A Child of Our Time

Michael Tippett’s A Child of Our Time is one of the most celebrated British oratorios ever written, and its message is as urgent today as at its 1944 premiere. Born of the horror of Kristallnacht, it gives voice to the oppressed everywhere. The structure mirrors Handel’s Messiah but with spirituals in place of chorales, commenting on the unfolding drama.

Along with it are three works that speak to Tippett’s masterpiece. Florence Price’s Concert Overture No. 1, draws on the spiritual ‘Sinner, please don’t let this harvest pass’; Sir Willard White sings Vaughan Williams’ The Vagabond, a portrait of a displaced man on the road, who asks only for the open highway, the stars and heaven above; Finzi’s Lo, the Full, Final Sacrifice offers hope and belief.

This concert invites us to contemplate how war and violence, no matter the intention, ultimately taint us all, but there is always hope of a brighter future.