Hertfordshire Chorus - Tippett and Mozart

In 1938 a young Polish Jew shot a German diplomat, triggering a violent pogrom in Germany. The boy had been driven to this desperate act by the persecution of his mother. He was imprisoned, and then disappeared after being handed over to the Nazis. Tippett used these events as the basis for his moving oratorio A Child of Our Time, a vivid expression of ‘man’s inhumanity to man’. The struggles of those times are clearly expressed in the contrasts between the harshly xenophobic passages and the hopeful and uplifting spirituals. In 1994 David Temple had the privilege of working with the composer on the fiftieth anniversary performance of this work.

Hertfordshire Chorus will be joined by the one-off Sing Mozart! Choir for their performance of Mozart’sRequiem, one of his most popular and respected choral works. The score was composed during the final year of Mozart's life and completed after his death by his pupil Franz Süssmayr. It is a superb work , full of contrasts - from the fire and brimstone Dies Irae and the terrifying Rex Tremendae to the intimate and tender Recordare, with its quartet for the four soloists - the Requiem's view of a world not wracked by pain or lament.