Operas Of Michael Tippett

Although it is impossible to trace any one particular theme running through the operas of Michael Tippett, the libretti of his four operas are fascinating to compare. The dense allusions of The Midsummer Marriage (1955), here annotated, gave way to the classical formality of King Priam (1962); the psychoanalytical preoccupations of The Knot Garden (1970) hardly foreshadow the contemporary political commentary of The Ice Break (1977). Each work breaks new ground and provokes unexpected responses. The libretti offer unique introductions to the music, and throw a searching light on the direction of British theatre since 1945.Contents: Operas contained in this volume: The Midsummer Marriage, King Priam, The Knot Garden, The Ice Break; Introduction, Meirion Bowen; A Ritual of Renewal, Paul Driver; 'A Visionary Night', John Lloyd Davies; Music for an Epic, Andrew Clements; A Tempest of Our Time, Meirion Bowen; Stereotypes and Rebirth, Leslie East

English National Opera Guides are ideal companions to the opera. They provide stimulating introductory articles together with the complete text of each opera in English and the original where appropriate. Although it is impossible to trace any one particular theme running through the operas of Michael Tippett, the libretti of his four operas are fascinating to compare. The dense allusions of The Midsummer Marriage (1955), here annotated, gave way to the classical formality of King Priam (1962); the psycho-analytical preoccupations of The Knot Garden (1970) hardly foreshadow the contemporary political commentary of The Ice Break (1977). Each work breaks new ground and provokes unexpected responses. The libretti offer unique introductions to the music. They incidentally throw a searching light on the direction of British theatre since 1945.

This study first deals with the fasinating range of verbal and dramatic symbolism of three operas (The Midsummer Marriage, King Priam, and The Knot Garden) in chapters which do not require from the reader a technical knowledge of music.

Sir Michael Tippett was born in 1905 and thus celebrated his 90th birthday in 1995. To mark this occasion, Oxford University Press published Tippett on Music, a new and up-to-date compilation of his essays drawing on his two published collections Moving into Aquarius and Music of the Angels but also including much new material.

An analytical study of the music of Michael Tippett's operas.

'A delight to read' Philip Pullman 'Essential reading ... a genuine landmark publication' Tom Service A BBC Radio 4 'Book of the Week' The music of the British composer Michael Tippett - including the oratorio A Child of Our Time, five operas, and four symphonies - is among the most visionary of the twentieth century. But little has been written about his extraordinary life. In this long-awaited first biography, Oliver Soden weaves a century-spanning narrative of epic scope and penetrating insight. Soden has discovered troves of unpublished letters and manuscripts, and recorded moving interviews with Tippett's friends and colleagues. He paints a portrait of a powerful intellect and infectious personality: charming, stubborn, and great fun. But he also uncovers the sorrows and secrets that Tippett stowed away beneath his cheerfulness, not least the darker reaches of some tempestuous and often tragic love affairs. Soden's achievement is to have enriched our understanding not only of Tippett but of his times. Figures such as T.S. Eliot, E.M. Forster, Barbara Hepworth, and W.H. Auden jostle in the cast list. An Edwardian world of gaslight and empire cedes to turmoil and warfare; one startling revelation is the extent of Tippett's involvement in the fiery left-wing politics of the 1930s. The narrative roves from the mining villages of the north, blighted by unemployment, to a cell at Wormwood Scrubs, where Tippett was imprisoned as a conscientious objector. Later chapters uncover his operas' game-changing attitudes to gay and civil rights, against a backdrop of the Cold War and the Space Race. And singing from the page comes the music, through which Soden charts an exquisitely written course, offering lucid readings of Tippett's most famous works while resuscitating forgotten masterpieces. The result is a landmark in the study of twentieth-century culture, simultaneously an astonishing feat of scholarship and a story as enthralling as in any great novel.