Michael Tippett
20th Century · 1905–1998
Michael Tippett came to prominence slowly and on his own terms. Born in London in 1905, he studied at the Royal College of Music, then withdrew for further private study when he decided his technique wasn't ready, and did not publish the works he valued until his thirties. For years he directed music at Morley College in London, an institution for working adults.
His convictions shaped his life. A pacifist, he was jailed for two months during the Second World War for refusing the conditions of his exemption from military service. His response to the era's violence was A Child of Our Time, a dramatic concert work for singers, chorus, and orchestra, prompted by the events around Kristallnacht in 1938, which weaves African American spirituals through the drama the way Bach used hymns. He kept composing into his nineties, restlessly changing style, and died in 1998.
Start with A Child of Our Time, then the Concerto for Double String Orchestra, whose leaping, dancing lines show his joyful side.
50 works in the catalog, across 5 genres. Log what you listen to with Opus, the classical music journal for iPhone.
Chamber
- Fanfare no. 1, for 4 horns, 3 trumpets, and 3 trombones
- Praeludium, for brass, bells, and percussion
- Sonata, for 4 horns
- String Quartet no. 1
- String Quartet no. 2
- String Quartet no. 3
- String Quartet no. 4
- String Quartet no. 5
- The Blue Guitar, sonata for solo guitar
Keyboard
- Piano Sonata no. 1
- Piano Sonata no. 2
- Piano Sonata no. 3
- Piano Sonata no. 4
- Preludio al Vespro di Monteverdi, for organ
Orchestral
- Concerto for Double String Orchestra
- Fantasia Concertante on a Theme of Corelli
- Piano Concerto
- Symphony no. 2
- Braint, 1 variation from collaborative work with 5 other composers, for orchestra
- Concerto for Orchestra
- Fantasia on a Theme of Handel, for piano and orchestra
- Little Music
- New Year Suite Suite from the opera
- Suite in D
- Symphony no. 1
- Symphony no. 3, for soprano and orchestra
- Symphony no. 4
- The Rose Lake
- Triple Concerto, for violin, viola, cello, and orchestra
- Variations on an Elizabethan Theme, for orchestra
Stage
- King Priam Opera
- The Knot Garden Opera
- The Midsummer Marriage Opera
Vocal
- A Child of Our Time Oratorio
- 4 Songs from the British Isles
- Bonny At Morn, for unison chorus and 3 recorders
- Boyhood's End
- Crown of the Year, for female chorus and instruments
- Dance, Clarion Air
- Lullaby
- Magnificat and Nunc Dimittis, for chorus and organ
- Music, for unison chorus, strings, and piano ad lib
- Plebs Angelica, motet for double chorus
- Ritual Dances from The Midsummer Marriage, for chorus ad lib and orchestra
- Songs for Ariel
- The Heart's Assurance, song cycle for soprano and piano
- The Source
- The Vision of St. Augustine, for baritone, chorus, and orchestra
- The Weeping Babe, motet for soprano and chorus
- The Windhover
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