Masterworks 3 – Vaugh Williams & TippetNovember 5, 2022
Ralph Vaughan Williams Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis
Michael Tippett A Child of Our Time
Sometimes we need to look inside ourselves and reflect for a moment to regain our strength and resolve. This concert allows us to do just that. The Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis is one of Ralph Vaughan Williams’ most beloved works and serves to set the mood for our main course. Michael Tippett wrote A Child of Our Time between 1939-41. After the Nazi’s “Kristallnacht” (November pogroms) had left a profound impression on Tippett, he decided to write an oratorio in support of oppressed people everywhere. The result was his stunning Child of Our Time, written for chorus, orchestra and vocal soloists. Tippett’s work has become most famous for its ingenious use of African American spirituals that connect the different parts of the oratorio. It is one of those rare works that is thought provoking, yet healing at the same time.