Reader to Reader

H. James Rosenberg, whose diatribe on Michael Tippett and his oratorio “A Child of Our Time” appeared in last Saturday’s letters column, should be aware that the composition of this work commenced in 1939 and was finished two years later. History at that time did not reveal that “Kristallnacht was meticulously planned.”

As a confirmed (and imprisoned) pacifist, Tippet used the sequence of events in a generalized way to comment on man’s inhumanity to man--not to necessarily infer cause and effect. Rosenberg should listen to the work.

DAVID J. McNALLY

Tehachapi

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I can only second the opinions of H. James Rosenberg and Henry Cataldo regarding Mark Swed’s comments as The Times’ classical music critic. I too find Swed’s opinions incredible and his critiques next to useless.

FRANCES E. MURPHY

Monterey Park