Although many musical concerns and experiences contributed to shaping A Child of Our Time, Tippett clearly indicated the importance of two sources: Handel's Messiah and the Passions of J. S. Bach. While attention will be given to the resistance of the musical materials to Tippett's attempt to forge a sense of unity between many divergent sources, there is a basic coexistence and compatibility between the points of origin provided by the Handel and Bach models, with the Handel providing an overall sense of shape and the Bach constructing possible textures and situations within that shape.

Origins (1): Tippett and Handel

The importance of Handel's Messiah has already been indicated. It is now necessary to bring Tippett's relationship to that particular work more directly into focus, as it is through this relationship that Tippett was able to shape the overall design for his own work and position it in relation to the stylistic and generic conventions of the oratorio.

Tippett's initial musical starting-point for A Child of Our Time was a performance he prepared and conducted of Messiah in 1931, with amateur forces at Oxted. Many years later, writing in his autobiography, Tippett recalled this moment and its wider significance: