The Early Operas Of Michael Tippett

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.

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 Companion provides a wide ranging and accessible study of one of the most individual composers of the twentieth century. A team of international scholars shed new light on Tippett's major works and draw attention to those that have not yet received the attention they deserve.

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.

This book is the first to examine in depth the contributions of major British authors such as W. H. Auden and E. M. Forster, as critics and librettists, to the rise of British opera in the twentieth century. The perceived literary values of British authors, as much as the musical innovations of British composers, informed the aesthetic development of British opera. Indeed, British opera emerged as a simultaneously literary and musical project. Too often, operatic adaptations are compared superficially to their original sources. This is a particular problem for British opera, which has become increasingly defined artistically by the literary sophistication of its narrative sources. The resulting collaborations between literary figures and composers have crucial implications for the development of both opera and literature. Twentieth-Century British Authors and the Rise of Opera in Britain reveals the importance of this literary involvement in operatic adaptation to literature and literary studies, to music and musicology, and to cultural and theoretical studies.

Aficionados of music, dance, opera, and musical theater will relish this volume featuring over 200 articles showcasing composers, singers, musicians, dancers, and choreographers across eras and styles. Read about Hildegard of Bingen, whose Symphonia expressed both spiritual and physical desire for the Virgin Mary, and George Frideric Handel, who not only created roles for castrati but was behind the Venetian opera's preoccupations with gender ambiguity. Discover Alban Berg’s Lulu, opera’s first openly lesbian character. And don’t forget Kiss Me Kate, the hit 1948 Broadway musical: written by Cole Porter, married though openly gay; directed by John C. Wilson, Noël Coward's ex-lover; and featuring Harold Lang, who had affairs with Leonard Bernstein and Gore Vidal. No single volume has ever achieved the breadth of this scholarly yet eminently readable compendium. It includes overviews of genres as well as fascinating biographical entries on hundreds of figures such as Peter Tchaikovsky, Maurice Ravel, Sergei Diaghilev, Bessie Smith, Aaron Copland, Stephen Sondheim, Alvin Ailey, Rufus Wainwright, and Ani DiFranco.

Opera is the only guide to the research writings on all aspects of opera. This second edition presents 2,833 titles--over 2,000 more than the first edition--of books, parts of books, articles and dissertations with full bibliographic descriptions and critical annotations. Users will find the core literature on the operas of 320 individual composers and details of operatic life in 43 countries. All relevant works through to November 1999 have been considered, covering more than fifteen years of literature since the first edition was published.