Tippett, Sir Michael Kemp

▪ 1999

      British composer (b. Jan. 2, 1905, London, Eng.—d. Jan. 8, 1998, London), created a unique musical idiom with works over a long career that fused many different styles. Born to an educated but nonmusical family, Tippett decided to become a composer in 1923 despite having had no previous musical training. His studies at the Royal College of Music led to a gradual development from traditional, conservative composition to a personal approach that combined neoclassical counterpoint with echoes of popular music. Tippett's work reflected most of the styles prevalent in 20th-century music but maintained allegiance to none. In particular he rejected the folk song-based English nationalist school identified with Ralph Vaughan Williams. Among his major works were five operas, notably The Midsummer Marriage (composed 1946-52, premiered 1955); three large-scale choral works, including the mighty oratorio A Child of Our Time (composed 1939-41, premiered 1944); four symphonies; five string quartets; and five piano sonatas. Tippett also wrote the librettos for his operas and choral works. A Child of Our Time, which expressed the horrors of a world at war, was his first composition to gain recognition outside of Great Britain and is regarded as his masterpiece. Although by the end of his life he had achieved worldwide renown, Tippett's works were not performed regularly until the 1960s—perhaps being overshadowed by those of Benjamin Britten, the dominant figure in postwar English music. Tippett was known for his political activism: a leftist and a pacifist, he was imprisoned for three months during World War II because of his status as a conscientious objector. He was knighted in 1966.

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