Summarize relevant aspects of Jungian psychology and demonstrate their influence on either A Child of Our Time or A Midsummer Marriage.

Summarize applicable flavors of Jungian psychology and demonstrate their influence on either A sister of Our Time or A Midsummer Marriage.

The relevance of Jungian Psychology, when studying Tippet, is un interrogative sufficient, closely perfunctory. The psychological theories of Jung were non bad(p)ly admired by Tippet who was undoubtedly influenced a great toilet by Jung?s observations of the genius. Tippett not and intelligibly understood and supported the harshness of Jung?s theories, but besides fully incorporated them into his life; using the theories as an almost spiritual base from which he could ascertain a relieve one self-importancetism commiserateing of his ?self? (i.e. analysing his induce dreams in a Jungian fashion). This is evident in Tippett?s own writings. Throughout his book, Tippett on Music, Tippet makes several references to Jung, whether discussing the head word of former(a)(a)s, or indeed writing about(predicate) ?aspects on belief?; the consequences of Jung?s psychological theories on Tippett are evident.

Tippett found that Jungian psychology seekd the principal in more than depth than Freud?s. The contemporary discernment: intellectual, advanced, flairrn, and rational is able to be understood better by adopting Jung?s therapeutic burn down; an approach keen to accept the unconscious(p) as an aspect of the psyche which may harbour more than just repress memories. Tippett appreciated the prospect in which to understand his highly active agent and contemporary mind, fostering a ?need to balance much(prenominal)(prenominal) a terrifying therapy with an equal examination of the corporal non-primitive? . In urgencying to know himself truly by acknowledging his unconscious, Tippett integrated Jung?s psychologies into his life. Tippet believed that ?Jung has found a way to bring this incarnate non-primitive into congenator with our excessively rationalistic, empirical modern minds? . It seems that Tippett, who was searching for answers to galore(postnominal) ontological questions ? perhaps most prevalent that being the rationalization of his queerness ? was able to stupefy a means in which to find answers by following Jung?s theories.

Tippett was besides able to just his understanding of the hu manhood race by acknowledging the connecting aspect of apiece mortals? psyche; the ? corporal-unconscious?. To Tippett, Jung?s theories were so convincing that he not only used them to rationalize his own psyche, but also realised the empathetic bond mingled with humans, seeking not only epistemological answers, but an answer to the connections that subsist betwixt them. ?Some of us are driven by other agonies to a deeper analysis, until we meet on the labyrinthine paths of the collective unconscious those events, age-old predilections of the mind, which Jung c whollys the Archetypes? . It is perhaps by Jung?s persuasion of prototypic knowledge that Tippett connects most to Jung?s psychology; seeing the electric po disco biscuittial of an innate knowledge of things ? which somewhat resonates with the ideology of Platonic philosophy ? to act as a means through which he could communicate in his music.

A minor of Our Time was Tippett?s undertake at communicating to a large sense of hearing ?a complex of ill-defined but essentially tender emotions deriving from his reactions to the 1914-1918 war [First World War]? . More specifically, Tippett felt that he needed to address injustice, ?his feelings towards the socially deprived or behave? . Tippett indubitably found latent in his feelings for the exploited, Jung?s ideology of projection and its pertinence to ?the figure of the outcast or whipping boy upon whom such rejection is projected and through whom it ostensibly is justified? . In composing A baby bird of Our Time, Tippett was not only to contain why such rejection is projected, but also, uncover the ostensible justifications for such conduct by examining and eliciting inventions of Jungian psychology.

It is the use of this essay to witness those aspects of A chela of Our Time which are inextricable, or freighter be perceive to be linked to Jungian psychology. not only will the event upon which the work was based be considered, but also the actual libretto and Tippett?s choice of language. Tippett?s intentions for and interactions between characters in the oratorio will also be discussed, as will the presence of Jung in the actual diegesis of the work. It is, however, all important(p) that relevant aspects of Jungian psychology are summarized in holy order to understand the ways in which the materials of Tippett?s work behave.

To understand the Jungian influence on Tippett?s choice of gloss and c one timept for the work, we must prototypical understand Jung?s concept of archetypes. In breaking down the psyche into three separate: the conscious mind, the personal unconscious and the collective unconscious, Jung was however able to rationalize that:?from the unconscious there emanate determining influences which, independently of tradition, guarantee in every single individual a quasi(prenominal)ity and even a sa workforceess of experience, and also of the way it is represent imaginatively. One of the important proofs of this is the almost universal correspondence between mythological motifs, which, on account of their quality as primordial projects, I have called Archetypes? .

Tippett?s choice of cognomen is owed to a parallel he drew between Ö fall a leave-taking von Horvath?s novel Ein Kind unserer Zeit, and the historical event of Kristallnacht, of which Herschel Grynspan became the mould for Tippett?s scapswelled headat. ?Horvath?s story confirmed that Tippett?s fundamental concept of the scap egoat was element of an age-old recurring anatomy in human existence? and Tippett therefore saw the opportunity for his oratorio to have ?more than documentary relevance? . By basing his oratorio on the prototypal stunt man of the scapegoat, Tippett?s intention was beyond merely commenting on the relevance of the federal agency at that time, but to also achieve a work which communicates with all humanity an ageless ?sameness of experience?; a work which addresses a concept familiar to us all. A Child of Our Time is, therefore, able to ask questions which ?stretch well beyond historical limits? , but is only permitted to do so depending upon the validity of Jung?s concept of archetypal images. The concept of A Child of Our Time relied heavily on Tippett?s faith in Jung and Tippett?s will power to confront head-on the question: ?why men should mete out such inhumaneness to one another? .

Other elements of Jungian psychology exist in the actual event upon which the oratorio is based. A Child of Our Time is based on the events which took place and led to what is know as Kristallnacht. The event involving Herschel Grynspan, a seventeen year-old Jewish boy, exemplifies m whatever of Jung?s mentations. Jung not only characterized archetypes as belonging to the collective unconscious, but also ?instincts?. Instincts are ?the innate biological drives that break our behaviour. Examples are the sex drive, hunger and aggression? . Jung also went further to say that these instincts were all powered by generic psyche energy, the ?libido?. It discharge be seen that the actions of Grynspan were powered by his instinctual libido in a bid of revenge. The reaction of the Nazi Germans is also expressible in Jungian terms. Jung often makes references to ?the phantasm? and ?projection?. The tush is a symbolic image of an ?unconscious reveal of the spirit that contains weaknesses and other aspects of personality that a person brush offnot admit to having? . Projection, however, is ?where an unconscious characteristic, a fault, or even a talent of one?s own is seen as belonging to another person or object? , that is to say, a part an individuals psyche is projected on another person. Jung pointed out that projection wasn?t limited to an individual alone and it is easily conceivable that a collective shadow could form a ?spirit of the age, or Zeitgeist? ; a collective projection. This is most aptly show by the Nazi?s, whose collective shadow terminationed in the Holocaust and also the reaction to Grynspan?s shooting of the German official, Ernst vom Rath.

Tippett, therefore, had a divvy up of material latent with Jungian ideas with which to compose his oratorio. Naturally, the diegesis of the oratorio would contain those Jungian aspects demonstrated by the actual historical event. Tippett, however, furthers the audiences? experience of Jung in the false world of his oratorio by personifying some of Jung?s concepts as characters in the story. We are talking here about what Jung referred to as the anima. Jung ?believed that everyone has an inner personality and attitude, which is turned towards the world of the unconscious? . It is with the idea of an inner personality that Tippett personifies, in the arc entropy scena of the second part of his oratorio, the anima of ?the boy? in the countertenor part. As the vote counter bit by bit depicts the story, the alto observes the changes in the unconsciousness of ?the boy?, descriptions which grow dynamically as the story unfolds. The anima is also personified in the music itself. The scena which begins 9 bars before figure 83, uses the woodwind timbre, beginning open(a) in the clarinet 5 bars before figure 83, as an obligatto timbre with which to complement or represent the alto fathom?s personification of ?the boys? anima. ?His other self rises in him? is represented not by an ascending vocal determineting, but kinda the ascending motifs seen in the woodwinds (5 bars before figure 84: oboe and clarinet). Tippett even goes as far to attempt evocation of a musical representation of ?the boys? behaviours which result from the energy of his ?libido?. We can see that 2 bars before figure 84, Tippett juxtaposes the school text edition and melodic line of the narrator (bass solo) with that of the anima (alto solo), demonstrating the overwhelming power of the libido to allay irrational behaviours; the sudden presence of two vocal lines incurs a momentary lapse of concentration in the audience.

The image of the anima is also explored later in the oratorio in Part III, the first alto solo. ?The soul of man is impassioned like a woman? ? Tippett directly refers to the anima, which Jung used ?to describe the personification of the unconscious feminine aspect of a man?s personality? . Tippet is using here, however, the actual text of the libretto as a mode in which to communicate directly, information, as contrasted to the more gyp personification of the anima, which requires more thought to perceive correctly. Tippett goes further with the text to define the very nature of the anima: ?She is old as the earth, beyond steady-going and evil, the sensual garments?; Tippett acknowledges the intrinsic archetypal properties of the anima.

Tippet expresses a lot through his text and it is worth examining apiece part, high softing the relevant parts which have manifested from Jungian psychology. The opening statement of the choir: ?The world turns on its dark side?, relies on a heavily symbolic language with which to communicate its Jungian inheritance. Tippett conjures the image of a zeitgeist through implying that all humanity, ?the world?, has turned on its dark side; the word ?dark? being indicative of the shadow: a ?collective shadow?. The Alto solely which follows is another example of the personification of the Anima, which in this case is observing the ?living god? ? The archetypes ? which ?consumes within and turns the flesh to cancer. Tippett suggests the irrational behaviour and lack of explanation for it is a result of man?s ignorance of the unconscious in favour of developing empirical science. The unconscious will reassert itself in a way which man is not able to cope with or indeed, comprehend.

It is Jung?s idea of the shadow which is most prevalent in A Child of Our Time. There are, however, attempts by Tippett to suggest ways in which we can begin to fully understand ourselves through our understanding of our own shadow. Jung called this process ?individuation? and Tippett is undoubtedly an advocate of such a therapeutic ideology. Tippett questions whether our shadow, which is an integral aspect of the individuation process, is then good? Are Jung?s theories rational? The chorus line, mankind in worldwide ask, ?is reason untrue?? Tippett sets up in ?The Argument? the main propositions of his oratorio: a Jungian answer to the problem of a collective shadow in humanity.

After the dialogue between the chorus and alto solo, the narrator, bass solo, sings about a year in the commonwealth. This division, however, is representative of the splitting of the psyche into its several parts. The narrator in A Child of Our Time is to be perceived in a similar way to the personified anima in the alto part later on. It was Tippett?s intention to represent the ? forefather image? or ?Imago-Dei? through the narrator, another personification of a Jungian archetype.



Tippett?s decision to personify the ?Father-God image? is apt as the omniscience nature of the narrator resonates well with the archetypal image of God.

In the Tenor solo which follows the ?Chorus of the ladened?, Tippet explores another area of Jungian Psychology. Here, Jung?s idea of the ego is explored through the image of ?the common man? . The ego is the part of the psyche which ?gives us our sense of identity? , furthermore helps ?us to function potently in society? . The words Tippett uses: ?I am caught between my desires and their frustrations as between the hammer and the incus?, create a metaphor for the interaction between the ego and the shadow of the common man. Tippet, in this tenor solo, portrays the concept of the self ?which is the whole personality and includes both conscious and unconscious aspects of the psyche? .

The soprano solo which follows the tenor solo is quite similar in function. It portrays the ?common woman? . Here, the absence of acknowledging any inconsiderate desire makes the text more pertinent to an expression of the ego alone. The ego can be seen to be acclimatizing to the current situation of the world by expressing its immediate concerns: ?How shall I feed my children on so small a wage?? Tippett acknowledges that the anima in men is more prevalent and as such is responsible for heightened elicitations of the shadow in men ? the common man.

If we consider the difference of the story content between part I and part II, the localization of function of the events in each section can be laid in separate parts of the psyche. The first part, which has a more metaphysical denotation, can be contrasted to that of the second part, which focuses more on descriptive event and realistic dialogue. The possible notion that part one is a portrayal of the collective-unconscious and that part two is set in the conscious mind is supported by Tippett?s intention to follow closely the tripartite shape of Handel?s Messiah, which ?embodied three basic formal and dramatic functions: the first part is prophetic and preparatory, the second biography and epic, the third thoughtful and metaphysical? . In A Child of Our Time, Tippett complements the nature of each part by suiting its intended stipulation (prophetic and preparatory, narrative and epic etc) to its conceived place within the psyche i.e. the conscious mind witnessing real-time events in the second part as opposed to the discussion of archetypes and ego etc in the first.

The Jungian aspects of part II are mainly involved with the nature of instincts and the power of the ??libido?. The second part is able to demonstrate Grynspan?s position in the journey of the psyche. In his book, Man and his Symbols, Jung describes the dynamic growth and knowledge of the psyche through identify with various symbols. The ?Red trump? is most apt at in detailing Grynspan?s place in the journey of the psyche, it:?Represents the third stage. He is the youngest of ten brothers and has to pass various archetypal tests, such as engaging a race and proving his great strength. His companion thunderbird ?storms-as-he-walks? makes up for any shortcomings and weaknesses on the part of the hero. Red Horn represents the struggles of teens and young adulthood, where the increment psyche has to come to terms with living in the out world?This is particularly evident in Grynspan, whose attempt to deal with the pressures of the Nazi pogroms led to him shooting the official.

Tippett?s most effective demonstration of the Jungian idea of projection is foundi n the second scena of the second part. When The boy shoots the official, the alto sings: ?But he shoots only his dark brother ? and see ? he is dead?. In referring to ?his dark brother?, Tippett is actually suggesting the projection of The Boy?s shadow upon the official. In shooting ?his dark brother?, The Boy is killing those aspects of himself which he sees as unacceptable in the official.

In part III the focus of the oratorio is centred upon the Jungian ideas of ? individualism?, the process of facing the shadow of your psyche in an attempt to take ?responsibility for out less favoured aspects? . The chorus in the opening of part III sing: ?The world descends into the frigid wet where lies the jewel of great price?, Tippett is suggesting that deep with the psyche we are able to discover our true self. The following alto solo is a follow up of the opening chorus statement, detailing the aspects of the anima in the unconscious that mankind are unmindful(predicate) of. After having presented in part II the struggles of the conscious mind, which result from a lack of empathy with the unconscious, Tippett provides in the third part a way in which to find ones self; an answer moreover a remedy.

Tippett?s answer is most poignantly expressed in the final section of his oratorio where the tenor sings: ?I would know my shadow and my light, so shall I at exsert be whole? a direct metaphorical ikon of the individuation process. In his final moments of using his own words, Tippett prompts his audience to ?dare the grave passage?, to take the steps towards go individuated. It is the reassessment of our own unconscious that Tippett implies by: ?The moving waters renew the earth?. In his final advocating of Jungian psychology, Tippett implies that once the world is able to look within itself and realises its own shadows, light will be brought back into the world; it will set about spring.

Through his knowledge of Jungian psychology Tippett was able to explore many concepts of the psyche in an illuminating way. Whether Tippett achieved this directly through immediate statements of the obvious, or in more abstract ways, such as the personification of the anima, Tippett created a work which is completely embed with a Jungian fortitude, fortitude so important to Tippett that it would be subjected to further investigation in A Midsummer Marriage.

BIBLIOGPRAHPYJUNG, Carl. The Archetypes and the corporate Unconscious, Routledge; New Ed edition (6 Jun 1991)KEMP, Ian. Tippet: the composer and his music. London, Eulenberg Books, 1984SNOWDEN, Ruth. Teach Yourself Jung. Hodder Murray, 2005TIPPETT, Michael. Tippett on Music. ed. Meirion Bowen. Oxford University Press, 1995

If you want to get a full essay, order it on our website: Orderessay



If you want to get a full information about our service, visit our page: How it works.