Tippett Studies

Michael Tippett is one of the major figures of British music in this century. This volume of essays provides the first substantial writing on the composer for over a decade and includes the work of established scholars as well as several new voices. Across essays that encompass a range of genres and style periods, a number of recurring themes can be detected. Broadly speaking, the book moves from technical discussion focused on individual works to wider questions of context--the "external" factors that have shaped the composer's musical production, such as his relationship to the past, his fascination with ancient Greece and his pursuit of the transcendent.

Michael Tippett (1905–98) was one of the major figures of British music in this century. This volume of essays provides the first substantial writing on the composer for over a decade and includes the work of established scholars as well as several new voices. Essays encompass a range of genres and style periods, but a number of recurring themes may be detected. Broadly speaking, the book moves between technical discussion focused on individual works and wider questions of context - the 'external' factors that shaped the composer's musical production such as his relationship to the past, his fascination with ancient Greece and his pursuit of the transcendent. What emerges from this book is a rich portrait of a composer whose work reflects the century's triumphs and tragedies with particular intensity and who, at the end of his composing career, was increasingly acknowledged by younger composers as a major influence and example.

Preface; References to Tippett's scores and essays; 1. 'Only half rebelling': tonal strategies, folksong and 'Englishness' in Tippett's Concerto for Double String Orchestra David Clarke; 2. From pastiche to free composition: R. O. Morris, Tippett and the development of pitch resources in the Fantasia Concertante on a Theme of Corelli Anthony Pople; 3. 'Is there a choice at all?' King Priam and motives for analysis Arnold Whittall; 4. Tippett's Second Symphony, Stravinsky and the language of neoclassicism: towards a critical framework Kenneth Gloag; 5. Tippett, sequence and metaphor Christopher Mark; 6. Tonal elements and their significance in Tippett's Sonata No. 3 for Piano Alastair Borthwick; 7. 'Significant gestures to the past': formal processes and visionary moments in Tippett's Triple Concerto Stephen Collisson; 8. Tippett's King Priam and 'the tragic vision' Rowena Pollard and David Clarke; 9. Tippett at the millennium: a personal memoir Wilfrid Mellers; 10. Decline or renewal in late Tippett? The Fifth String Quartet in perspective Peter Wright; Appendix; Index.

Michael Tippett (1905-1998) was one of the major figures of British music in this century. This volume of essays provides the first substantial writing on the composer for over a decade and includes the work of established scholars as well as several new voices.