Canon
Where to start with Tippett
Essential works to know this composer by — spread across their styles-
VocalA Child of Our Time — Oratorio
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OrchestralConcerto for Double String Orchestra
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ChamberFanfare no. 1, for 4 horns, 3 trumpets, and 3 trombones
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StageKing Priam — Opera
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KeyboardPiano Sonata no. 1
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OrchestralFantasia Concertante on a Theme of Corelli
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OrchestralPiano Concerto
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OrchestralSymphony no. 2
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Vocal4 Songs from the British Isles
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VocalBonny At Morn, for unison chorus and 3 recorders
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VocalBoyhood's End
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OrchestralBraint, 1 variation from collaborative work with 5 other composers, for orchestra
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OrchestralConcerto for Orchestra
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VocalCrown of the Year, for female chorus and instruments
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VocalDance, Clarion Air
Listening guide
Hand-curated paths into Tippett's catalogueMost Popular
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A Child of Our Time (oratorio)spirituals embedded in classical forms
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Fantasia Concertante on a Theme of Corelli
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Piano Concerto
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String Quartet No. 3
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Symphony No. 2
Most Acclaimed
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String Quartet No. 3
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Piano Sonata No. 3
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The Midsummer Marriage (opera)
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Byzantium (soprano + orchestra)Yeats text
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Triple Concerto
Most Weird
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The Midsummer Marriageopera about spiritual development — two couples must be purified before they can marry; the libretto is almost incomprehensible; the music is gorgeous
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Symphony No. 4begins with recorded breathing sounds; ends with them; birth and death as one continuous breath
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The Ice Break (opera)Toronto 1970s — race riots, drug culture, refugees; his most contemporary-subject opera
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Piano Sonata No. 4his last piano work — 70s jazz harmonics in a Beethoven-influenced structure
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A Mask of Timemassive choral-orchestral work — the history of time and consciousness
Similar composers
Same era, overlapping styles — by genre & period affinityWorks 50
- 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
- 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
- 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
- Stage
- King Priam — Opera
- The Knot Garden — Opera
- The Midsummer Marriage — Opera
- Keyboard
- Piano Sonata no. 1
- Piano Sonata no. 2
- Piano Sonata no. 3
- Piano Sonata no. 4
- Preludio al Vespro di Monteverdi, for organ