

 

Summary

Tippett began work on this oratorio following the assassination in Paris of a leading Nazi by a 17-year-old Polish Jew, the 'child' of the title.  This event sparked off the atrocity known as Kristallnacht, when hundreds of German and Austrian Jews were killed or had property destroyed.

The narrative is interrupted by the use of arrangements of five spirituals.