Opera Scotland

Michael Tippett Suggest updates

Sir Michael Kemp Tippett.

Born London, 2 January 1905.

Died London, 8 January 1998.

English composer.

Michael Tippett continued to produce music of wonderful quality to the end of his life, though his greatest operas are the first two. By any standards, King Priam is a highly effective music drama. The Ice Break and New Year suffer more than the others from the mix of dated slang and trendiness that the composer's own librettos contained (not rescued in performance despite excellent initial stagings by Sam Wanamaker and Peter Hall, respectively). The Knot Garden was received with great enthusiasm, but has, perhaps surprisingly, not been performed as widely as its predecessors. His great talent for music drama was first revealed in 1941 with his memorable oratorio A Child of Our Time. The Midsummer Marriage and King Priam both contain much music that is superb by any standard.

Operas and oratorios performed in Scotland shown in bold:-

01   A Child of Our Time (London 1941) (cpsr)

02   The Midsummer Marriage (London 1955) (cpsr)                                                            

03   King Priam (Coventry 1962) (cpsr) 

04   The Knot Garden (London 1970) (cpsr)                                                                       

05   The Ice Break (London 1977) (cpsr)                                                                               

06    New Year (Houston 1989) (cpsr)