Te Deum and A Child of Our Time
Friday, February 3, 2012
7:00 PM
Sir Michael Tippett’s A Child of Our Time (1941) is a unique oratorio, combining subject matter from the events leading up to Kristallnacht, philosophies of Carl Jung, and texts and music of African-American spirituals. It is intentionally structured in three parts to emulate Handel’sMessiah, and Tippett uses the spirituals to create a format similar to Bach’s use of the chorale in his Passions, all with a powerful and decidedly twentieth-century musical language. The text of this stirring, iconic work reflects Tippett's pacifism and belief that people contain both "shadow and light". Soprano Nicole Cabell has performed this work to great critical acclaim and made it a signature piece. She will be joined by mezzo-soprano Marietta Simpson, tenor Russell Thomas, and John Relyea, bass-baritone.
