A Child of Our Time is a secular oratorio by the British composer Michael Tippett (1905–98). It was inspired by events in 1938 that had affected Tippett profoundly: the assassination of a German diplomat by a young Jewish refugee (Herschel Grynszpan, pictured) and the Nazi government's reaction in the form of the so-called Kristallnacht—a vicious pogrom against Germany's Jewish population on the night of 9–10 November. Tippett uses these incidents to represent the experiences of all oppressed peoples, in the context of a pacifist message of ultimate understanding and reconciliation. The text's recurrent themes of shadow and light reflect the Jungian psychoanalysis which Tippett underwent in the years immediately before writing the work. The oratorio's most original feature is the use of African American spirituals, which perform the function allocated in Bach's Passions to chorales; Tippett believed that these songs of oppression possess a universality absent from specifically Christian and other hymns. A Child of Our Time was well received on its first performance in 1944 at the Adelphi Theatre, London, and has since been performed all over the world in many languages.

Read more: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Child_of_Our_Time

_______________________________ Today's selected anniversaries:

1799:

The coup of 18 Brumaire led by Emmanuel Joseph Sieyès and Napoleon deposed the French government, replacing the Directory with the Consulate. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/18_Brumaire

1888:

Mary Jane Kelly was murdered in London, widely believed to be the fifth and final victim of the notorious unidentified serial killer Jack the Ripper. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_Jane_Kelly

1913:

The "Big Blow" storm reached its maximum intensity in the Great Lakes Basin of North America, destroying 19 ships and 68,300 tons of cargo, and killing over 250 people. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Lakes_Storm_of_1913

1989:

East Germany announced the opening of the inner German border and the Berlin Wall, marking the symbolic end of the Cold War, impending collapse of the Warsaw Pact, and beginning of the end of Soviet communism. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inner_German_border

1998:

With the passing of the Human Rights Act, the United Kingdom abolished capital punishment for all criminal offences. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_Rights_Act_1998

_____________________________ Wiktionary's word of the day:

dematerialize: 1. (intransitive) to disappear by becoming immaterial. 2. (transitive) to cause something to disappear by becoming immaterial. https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/dematerialize

___________________________ Wikiquote quote of the day:

In the fabric of space and in the nature of matter, as in a great work of art, there is, written small, the artist's signature.   --Carl Sagan https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Carl_Sagan