A Child of Our Time

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A Child of Our Time is an oratorio written by Michael Tippett between 1939 and 1941.

The oratorio is inspired by Herschel Grynszpan, the Jewish teenager whose 1938 murder of a German diplomat, Ernst vom Rath, in Paris gave the Nazis their excuse for Kristallnacht. Tippett originally asked T. S. Eliot to provide the libretto, but Eliot encouraged Tippett to write it himself, and Tippett took this advice. The text reflects Tippett's pacifism and belief that people contain both "shadow and light". The title comes from a novel written in 1938 by Ödön von Horváth, Ein Kind unserer Zeit.

The music draws on multiple inspirations. It is decidedly twentieth-century, but Tippett uses spirituals very effectively to emulate the Passion chorales of Bach. The structure in three parts is based on Handel's Messiah.

The work runs a little over an hour.

• First part
  • Chorus: The world turns on its dark side
  • The Argument & Interludium: Man has measured the heavens
  • Scena: Is evil then good?
  • The Narrator: Now in each nation there were some cast out
  • Chorus of the Oppressed: When shall the userer's city cease?
  • Tenor Solo: I have no money for my bread
  • Soprano Solo: How can I cherish my man?
  • A Spiritual: Steal away to Jesus

• Second part
  • Chorus: A star rises in midwinter
  • The Narrator: And a time came
  • Double Chorus of Persecutors and Persecuted: Away with them!
  • The Narrator: Where they could, they fled
  • Chorus of the Self-righteous: We cannot have them in our Empire
  • The Narrator: And the boy's mother wrote
  • Scena: The Mother, the Uncle and Aunt, and the Boy: O my son!
  • A Spiritual: Nobody knows the trouble I see
  • Scena: Duet: The boy becomes desperate
  • The Narrator: They took a terrible vengeance
  • Chorus: The Terror: Burn down their houses!
  • The Narrator: Men were ashamed
  • Spiritual of Anger: Go down, Moses
  • The Boy Sings in his Prison: My dreams are all shattered
  • The Mother: What have I done to you, my son?
  • Alto Solo: The dark forces rise
  • A Spiritual: By and by

• Third part
  • Chorus: The cold deepens
  • Alto Solo: The soul of man
  • Scena: The words of wisdom
  • General Ensemble: I would know my shadow and my light
  • A Spiritual: Deep river

Performances

The première in 1944 took place at London's Adelphi Theatre. Performers included:

• London Philharmonic Orchestra
• Walter Goehr (conductor)
• Joan Cross (soloist)
• Peter Pears (soloist)
• Morley College Choir

The piece was a success with performers, public, and critics though various people objected to the subject matter, orchestration, and the inclusion of the spirituals and jazz elements.

The Israeli première in Haifa in 1952 included Grynszpan's father.