Page 287 - (DK) The Classical Music Book - Big Ideas Simply Explained

MODERN 1900–1950 285

See also: St. Matthew Passion 98–105 ■ Dvorˇák’s Symphony No. 9 212–215 ■ The Dream of Gerontius 218–219 ■
Peter Grimes 288–293 ■ Einstein on the Beach 321

social and political events. Michael and oppression could drive a
Tippett’s secular oratorio, A Child marginalized person to commit
of Our Time, was inspired by the an unthinkable act.
three-part format of Handel’s
Messiah, as well as the structure Protesting inhumanity
of J.S. Bach’s Passions. However, Men were ashamed Tippett began composing A Child
instead of using chorales, as Bach of what was done. of Our Time in 1939, in the days
had, Tippett’s work contains There was bitterness after Britain declared war on
American spiritual songs, which and horror. Germany. He intended his work to
Tippett decided to include after A Child of Our Time be a protest against the disunity in
hearing the style in a radio Narrator, bass solo Europe and the fascist atrocities of
broadcast. He believed that these the Nazi regime. Tippett wrote
spirituals, with their origins as both the music and libretto. The
slave songs, had a universal work uses choral techniques, such
appeal that traditional hymns as counterpoint, arias, and triadic
did not. For example, 19th-century harmonies, and utilizes a bass
songs such as “Go Down, Moses” singer as the narrator vocalizing
were appropriated for the oppressed killing of a German diplomat by recitatives. While the oratorio has
Jews of the early 20th century. Herschel Grynszpan—a teenage two major moods, anger and grief,
Polish Jew—in November 1938. it ends on a note of hope, with the
Wartime context The act triggered Kristallnacht spiritual “Deep River”: “O don’t
Tippett was heavily influenced by (the “Night of Broken Glass”), an you want to go to that gospel feast.
his left-wing, pacifist beliefs. He officially sanctioned Nazi pogrom That promised land, that land
was sentenced to three months in against German Jews in which where all is peace.”
prison in 1943 for non-compliance Jewish property was destroyed and Concern with contemporary
with rules for conscientious some 200 Jews died. Tippett saw events is also shown by Benjamin
objectors. Tippett’s feelings about Grynszpan, who had acted in Britten’s War Requiem, which
World War II and its causes were response to the deportation of his added antiwar poems by Wilfred
expressed through A Child of Our parents by Nazi authorities, as a Owen to the standard text of the
Time, which tells the story of the perfect example of how tyranny Requiem Mass. ■

Michael Tippett Michael Tippett was born in went on to produce a sequence
London in 1905. He studied at of operas, beginning with The
the Royal College of Music from Midsummer Marriage (1955). In
1923 until 1928 and subsequently 1966, he received a knighthood.
took lessons from the counterpoint In Tippett’s later years, his
expert R.O. Morris. He then reputation grew internationally,
worked as a schoolteacher, first leading to US premieres for
making his mark as a composer The Mask of Time (Boston, 1984)
with his Concerto for Double and New Year (Houston, 1989).
String Orchestra (1939); he Tippett died in London in 1998,
followed this with the oratorio after suffering a stroke.
A Child of Our Time, which
premiered in 1944. Other key works
Perceived as an individual
voice in English music, concerned 1955 The Midsummer Marriage
with a variety of social, political, 1970 The Knot Garden
and philosophical issues, Tippett 1991–1992 The Rose Lake

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