6 - Reception
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 June 2012
Summary
A Child of Our Time was first performed at the Adelphi Theatre, London, on 19 March 1944. Walter Goehr conducted the London Philharmonic Orchestra, the London Region Civil Defence Choir and Morley College Choir, with the solo parts sung by Joan Cross, Margaret McArthur, Peter Pears and Roderick Lloyd. The success of this performance, coming three years after the completion of the work (a delay which was partly due to the war-time conditions), signified the emergence of Tippett as a mature composer now able to begin to connect with a wider public. Benjamin Britten was central to this first performance as it was his encouragement which gave Tippett the confidence he needed. Following a description of their shared interest in Purcell, Tippett recalls Britten's involvement:
Ben … asked me what larger works I had written, if any, other than those he knew. I told him of A Child of Our Time, of how I had played it to Walter Goehr some time before, who advised me in the circumstances to shut it up in a drawer, which, being rather patient and literal, I did. Ben had the manuscript out of the drawer at once. In looking through the score, he noticed how, in one of the spirituals, the effect could be greatly enhanced by lifting the tenor solo part suddenly an octave higher. This I entirely agreed with, and so this minute piece of Britten composition is in the score.
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- Information
- Tippett: A Child of our Time , pp. 89 - 95Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 1999