Editing Michael Tippett (section)

====''A Child of Our Time''====
[[File:Bundesarchiv Bild 146-1988-078-07, Herschel Feibel Grynszpan.jpg|thumb|upright|[[Herschel Grynszpan]]]]
{{main|A Child of Our Time}}
While his therapy proceeded, Tippett was searching for a theme for a major work—an opera or an [[oratorio]]—that could reflect both the contemporary turmoil in the world and his own recent catharsis. Having briefly considered the theme of the Dublin [[Easter Rising]] of 1916, he based his work on a more immediate event: the murder in Paris of a German diplomat by a 17-year-old Jewish refugee, [[Herschel Grynszpan]].<ref>Whittall (1982), p. 71</ref> This murder triggered ''[[Kristallnacht]]'' (Crystal Night), a coordinated attack on Jews and their property throughout Nazi Germany on 9–10 November 1938.<ref name= Kemp36/> Tippett hoped that Eliot would provide a libretto for the oratorio, and the poet showed interest. But when Tippett presented him with a more detailed scenario, Eliot advised him to write his own text, suggesting that the poetic quality of the words might otherwise dominate the music.<ref>Tippett (1991), pp. 50–51</ref> Tippett called the oratorio ''[[A Child of Our Time]]'', taking the title from ''Ein Kind unserer Zeit'', a contemporary protest novel by the Austro-Hungarian writer [[Ödön von Horváth]].<ref>Steinberg, pp. 284–285</ref> Within a three-part structure based on Handel's ''Messiah'', Tippett took the novel step of using North American [[spirituals]] in place of the traditional [[chorales]] that punctuate oratorio texts. According to Kenneth Gloag's commentary, the spirituals provide "moments of focus and repose ... giving shape to both the musical and literary dimensions of the work".<ref>Gloag, ''A Child of Our Time'', pp. 27–30</ref> Tippett began composing the oratorio in September 1939, on the conclusion of his dream therapy and immediately after the outbreak of war.<ref name= odnb/>