163-497: The Midsummer Marriage is an opera in three acts, with music and libretto by Michael Tippett . The work's first performance was at Covent Garden , on 27 January 1955, conducted by John Pritchard . The reception of the opera was controversial, over confusion as to the libretto and Tippett's use of symbols and psychological references. The opera has received at least 10 more productions, in England, Wales, Scotland, Germany, Sweden and
326-656: A Theme of Handel for piano and orchestra was performed at the Wigmore Hall in March 1942, with Sellick again the soloist, and the same venue saw the première of the composer's String Quartet No. 2 a year later. The first recording of Tippett's music, the Piano Sonata No. 1 played by Sellick, was issued in August 1941. The recording was well received by critics; Wilfrid Mellers predicted a leading role for Tippett in
489-543: A career as a composer, a prospect that alarmed them and was discouraged by his headmaster and by Sargent. By mid-1922 Tippett had developed a rebellious streak. His overt atheism particularly troubled the school, and he was required to leave. He remained in Stamford in private lodgings, while continuing lessons with Tinkler and with the organist of St Mary's Church . He also began studying Charles Villiers Stanford 's book Musical Composition , which, he later wrote, "became
652-693: A centenary celebration of the Tolpuddle Martyrs , as part of a grand Pageant of Labour at the Crystal Palace . Tippett was not formally a member of any political party or group until 1935, when he joined the British Communist Party at the urging of his cousin, Phyllis Kemp. This membership was brief; the influence of Trotsky 's History of the Russian Revolution had led him to embrace Trotskyism , while
815-665: A composer". BBC Proms The BBC Proms is an eight-week summer season of daily orchestral classical music concerts and other events held annually, predominantly in the Royal Albert Hall in central London . Robert Newman founded The Proms in 1895. Since 1927, the BBC has organised and broadcast The Proms. Each season consists of concerts in the Royal Albert Hall, chamber music concerts at Cadogan Hall (or occasionally other venues), additional Proms in
978-407: A consequence. From around 1976 his late works began to reflect the works of his youth through a return to lyricism. Although he was much honoured in his lifetime, critical judgement on Tippett's legacy has been uneven, the greatest praise generally reserved for his earlier works. His centenary in 2005 was a muted affair; apart from the few best-known works, his music has not been performed frequently in
1141-583: A considerably cheaper option for the more popular events. Since most promming tickets cannot be bought until 10:30am on the morning of the concert (although there are full-season tickets and weekend passes available), they provide a way of attending otherwise sold-out concerts. In 2010, the Proms Archive was introduced on the BBC Proms webpage, to allow for a systematic searching of all works that have been performed and all artists who have appeared at
1304-488: A curriculum that included piano lessons—his first formal contact with music. There was a piano in the house, on which he "took to improvising crazily ... which I called 'composing', though I had only the vaguest notion of what that meant". In September 1914 Michael became a boarder at Brookfield Preparatory School in Swanage , Dorset. He spent four years there, at one point earning notoriety by writing an essay that challenged
1467-629: A decade previously Malcolm Sargent had been a pupil. Around this time Henry Tippett decided to live in France, and the house in Wetherden was sold. The 15-year-old Michael and his brother Peter remained at school in England, travelling to France for their holidays. Michael found Stamford much more congenial than Fettes, and developed both academically and musically. He found an inspiring piano teacher in Frances Tinkler, who introduced him to
1630-636: A degree that the collective, magical archetypes take charge—Jung's anima and animus . Tippett, outlining the origins of The Midsummer Marriage . The musical and philosophical ideas behind the opera had begun in Tippett's mind several years earlier. The story, which he wrote himself, charts the fortunes of two contrasting couples in a manner which has brought comparison with Mozart's The Magic Flute . The strain of composition, combined with his continuing responsibilities at Morley and his BBC work, affected Tippett's health and slowed progress. Following
1793-476: A festival of his music. After suffering a stroke he was taken home, where he died on 8 January 1998, six days after his 93rd birthday. He was cremated on 15 January, at Hanworth crematorium, after a secular service. Bowen has called Tippett "a composer of our time", one who engaged with the social, political and cultural issues of his day. Arnold Whittall sees the music as embodying Tippett's philosophy of "ultimately optimistic humanism". Rather than ignoring
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#17327932383331956-669: A fruitful musical friendship with Benjamin Britten and Peter Pears , for whom he wrote the cantata Boyhood's End for tenor and piano. Encouraged by Britten, Tippett made arrangements for the first performance of A Child of Our Time , at London's Adelphi Theatre on 19 March 1944. Goehr conducted the London Philharmonic Orchestra , and Morley's choral forces were augmented by the London Regional Civil Defence Choir. Pears sang
2119-521: A hero of the 1930s class war In the summers of 1932 and 1934 Tippett took charge of musical activities at miners' work camps near Boosbeck in the north of England. Known as the Cleveland Work Camps , they were run by a munificent local landowner, Major Pennyman, to give unemployed miners a sense of purpose and independence. In 1932 Tippett arranged the staging of a shortened version of John Gay's The Beggar's Opera , with locals playing
2282-436: A hound chases a hare, but the hare escapes. In the second, an otter chases a fish, who hurts himself on the root of a tree. In the third, a bird with a broken wing is captured by a hawk. Bella is terrified by the rituals. Jack comforts her as she recomposes herself. Reassured, they resume their playful interlude and run off into the woods. King Fisher orders the group of young people to fetch Madame Sosostris, his clairvoyant. He
2445-562: A house in the Wiltshire village of Corsham , where he lived with his long-term partner Karl Hawker. By then Tippett had begun work on his second major opera, King Priam . He chose for his theme the tragedy of Priam , mythological king of the Trojans , as recorded in Homer 's Iliad , and again he prepared his own libretto. As with The Midsummer Marriage , Tippett's preoccupation with
2608-482: A knighthood in 1911. In 1914 anti-German feeling led Speyer to surrender his role, and music publishers Chappell & Co. took control of the concerts. Although Newman remained involved in artistic planning, it was Wood's name which became most closely associated with the Proms. As conductor from the first concert (which opened with Wagner's Rienzi overture) in 1895, Sir Henry was largely responsible for building
2771-546: A large, dilapidated house, Tidebrook Manor in Wadhurst , Sussex. As The Midsummer Marriage neared completion he wrote a song cycle for tenor and piano, The Heart's Assurance . This work, a long-delayed tribute to Francesca Allinson (who had committed suicide in 1945), was performed by Britten and Pears at the Wigmore Hall on 7 May 1951. The Midsummer Marriage was finished in 1952, after which Tippett arranged some of
2934-552: A libretto for the oratorio, and the poet showed interest. But when Tippett presented him with a more detailed scenario, Eliot advised him to write his own text, suggesting that the poetic quality of the words might otherwise dominate the music. Tippett called the oratorio A Child of Our Time , taking the title from Ein Kind unserer Zeit , a contemporary protest novel by the Austro-Hungarian writer Ödön von Horváth . Within
3097-536: A live broadcast from the Royal Festival Hall on 5 February 1958, the work broke down after a few minutes and had to be restarted by the apologetic conductor: "Entirely my mistake, ladies and gentlemen". The BBC's Controller of Music defended the orchestra in The Times , writing that it "is equal to all reasonable demands", a wording that implied the fault was the composer's. In 1960 Tippett moved to
3260-463: A memorial to Stravinsky, who had died on 6 April 1971, and the Piano Sonata No. 3 (1973). In February 1974 Tippett attended a "Michael Tippett Festival" arranged in his honour by Tufts University , near Boston , Massachusetts. He was also present at a performance of The Knot Garden at Northwestern University at Evanston, Illinois —the first Tippett opera to be performed in the US. Two years later he
3423-567: A pencil". Tippett overcame his initial ignorance of early music by attending Palestrina masses at Westminster Cathedral , following the music with the help of a borrowed score. At the RCM, Tippett's first composition tutor was Charles Wood , who used the models of Bach, Mozart and Beethoven to instil a solid understanding of musical forms and syntax. When Wood died in 1926, Tippett chose to study with C.H. Kitson , whose pedantic approach and lack of sympathy with Tippett's compositional aims strained
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#17327932383333586-549: A performance in November 1941 of Purcell's Ode to St Cecilia , with improvised instruments and rearrangements of voice parts, attracted considerable attention. The music staff at Morley was augmented by the recruitment of refugee musicians from Europe, including Walter Bergmann , Mátyás Seiber , and Walter Goehr , who took charge of the college orchestra. A Child of Our Time was finished in 1941 and put aside with no immediate prospects of performance. Tippett's Fantasia on
3749-669: A performance of Handel's Messiah , using choral and orchestral forces close to Handel's original intentions. Such an approach was rare at that time, and the event attracted considerable interest. In mid-1932 Tippett moved to a cottage in neighbouring Limpsfield, provided by friends as a haven in which he could concentrate on composition. His friendships with Ayerst and Allinson had opened up new cultural and political vistas. Through Ayerst he met W. H. Auden , who in due course introduced him to T. S. Eliot . Although no deep friendship developed with either poet, Tippett came to consider Eliot his "spiritual father". Ayerst also introduced him to
3912-466: A project through from conception to completion was very long—seven years, Tippett said, in the case of the Third Symphony. In the earlier, contemplative stages he might be simultaneously engaged on other works, but once these stages were complete he would dedicate himself entirely to the completion of the work in hand. Tippett preferred to compose in full score; once the writing began, progress
4075-529: A recurring factor in his music. He was a strong advocate of music education , and was active for much of his life as a radio broadcaster and writer on music. The Tippett family originated in Cornwall . Michael Tippett's grandfather, George Tippett, left the county in 1854 to make his fortune in London through property speculation and other business schemes. A flamboyant character, he had a strong tenor voice that
4238-677: A result, he gave up his teaching position at Hazelwood to become the conductor of the South London Orchestra, a project financed by the London County Council and made up of unemployed musicians. Its first public concert was held on 5 March 1933 at Morley College , later to become Tippett's professional base. "So God He made us outlaws To beat the devil's man To rob the rich, to help the poor By Robin's ten-year plan." Robin Hood, interpreted by Tippett as
4401-570: A separate concert work. The story of The Midsummer Marriage was consciously modeled after Mozart 's The Magic Flute . Both trace the path to marriage of one "royal" and one "common" couple: Jenifer and Mark correspond to Pamina and Tamino, the earthy Jack and Bella to Papageno and Papagena. King Fisher stands in for the Queen of the Night, the Ancients for Sarastro and his priests, and so on. But
4564-528: A text by Christopher Fry; piano variations on the song "Jockey to the Fair"; and a string quartet. Professional soloists and orchestral players were engaged, and the concert was conducted by David Moule-Evans , a friend from the RCM. Despite encouraging comments from The Times and the Daily Telegraph , Tippett was deeply dissatisfied with the works, and decided that he needed further tuition. He withdrew
4727-471: A three-part structure based on Handel's Messiah , Tippett took the novel step of using North American spirituals in place of the traditional chorales that punctuate oratorio texts. According to Kenneth Gloag's commentary, the spirituals provide "moments of focus and repose ... giving shape to both the musical and literary dimensions of the work". Tippett began composing the oratorio in September 1939, on
4890-594: A torrent of musical invention". His status as a national figure was now being increasingly recognised. He had been appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in 1959; in 1961 he was made an honorary Fellow of the Royal College of Music (HonFRCM), and in 1964 he received from Cambridge University the first of many honorary doctorates . In 1966 he was knighted . In 1965 Tippett made
5053-486: A wider audience for concert hall music by offering low ticket prices and an informal atmosphere, where eating, drinking and smoking were permitted to the promenaders. He stated his aim to Henry Wood in 1894 as follows: I am going to run nightly concerts and train the public by easy stages. Popular at first, gradually raising the standard until I have created a public for classical and modern music. George Cathcart, an otolaryngologist , gave financial backing to Newman for
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5216-539: A wider geographical area within the host nations. All of these events were incorporated within BBC One's live coverage of the Last Night of the Proms, with live link-ups to each of the venues. However, some more traditional elements of the Last Night of the Proms (such as "Jerusalem", "Rule Britannia" and "Land of Hope and Glory") were removed on some years depending on local politics. As the popularity of Proms in
5379-506: A young artist, Wilfred Franks . By this time Tippett was coming to terms with his homosexuality, while not always at ease with it. Franks provided him with what he called "the deepest, most shattering experience of falling in love". This intense relationship ran alongside a political awakening. Tippett's natural sympathies had always been leftish, and became more consciously so from his inclusion in Allinson's circle of left-wing activists. As
5542-502: Is adorned with a laurel chaplet by representatives of the Promenaders, who often wipe an imaginary bead of sweat from his forehead or make some similar gentle, visual joke. As with the rest of the season, the cost of promming tickets (standing tickets) is just £8. Many consider these to be the best tickets due to the atmosphere of standing in the hall for up to three hours; albeit with a twenty-five minute interval. Another tradition
5705-678: Is derived in part from Bartók and Stravinsky but also from the English madrigalists. Sympathy with the past, observed by Colin Mason in an early appraisal of the composer's work, was at the root of the neoclassicism that is a feature of Tippett's music, at least until the Second Symphony (1957). In terms of tonality, Tippett shifted his ground in the course of his career. His earlier works, up to The Midsummer Marriage , are key-centred, but thereafter he moved through bitonality into what
5868-405: Is determined to thwart the Ancients, convinced that they are responsible for Jenifer's disappearance. The group returns with Sosostris, and King Fisher orders her to reveal Jenifer's location. She warns him against such inquiries into the dream world, but she reveals Jenifer to be lying in a meadow consorting with a winged lion who has the arms and face of a man. Enraged, King Fisher insists Sosostris
6031-484: Is inspired by the Fisher King character mentioned in the same poem. Tippett was first given the idea of attempting a verse drama by reading Eliot's plays, and he corresponded with Eliot with a view to collaboration, tackling the libretto himself when Eliot declined. The Royal Opera House has mounted three productions of The Midsummer Marriage , in 1955, 1968 and 1996. The 1996 production was revived in 2005, to mark
6194-415: Is lying to him, and he attempts to unveil her. As he peels away her veils, they begin to glow. When he has stripped all the veils away, he finds an incandescent bud, which blossoms to reveal Mark and Jenifer. King Fisher aims his pistol at Mark, but the couple break from their meditative state to confront King Fisher, causing his heart to fail. The crowd carries his body into the temple. Strephon emerges from
6357-620: Is marked by the expansive nature of his melodic line—the Daily Telegraph ' s Ivan Hewett refers to his "astonishingly long-breathed melodies". According to Jones, a further element of the "individual voice" that emerged in 1935 was Tippett's handling of rhythm and counterpoint, demonstrated in the First String Quartet—Tippett's first use of the additive rhythm and cross-rhythm polyphony which became part of his musical signature. This approach to metre and rhythm
6520-559: Is no longer permitted) to ensure a good place to stand; the resulting camaraderie adds to the atmosphere. Some attend in fancy dress , from dinner jackets to patriotic T-shirts. Many use the occasion for an exuberant display of Britishness . Union Flags are waved by the Prommers, especially during "Rule, Britannia!". Other national flags, balloons, and party poppers are all welcomed – although John Drummond discouraged 'extraneous noise' during his tenure as director. Sir Henry Wood's bust
6683-440: Is set in a forest clearing, with a group of buildings to one side. The buildings resemble a sanctuary, with a Greek temple in the middle. A set of spiral stairs leads off to the right and breaks off in midair. To the left, they lead down into the hillside. The costumes are contemporary, aside from the dancers and the Ancients. A group of young people enters the clearing, surprised by the strange buildings. They hide as Strephon leads
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6846-613: Is short for promenade concert , a term which originally referred to outdoor concerts in London's pleasure gardens , where the audience was free to stroll around while the orchestra was playing. In the context of the BBC Proms, promming refers to the use of the standing areas inside the hall (the Arena and Gallery) for which ticket prices are much lower than for the seating. Proms concert-goers, particularly those who stand, are sometimes referred to as "Prommers" or "Promenaders". Promenade concerts had existed in London's pleasure gardens since
7009-548: Is sung) and Henry Wood's " Fantasia on British Sea Songs ", followed by Thomas Arne 's " Rule, Britannia! ". The concert concludes with Hubert Parry 's " Jerusalem ", and the British national anthem , since 2010 in an arrangement by Benjamin Britten . The repeat of the Elgar march at the Last Night can be traced to the spontaneous audience demand for a double encore after its premiere at a 1901 Proms concert. The closing sequence of
7172-483: Is that near the end of the concert the conductor makes a speech thanking the musicians and audiences, mentioning the main themes of the season, noting the cumulative donation collected for the Promenaders' musical charities over the season, and announcing the date of the First Night for the following year. This tradition dates from 1941, when Sir Henry Wood gave the first such speech at the close of that season, which
7335-515: The BBC – later based at Broadcasting House next to the hall – took over the running of the concerts. This arose because William Boosey, then managing director of Chappell & Co. (the Prom. proprietors), detested broadcasting and saw the BBC's far-reaching demands and intentions in the control of musical presentation as a danger to the future of public concerts altogether. He decided to disband
7498-677: The Bedford Corn Exchange (home of the BBC Symphony Orchestra since 1941) which hosted them until the end of the War. Sir Adrian Boult and Basil Cameron continued as conductors of the Promenade Concerts after the War, on their return to the Royal Albert Hall, until the advent of Malcolm Sargent as Proms chief conductor in 1947. Sargent held this post until 1966; his associate conductor from 1949 to 1959
7661-676: The London Sinfonietta and Philip Langridge and Lucy Shelton in the lead roles. Abroad, the opera has received at least five productions. The German premiere was on 29 September 1973, at the Badisches Staatstheater Karlsruhe with Lieselotte Rebmann as Jennifer. Another German production was at the Bayerische Staatsoper in 1998. Other productions have been at Stockholm in 1982, San Francisco in 1983, New York City Opera in 1993 and
7824-769: The Lyric Opera of Chicago in 2005. Concert performances have been given at the 1977 London Proms , which was given by the forces gathered for WNO's 1976 production, and in Boston in 2012. Andrew Davis 's concert performance at the BBC Proms in 2013 was rebroadcast on BBC Radio Three 23 July 2020. 2 flutes (both doubling on piccolos ), 2 oboes , 2 clarinets , 2 Bassoons , 4 French horns , 2 trumpets , 3 trombones , timpani and two percussionists playing: snare drum , bass drum , cymbals , triangle , gong , tubular bells , harp , celesta and strings . The opera
7987-549: The Zorian Quartet . His main creative energies were increasingly devoted to his first major opera, The Midsummer Marriage . During the six years from 1946 he composed almost no other music, apart from the Birthday Suite for Prince Charles (1948). I saw a stage picture ... of a wooded hilltop with a temple, where a warm and soft young man was being rebuffed by a cold and hard young woman ... to such
8150-414: The "excessive complexity of the contrapuntal writing ... there was so much going on that the perplexed ear knew not where to turn or fasten itself". Such comments helped foster a view that Tippett was a "difficult" composer, or even that his music was amateurish and poorly prepared. These perceptions were strengthened by controversies around several of his works in the late 1950s. The Piano Concerto (1955)
8313-493: The 1930s Wilf Franks continued to be an important influence on Tippett both creatively and politically. Franks had a passion for the poetry of both William Blake and Wilfred Owen ; Tippett claimed that Franks knew Owen's poetry 'almost word for word and draws it out for me, its meanings, its divine pity and so on...'. Before the outbreak of the Second World War in September 1939, Tippett released two further works:
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#17327932383338476-486: The 1960s, the number of guest orchestras at the Proms also began to increase, with the first major international conductors ( Leopold Stokowski , Georg Solti , and Carlo Maria Giulini ) performing in 1963, and the first foreign orchestra, the Moscow Radio Symphony Orchestra , performing in 1966. Since that time, almost every major international orchestra, conductor and soloist has performed at
8639-466: The 21st century. Having briefly embraced communism in the 1930s, Tippett avoided identifying with any political party. A pacifist after 1940, he was imprisoned in 1943 for refusing to carry out war-related duties required by his military exemption. His initial difficulties in accepting his homosexuality led him in 1939 to Jungian psychoanalysis; the Jungian dichotomy of " shadow " and "light" remained
8802-594: The Delectable Mountains and of Tippett's own adaptation of an 18th-century ballad opera, The Village Opera . He passed his Bachelor of Music (BMus) exams, at his second attempt, in December 1928. Rather than continuing to study for a doctorate, Tippett decided to leave the academic environment. The RCM years had brought him intense and lasting friendships with members of both sexes, in particular with Francesca Allinson and David Ayerst. On leaving
8965-545: The First Night of the 2023 Proms wasn't announced until April 2023. The following table lists by year the conductors of the Last Night of the Proms. In general, since the tenure of Sargent, the Chief Conductor of the BBC Symphony Orchestra has led this concert, but guest conductors have directed the Last Night on several occasions. Additionally, the tradition was for a British conductor, and if not
9128-432: The Last Night is mostly sold out, although returns may be available. For standing places, a full season pass automatically includes admission to the Last Night; some day Prommers can get limited tickets available on various dates by presenting five ticket-stubs from previous concerts, either in the Arena or Gallery (prior to 2009, the requirement was for six other concerts) but most day Promming tickets are open to everyone on
9291-466: The Last Night) rather than separately. Slatkin, an American and the first non- Commonwealth citizen to lead the Last Night, conducted his first in 2001, just days after the 9/11 attacks . The atmosphere was more restrained and less festive than normal, with a heavily revised programme where the finale of Beethoven's 9th Symphony replaced the "Sea Songs", and Samuel Barber 's " Adagio for Strings "
9454-509: The New Queen's Hall Orchestra effectively continued until 1930 as "Sir Henry J. Wood and his Symphony Orchestra". When the BBC Symphony Orchestra (BBC SO) was formed in 1930, it became the main orchestra for the concerts. At this time the season consisted of nights dedicated to particular composers; Mondays were Wagner , Fridays were Beethoven , with other major composers being featured on other days. There were no Sunday performances. With
9617-543: The New Queen's Hall Orchestra, which played for the last time at a Symphony concert on 19 March 1927. He found it more expedient to let the Queen's Hall to the broadcasting powers, rather than to continue the Promenade concerts and other big series independently in an unequal competition with what he saw as effectively the Government itself. So the Proms were saved, but under a different kind of authority. The personnel of
9780-613: The Park became a series of established events in their own right, with events in Hyde Park and in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, managed by BBC Scotland, BBC Cymru Wales and BBC Northern Ireland respectively, in conjunction with the host local authority. Each event has a presenting team, a live orchestra, a video link to the Last Night of the Proms in London, and guest soloists and choirs. Events tend to move to different cities to cover
9943-490: The Park events across the UK on the Last Night of the Proms, and associated educational and children's events. Recently, concerts have been held in additional cities across different nations of the UK, as part of Proms Around the UK. The season is a significant event in British culture and in classical music. Czech conductor Jiří Bělohlávek described the Proms as "the world's largest and most democratic musical festival". Prom
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#173279323833310106-426: The Park grew, many communities across the UK decided to hold their own "Proms in the Park" events that were not affiliated with the BBC. The last official Proms in the Park took place in 2019, and no plans for its return have been announced. The first live relays outside of London were to Swansea and Birmingham in 1999. In 2001, there were also live link-ups to Cornwall and Liverpool. In 2011, Caerphilly's Proms in
10269-568: The Park started to have musicians of their own on stage, including the BBC Concert Orchestra . In the 2000s, Proms in the Park started to be held in other locations across the UK, usually with one of the BBC's orchestras playing. In 2005, Belfast , Glasgow, Swansea and Manchester hosted a Last Night Prom in the Park, broadcast live from each venue. In 2007 Manchester's prom was replaced by one in Middlesbrough . In 2008
10432-587: The Peace Pledge Union. In 1977 he made a rare political statement when, opening a PPU exhibition at St Martin-in-the-Fields , he attacked President Carter 's plans to develop a neutron bomb . In his seventies, Tippett continued to compose and travel, although now handicapped by health problems. His eyesight was deteriorating as a result of macular dystrophy , and he relied increasingly on his musical amanuensis Michael Tillett, and on Meirion Bowen, who became Tippett's assistant and closest companion in
10595-522: The Piano Sonata No. 1, first performed by Phyllis Sellick at the Queen Mary Hall, London, on 11 November 1938, and the Concerto for Double String Orchestra , which was not performed until 1940. In a climate of increasing political and military tension, Tippett's compositional efforts were overwhelmed by an emotional crisis. When his relationship with Franks ended acrimoniously in August 1938 he
10758-445: The Promenade season presented by Keith Douglas in conjunction with the Royal Philharmonic Society (of which he was Secretary). The London Symphony Orchestra had sometimes assisted in the series since (after 1927) the New Queen's Hall Orchestra had ceased to function, and in 1942 Sir Henry Wood also invited the London Philharmonic Orchestra under its new leader Jean Pougnet to participate in this and subsequent seasons. In this he
10921-418: The Proms after Glock have been Robert Ponsonby (1973–1985), John Drummond (1986–1995), Nicholas Kenyon (1996–2007), and Roger Wright (2007–2014). Between 1986 and 2014, the post of Director, BBC Proms had mostly been combined with the role of Controller, BBC Radio 3. Edward Blakeman, editor of BBC Radio 3, became interim Proms Director upon Wright's departure in July 2014. In May 2015, the BBC announced
11084-795: The Proms for a number of years, as a freelance employee after his retirement from the BBC, with assistance from such staff as Edward Clark and Kenneth Wright. During the tenure of William Glock as Controller of the Proms, from 1960 to 1973, the Proms repertory expanded both forwards in time, to encompass then contemporary and avant-garde composers such as Boulez , Berio , Carter , Dallapiccola , Peter Maxwell Davies , Gerhard , Henze , Ligeti , Lutosławski , Lutyens , Maw , Messiaen , Nono , Stockhausen , and Tippett , as well as backwards to include music by past composers such as Purcell , Cavalli , Monteverdi , Byrd , Palestrina , Dufay , Dunstaple , and Machaut , as well as less-often performed works of Johann Sebastian Bach and Joseph Haydn . From
11247-568: The Proms have always started on a Friday night in July. The Proms continue today, and still present newly commissioned music alongside pieces more central to the repertoire and early music. Innovations continue, with pre-Prom talks, lunchtime chamber concerts, children's Proms, Proms in the Park either appearing, or being featured more heavily over the past few years. In the UK, all concerts are broadcast on BBC Radio 3 , an increasing number are televised on BBC Four with some also shown on BBC One and BBC Two . The theme tune that used to be played at
11410-406: The Proms since their inception. On 1 September 2011, a Prom given by the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra was severely affected by interruptions from pro-Palestinian protesters. While the Palestine Solidarity Campaign had urged a boycott, they denied being behind the disruption inside the Royal Albert Hall. For the first time ever, the BBC took a Prom concert off the air. Successive Controllers of
11573-431: The Proms. In 1970, Soft Machine 's appearance led to press attention and comment as the first "pop" band to perform there. The 1968 season began on a Friday night instead of the usual Saturday night. This concert marked a tribute to Sir Malcolm Sargent who had died shortly after delivering a brief speech from the rostrum at the Last Night in 1967. He had been too ill to actually conduct that concert. Every year since then,
11736-759: The RCM in the summer term of 1923, when he was 18 years old. At the time, his biographer Meirion Bowen records, "his aspirations were Olympian, though his knowledge rudimentary". Life in London widened his musical awareness, especially the Proms at the Queen's Hall , opera at Covent Garden (where he saw Dame Nellie Melba 's farewell performance in La bohème ) and the Diaghilev Ballet . He heard Chaliapin sing, and attended concerts conducted by, among others, Stravinsky and Ravel —the last-named "a tiny man who stood bolt upright and conducted with what to me looked like
11899-570: The RCM, Tippett settled in Oxted to continue his work with the choir and theatrical group and to compose. To support himself he taught French at Hazelwood, a small preparatory school in Limpsfield , which provided him with a salary of £80 a year and a cottage. Also teaching at the school was Christopher Fry , the future poet and playwright who later collaborated with Tippett on several of the composer's early works. In February 1930 Tippett provided
12062-654: The String Quartet No. 5; and The Rose Lake , a "song without words for orchestra" inspired by a visit to Lake Retba in Senegal during his 1990 trip. He intended The Rose Lake to be his farewell, but in 1996 he broke his retirement to write "Caliban's Song" as a contribution to the Purcell tercentenary. In 1997 he moved from Wiltshire to London to be closer to his friends and caregivers; in November of that year he made his last overseas trip, to Stockholm for
12225-725: The United States, including two more at the Royal Opera House. The premiere performance was recorded, and has been issued on compact disc. Covent Garden revived the work in 1968, conducted by Colin Davis , with the Ritual Dances choreographed by Gillian Lynne and in 1970, when the production formed the basis of the first commercial recording. Tippett extracted the Four Ritual Dances from the opera as
12388-402: The acquisition of an entirely new set of wind instruments for the orchestra, and the re-tuning of the Queen's Hall organ. This coincided with the adoption of this lower pitch by other leading orchestras and concert series. Although the concerts gained a popular following and reputation, Newman went bankrupt in 1902, and the banker Edgar Speyer took over the expense of funding them. Wood received
12551-402: The actual notes". He elaborated: "I compose by first developing an overall sense of the length of the work, then of how it will divide itself into sections or movements, then of the kind of texture or instruments or voices that will be performing it. I prefer not to consider the actual notes of the composition until this process ... has gone as far as possible". Sometimes the time required to see
12714-407: The appointment of David Pickard as Director of BBC Proms, in succession to Wright. In November 2023, the BBC announced that Pickard is to stand down as Proms Director after the 2024 season. In February 2024, Sam Jackson became Director of The Proms. Many people's perception of the Proms is based on the Last Night, although this is very different from the other concerts. It usually takes place on
12877-643: The barbarism of the 20th century, says Kemp, Tippett chose through his works to seek "to preserve or remake those values that have been perverted, while at the same time never losing sight of the contemporary reality". The key early work in this respect is A Child of Our Time , of which Clarke writes: "[t]he words of the oratorio's closing ensemble, 'I would know my shadow and my light, So shall I at last be whole', have become canonical in commentary on Tippett ... this [Jungian] statement crystallizes an ethic, and aesthetic, central to his world-view, and one which underlies all his text-based works". Sceptical critics such as
13040-487: The basis of all my compositional efforts for decades to come". In 1923 Henry Tippett was persuaded that some form of musical career, perhaps as a concert pianist, was possible, and agreed to support his son in a course of study at the Royal College of Music (RCM). After an interview with the college principal, Sir Hugh Allen , Tippett was accepted despite his lack of formal entry qualifications. Tippett began at
13203-421: The beginning of each programme broadcast on television (until the 2011 season) was an extract from the end of the "Red" movement of Arthur Bliss 's A Colour Symphony , in 2017 Anna Clyne 's Masquerade (a Proms commission in 2013) and since 2019 an original theme by Ian Arber . It is also possible to hear the concerts live from the BBC Proms website. The Last Night is also broadcast in many countries around
13366-418: The cavern. King Fisher thinks Jenifer is with Mark, and he summons Jack to break down the gates after the Ancients refuse to let him inside. During the argument, a radiant Jenifer reappears. Mark returns as well, glowing blood red. Representing "starry heaven" and "fruitful earth", the two confront each other. Jenifer says her soul is free of earthly suffering, while Mark claims to have gained new appreciation for
13529-485: The centenary of Tippett's birth. Barbara Hepworth effected the costumes and stage designs for the lavish original (1955) production. Choreography was by John Cranko . In 1976 Welsh National Opera staged a production designed by Annena Stubbs, which toured in cities including Leeds. The cast included Felicity Lott as Jenifer and Helen Watts , who had played the role in London in 1968, and recorded it in 1970, as Sosostris. David Cairns wrote that this production showed
13692-471: The college, using temporary premises and whatever resources he could muster. He revived the Morley College Choir and orchestra, and arranged innovative concert programmes that typically mixed early music ( Orlando Gibbons , Monteverdi , Dowland ), with contemporary works by Stravinsky, Hindemith and Bartók . He continued the college's established association with the music of Purcell ;
13855-453: The composer Charles Fussell has called "the freely-organized harmonic worlds" of the Third Symphony and The Ice Break . Although Tippett flirted with the "twelve-tone" technique —he introduced a twelve-tone theme into the "storm" prelude that begins The Knot Garden —Bowen records that he generally rejected serialism as incompatible with his musical aims. Tippett described himself as the receiver of inspiration rather than its originator,
14018-525: The composer has found the right music for his ends". Much of the music Tippett composed following the opera's completion reflected its lyrical style. Among these was the Fantasia Concertante on a Theme of Corelli (1953) for string orchestra, written to commemorate the 300th anniversary of the composer Arcangelo Corelli 's birth. The Fantasia eventually became one of Tippett's most popular works, though The Times ' s critic lamented
14181-456: The composer's first inspiration for the work was visual: Tippett recalled imagining "a wooded hill-top with a temple, where a warm and soft young man was being rebuffed by a cold and hard young woman to such a degree that the collective, magical archetypes take charge – Jung 's anima and animus ." The character Sosostris is named after "Madame Sosostris, the famous clairvoyante," in T. S. Eliot 's poem " The Waste Land ", and King Fisher's name
14344-617: The compositions that followed King Priam retained the musical idiom of the opera, notably the Piano Sonata No. 2 (1962) and the Concerto for Orchestra (1963), the latter written for the Edinburgh Festival and dedicated to Britten for his 50th birthday. Tippett's main work in the mid-1960s was the cantata The Vision of Saint Augustine , commissioned by the BBC, which Bowen marks as a peak of Tippett's compositional career: "Not since The Midsummer Marriage had he unleashed such
14507-402: The conclusion of his dream therapy and immediately after the outbreak of war. With the South London Orchestra temporarily disbanded because of the war, Tippett returned to teaching at Hazelwood. In October 1940 he accepted the post of Director of Music at Morley College , just after its buildings were almost completely destroyed by a bomb. Tippett's challenge was to rebuild the musical life of
14670-600: The conductor Colin Davis to rescue the Bath International Music Festival from a financial crisis, and became the festival's artistic director for the next five seasons. In 1970, following the collapse of his relationship with Hawker, he left Corsham and moved to a secluded house on the Marlborough Downs . Among the works he wrote in this period were In Memoriam Magistri (1971), a chamber piece commissioned by Tempo magazine as
14833-600: The contemporary turmoil in the world and his own recent catharsis. Having briefly considered the theme of the Dublin Easter Rising of 1916, he based his work on a more immediate event: the murder in Paris of a German diplomat by a 17-year-old Jewish refugee, Herschel Grynszpan . This murder triggered Kristallnacht (Crystal Night), a coordinated attack on Jews and their property throughout Nazi Germany on 9–10 November 1938. Tippett hoped that Eliot would provide
14996-452: The creative spark coming from a particular personal experience, which might take one of many forms but was most often associated with listening to music. The process of composing was lengthy and laborious, the actual writing down of the music being preceded by several stages of gestation; as Tippett put it, "the concepts come first, and then a lot of work and imaginative processes until eventually, when you're ready, finally ready, you look for
15159-463: The current serving Chief Conductor, one who had an association with the BBC Symphony Orchestra or one of the other BBC orchestras. Charles Mackerras was the first non-British-born conductor to lead the Last Night, in 1980. Leonard Slatkin was the first American conductor of the Last Night in 2001. Jiří Bělohlávek was the first non-native English speaker to conduct the Last Night, in 2007. Marin Alsop
15322-484: The dancers and the Ancients out of the temple. Mark emerges and asks for a new dance in honor of his wedding day. The Ancients warn him of the dangers of thwarting tradition. To demonstrate the point, the He-Ancient trips Strephon as he dances. His bride Jenifer arrives, but she is distant, having run away from her father, King Fisher. She ascends the stone staircase and disappears. King Fisher arrives, and Mark enters
15485-600: The death in 1949 of Morley's principal, Eva Hubback , Tippett's personal commitment to the college waned. His now-regular BBC fees had made him less dependent on his Morley salary, and he resigned his college post in 1951. His farewell took the form of three concerts he conducted at the new Royal Festival Hall , in which the programmes included A Child of Our Time , the British première of Carl Orff's Carmina Burana , and Thomas Tallis 's rarely performed 40-part motet Spem in alium . In 1951 Tippett moved from Limpsfield to
15648-408: The deaths of Diana, Princess of Wales , Mother Teresa , and Sir Georg Solti in 1997. Leonard Slatkin , chief conductor of the BBC Symphony Orchestra from 2000 to 2004, expressed a desire to tone down the nationalism of the Last Night, and during the seasons from 2002 until 2007 "Rule Britannia" was only heard as part of Henry Wood's '" Fantasia on British Sea Songs " (another piece traditional to
15811-581: The existence of God. In 1918 he won a scholarship to Fettes College , a boarding school in Edinburgh, where he studied the piano, sang in the choir, and began to learn to play the pipe organ. The school was not a happy place; sadistic bullying of the younger pupils was commonplace. When Michael revealed to his parents in March 1920 that he had formed a homosexual relationship with another boy, they removed him to Stamford School in Lincolnshire, where
15974-600: The first of several visits to the United States, to serve as composer in residence at the Aspen Music Festival in Colorado. His American experiences had a significant effect on the music he composed in the late 1960s and early 1970s, with jazz and blues elements particularly evident in his third opera, The Knot Garden (1966–69), and in the Symphony No. 3 (1970–72). At home in 1969, Tippett worked with
16137-481: The future of English music. In 1942, Schott Music began to publish Tippett's works, establishing an association that continued until the end of the composer's life. The question of Tippett's liability for war service remained unresolved until mid-1943. In November 1940 he had formalised his pacifism by joining the Peace Pledge Union and applying for registration as a conscientious objector . His case
16300-409: The hill with the crowd as the sun rises. The dawn reveals that the buildings were never more than ruins. Michael Tippett Sir Michael Kemp Tippett CH CBE (2 January 1905 – 8 January 1998) was an English composer who rose to prominence during and immediately after the Second World War. In his lifetime he was sometimes ranked with his contemporary Benjamin Britten as one of
16463-520: The incidental music for a performance by his theatrical group of James Elroy Flecker 's Don Juan , and in October he directed them in his own adaptation of Stanford's opera The Travelling Companion . His compositional output was such that on 5 April 1930 he gave a concert in Oxted consisting entirely of his own works—a Concerto in D for flutes, oboe, horns and strings; settings for tenor of poems by Charlotte Mew; Psalm in C for chorus and orchestra, with
16626-473: The inclusion of Scottish composer Anna Meredith to the programme for her Proms premiere, froms , which involved five different groups of musicians telecasting in from around Britain. 2009 saw the continued absence of Wood's Sea Songs , this time replaced by specially commissioned fanfares, and extracts from Handel 's " Music for the Royal Fireworks ". In 2009, for the first time, the Last Night
16789-404: The leading British composers of the 20th century. Among his best-known works are the oratorio A Child of Our Time , the orchestral Fantasia Concertante on a Theme of Corelli , and the opera The Midsummer Marriage . Tippett's talent developed slowly. He withdrew or destroyed his earliest compositions, and was 30 before any of his works were published. Until the mid-to-late 1950s his music
16952-520: The lowest priced in the season – saw this Prom split in 2004 into two Proms with identical content. In 2008, the Blue Peter Prom was replaced with a Doctor Who Prom which was revived in both the 2010 and 2013 seasons. The 2004 season also featured the Hall's newly rebuilt pipe organ . It took two years to complete the task (2002–2004) and was the work of Noel Mander, Ltd., of London. It
17115-421: The main parts, and the following year he provided the music for a new folk opera, Robin Hood , with words by Ayerst, himself and Ruth Pennyman . Both works proved hugely popular with their audiences, and although most of the music has disappeared, Tippett revived some of Robin Hood for use in his Birthday Suite for Prince Charles of 1948. In October 1934 Tippett and the South London Orchestra performed at
17278-548: The main season ends. CLIC Sargent, the Musicians' Benevolent Fund and further musical charities (chosen each year) also benefit from thousands of pounds in donations from Prommers after most concerts. When asking for donations, Prommers from the Arena regularly announce to the audience the running donations total at concert intervals through the season, or before the concert when there is no interval. After Wood's death, Julian Herbage acted as de facto principal administrator of
17441-462: The methods of Puccini and Verdi". Tippett's libretto was variously described as "one of the worst in the 350-year history of opera" and "a complex network of verbal symbolism", and the music as "intoxicating beauty" with "passages of superbly conceived orchestral writing". A year after the première, the critic A.E.F. Dickinson concluded that "in spite of notable gaps in continuity and distracting infelicities of language, [there is] strong evidence that
17604-553: The mid-18th century, and indoor proms became a feature of 19th century musical life in London from 1838, notably under the direction of Louis Antoine Jullien and Sir Arthur Sullivan . The annual series of Proms continuing today had their roots in that movement. They were inaugurated on 10 August 1895 in the Queen's Hall in Langham Place by the impresario Robert Newman , who was fully experienced in running similar concerts at Her Majesty's Theatre . Newman wished to generate
17767-404: The miracle of mortality. Jenifer tries to show Mark his error in a mirror, but Mark causes the mirror to fall and shatter. The couple reverse their paths, and Jenifer descends into the hillside while Mark ascends the stairs and disappears. In the clearing, Jack and Bella meet and decide to marry. They walk into the woods, and Strephon emerges with his dancers to perform three rituals. In the first,
17930-413: The morning of the concert, whether they have booked before or not. In the post-war period, with the growing popularity of the Last Night, the only way to obtain tickets was through a postal ballot held well-in-advance. Prommers with tickets are likely to queue up much earlier than usual (many overnight, and in past years, some slept outside the hall for up to three weeks to guard their place – although this
18093-595: The music as a concert suite, the Ritual Dances , performed in Basel , Switzerland, in April 1953. The opera itself was staged at Covent Garden on 27 January 1955. The lavish production, with costumes and stage designs by Barbara Hepworth and choreography by John Cranko , perplexed the opera-going public and divided critical opinion. According to Bowen, most "were simply unprepared for a work that departed so far from
18256-514: The music of Bach, Beethoven, Schubert, and Chopin. Sargent had maintained his connection with the school, and was present when Tippett and another boy played Bach's C minor Concerto for Two Harpsichords on pianos with a local string orchestra. Tippett sang in the chorus when Sargent directed a local performance of Robert Planquette 's operetta Les Cloches de Corneville . Despite his parents' wish that he follow an orthodox path by proceeding to Cambridge University , Tippett had firmly decided on
18419-461: The music, and in September 1930 re-enrolled at the RCM for a special course of study in counterpoint with R. O. Morris , an expert on 16th-century music. This second RCM period, during which he learned to write fugues in the style of Bach and received additional tuition in orchestration from Gordon Jacob , was central to Tippett's eventual discovery of what he termed his "individual voice". On 15 November 1931 Tippett conducted his Oxted choir in
18582-569: The musicologist Derrick Puffett have argued that Tippett's craft as a composer was insufficient for him to deal adequately with the task that he had set himself of "transmut[ing] his personal and private agonies into ... something universal and impersonal". Michael Kennedy has referred to Tippett's "open‐eyed, even naive outlook on the world", while accepting the technical sophistication of his music. Others have acknowledged his creative ingenuity and willingness to adopt whatever means or techniques were necessary to fit his intentions. Tippett's music
18745-588: The new Cadogan Hall, just off London's Sloane Square . These allow the Proms to include music which is not suitable for the vast spaces of the Albert Hall. From 1998 to 2007, the Blue Peter Prom, in partnership with long-running BBC television programme Blue Peter , was an annual fixture. Aimed at children and families, the Prom is informal, including audience participation, jokes, and popular classics. High demand for tickets – which are among
18908-407: The number reduced from five to four, in Hyde Park, Belfast, Glasgow and Swansea. 2009 returned to a total of five, in Hyde Park, Glasgow, Swansea, County Down and Salford . Each location has its own live concert, typically playing the national anthem of the host country, before joining in a live big screen video link up with the Royal Albert Hall for the traditional finale. In later years Proms in
19071-422: The opera "responds very readily to simple, imaginative staging, and that there were never any serious problems [with it] except in our attitude". Other British productions have been staged by English National Opera and Opera North , both in 1985, and Scottish Opera in 1988. A production was filmed for television in 1984, directed by Elijah Moshinsky , later released on VHS , with David Atherton conducting
19234-464: The opera has not found a place in the general repertory. Mellers finds that its fusion of "art music, rock ritual and performance art fail to gel". The Triple Concerto includes a finale inspired by the gamelan music Tippett absorbed during his visit to Java. In 1979 Tippett was made a Member of the Order of the Companions of Honour (CH). The main composition that occupied him in the early 1980s
19397-547: The opera meant that his compositional output was limited for several years to a few minor works, including a Magnificat and Nunc Dimittis written in 1961 for the 450th anniversary of the foundation of St John's College, Cambridge . King Priam was premièred in Coventry by the Covent Garden Opera on 29 May 1962 as part of a festival celebrating the consecration of the new Coventry Cathedral . The production
19560-425: The opera was a considerable success with critics and the public. Lewis later called it "one of the most powerful operatic experiences in the modern theatre". This reception, combined with the fresh acclaim for The Midsummer Marriage following a well-received BBC broadcast in 1963, did much to rescue Tippett's reputation and establish him as a leading figure among British composers. As with The Midsummer Marriage ,
19723-527: The outbreak of World War II in 1939, the BBC withdrew its support. However private sponsors stepped in to maintain the Proms, always under Sir Henry Wood's direction, until the Queen's Hall was devastated beyond repair during an air raid in May 1941. (The site is now occupied by the St George's Hotel and BBC Henry Wood House). The concerts then moved (until 1944) to their current home, the Royal Albert Hall, during
19886-543: The party maintained a strict Stalinist line. Tippett resigned after a few months when he saw no chance of converting his local party to his Trotskyist views. According to his obituarist J.J. Plant, Tippett then joined the Bolshevik-Leninist Group within the Labour Party, where he continued to advocate Trotskyism until at least 1938. Although Tippett's radical instincts always remained strong, he
20049-409: The relationship between teacher and pupil. Tippett studied conducting with Sargent and Adrian Boult , finding the latter a particularly empathetic mentor—he let Tippett stand with him on the rostrum during rehearsals and follow the music from the conductor's score. By this means Tippett became familiar with the music of composers then new to him, such as Delius and Debussy , and learned much about
20212-574: The remaining years of the composer's life. The main works of the late 1970s were a new opera, The Ice Break , the Symphony No. 4 , the String Quartet No. 4, and the Triple Concerto for violin, viola and cello. The Ice Break was a reflection of Tippett's American experiences, with a contemporary storyline incorporating race riots and drug-taking. His libretto has been criticised for its awkward attempts at American street vernacular, and
20375-590: The repertoire heard as the series continued from year to year. While including many popular and less demanding works, in the first season there were substantial nights devoted to Beethoven or Schubert, and a programme of new works was given in the final week. Distinguished singers including Sims Reeves and Signor Foli appeared. In the first two decades Wood firmly established the policy of introducing works by contemporary composers (both British and international) and of bringing fresh life to unperformed or under-performed works. A bronze bust of Sir Henry Wood recovered from
20538-553: The ruins of the bombed-out Queen's Hall in 1941, and now belonging to the Royal Academy of Music , is still placed in front of the organ for the whole Promenade season. Though the concerts are now called the BBC Proms, and are headlined with the BBC logo, the tickets are subtitled "BBC Music presents the Henry Wood Promenade Concerts". In 1927, following Newman's sudden death in the previous year,
20701-425: The same as for that season's concerts, but seated tickets are more expensive. To pre-book a seat, an initial selection is released to winners of a ballot open to those who have booked five or more Prom concerts, and in 2023 there was also an advance sale to those who had seats booked for the cancelled 2022 event. After the advance-booking period, there is no requirement to have booked for additional concerts, but by then
20864-431: The second Saturday in September, and is broadcast in the UK on BBC Radio 3 , and on television on BBC Two (first half) and BBC One (second half). The concert is traditionally in a lighter, 'winding-down' vein, with popular classics followed by a second half of British patriotic pieces. This sequence traditionally includes Edward Elgar 's " Pomp & Circumstance March No. 1" (to part of which " Land of Hope and Glory "
21027-460: The second half became fully established in 1954 during Sargent's tenure as chief conductor. The Prommers have made a tradition of singing " Auld Lang Syne " after the end of the concert, but this was not included in the programme until 2015. However, when James Loughran , a Scot, conducted the Last Night concert in the late 1970s and early 1980s he did include the piece within the programme. Tickets are highly sought-after. Promming tickets are priced
21190-406: The series (called "Mr Robert Newman's Promenade Concerts") on condition that Henry Wood be employed as the sole conductor. Wood, aged 26, seized this opportunity and built the "Queen's Hall Orchestra" as the ensemble specially devoted to performing the promenade concerts. Cathcart also stipulated (contrary to Newman's preference) the adoption of French or Open Diapason concert pitch , necessitating
21353-493: The sounds of orchestral instruments. In 1924 Tippett became the conductor of an amateur choir in the Surrey village of Oxted . Although he saw this initially as a means of advancing his knowledge of English madrigals , his association with the choir lasted many years. Under his direction it combined with a local theatrical group, the Oxted and Limpsfield Players, to give performances of Vaughan Williams 's opera The Shepherds of
21516-414: The temple with his dancers to perform a fourth ritual, which celebrates carnal love by transforming it into the fire of divine love. The ritual concludes as the bud closes around Mark and Jenifer and bursts into flames. When the fire subsides, Mark, Jenifer and the Ancients are gone. As the moonlight fades, Mark and Jenifer enter the clearing from opposite sides, dressed for their wedding. They head off down
21679-479: The tenor solo part, and other soloists were borrowed from Sadler's Wells Opera . The work was well received by critics and the public, and eventually became one of the most frequently performed large-scale choral works of the post-Second World War period, in Britain and overseas. Tippett's immediate reward was a commission from the BBC for a motet , The Weeping Babe , which became his first broadcast work when it
21842-400: The wish that they should have children together. After his psychotherapy he enjoyed several committed—and sometimes overlapping—same-sex relationships. Among the most enduring, and most tempestuous, was that with the artist Karl Hawker, whom he first met in 1941. While his therapy proceeded, Tippett was searching for a theme for a major work—an opera or an oratorio —that could reflect both
22005-703: The world. In 1996, a related series of eight lunchtime chamber concerts was started, taking place on Mondays during the Proms season. In their first year these were held in the Britten Hall of the Royal College of Music (just across Prince Consort Road from the Albert Hall). The following year they moved slightly further afield, to the Henry Cole Lecture Theatre at the Victoria and Albert Museum . In 2005, they moved further again, to
22168-409: Was John Hollingsworth . Sargent was noted for his immaculate appearance ( evening dress , carnation ) and his witty addresses where he good-naturedly chided the noisy Prommers. Sir Malcolm championed choral music and classical and British composers, especially Samuel Coleridge-Taylor . The charity founded in his name, CLIC Sargent , continues to hold a special Promenade Concert each year shortly after
22331-432: Was "the Jungian ' shadow ' and 'light' in the single, individual psyche ... the need for the individual to accept his divided nature and profit from its conflicting demands". This brought him to terms with his homosexuality, and he was able to pursue his creativity without being distracted by personal relationships. While still unsure of his sexuality, Tippett had considered marriage with Francesca Allinson, who had expressed
22494-409: Was a popular feature at Christian revivalist meetings. In later life his business enterprises faltered, leading to debts, prosecution for fraud, and a term of imprisonment. His son Henry, born in 1858, was Michael's father. A lawyer by training, he was successful in business and was independently wealthy by the time of his marriage in April 1903. Unusually for his background and upbringing, Henry Tippett
22657-596: Was a progressive liberal and a religious sceptic. Henry Tippett's bride was Isabel Kemp , from a large upper-middle-class family based in Kent . Among her mother's cousins was Charlotte Despard , a well-known campaigner for women's rights, suffragism , and Irish home rule . Despard was a powerful influence on the young Isabel, who was herself briefly imprisoned after participating in an illegal suffragette protest in Trafalgar Square . Though neither she nor Henry
22820-829: Was again in the country, engaged on a lecture tour that included the Doty Lectures in Fine Art at the University of Texas . Between these American journeys, Tippett travelled to Lusaka for the first African performance of A Child of Our Time , at which the Zambian president, Kenneth Kaunda , was present. In 1976 Tippett was awarded the Gold Medal of the Royal Philharmonic Society . The following few years saw journeys to Java and Bali—where he
22983-419: Was aired on 24 December 1944. He also began to give regular radio talks on music. In 1946 Tippett organised at Morley the first British performance of Monteverdi's Vespers , adding his own organ Preludio for the occasion. Tippett's compositions in the immediate postwar years included his First Symphony , performed under Sargent in November 1945, and the String Quartet No. 3, premiered in October 1946 by
23146-514: Was attempting to maintain vigour in the programme, under the renewal of its relationship with the BBC as promoters. Sir Henry Wood continued his work with the Proms through vicissitudes with the BBC until his death in 1944, the year of his Jubilee Season. During that period Sir Adrian Boult , chief conductor of the BBC Symphony Orchestra, and Basil Cameron also took on conducting duties for the series, continuing them in 1944 when, under increased danger from bombing, they were moved again, this time to
23309-622: Was aware that excessive political activism would distract him from his overriding objective of becoming recognised as a composer. A significant step towards professional recognition came in December 1935, when the Brosa Quartet performed his String Quartet No. 1 at the Mercury Theatre in Notting Hill , London. This work, which he dedicated to Franks, is the first in the recognised canon of Tippett's music. Throughout much of
23472-404: Was broadly lyrical in character, before changing to a more astringent and experimental style. New influences—including those of jazz and blues after his first visit to America in 1965—became increasingly evident in his compositions. While Tippett's stature with the public continued to grow, not all critics approved of these changes in style, some believing that the quality of his work suffered as
23635-478: Was by Sam Wanamaker and the lighting by Sean Kenny . John Pritchard was the conductor. The music for the new work displayed a marked stylistic departure from what Tippett had written hitherto, heralding what a later commentator, Iain Stannard, calls a "great divide" between the works before and after King Priam . Some commentators questioned the wisdom of so radical a departure from his established voice, but
23798-586: Was declared unplayable by its scheduled soloist, Julius Katchen , who had to be replaced before the première by Louis Kentner . The Dennis Brain Wind Ensemble , for whom Tippett had written the Sonata for Four Horns (1955), complained that the work was in too high a key and required it to be transposed down. When the Second Symphony was premièred by the BBC Symphony Orchestra under Boult, in
23961-591: Was heard by a tribunal in February 1942, when he was assigned to non-combatant duties. Tippett rejected such work as an unacceptable compromise with his principles and in June 1943, after several further hearings and statements on his behalf from distinguished musical figures, he was sentenced to three months' imprisonment in HM Prison Wormwood Scrubs . He served two months, and although thereafter he
24124-483: Was his oratorio The Mask of Time , loosely based on Jacob Bronowski's 1973 TV series The Ascent of Man . In Tippett's words, this is an attempt to deal "with those fundamental matters that bear upon man, his relationship with Time, his place in the world as we know it and in the mysterious universe at large". The oratorio was commissioned by the Boston Symphony Orchestra for its centenary, and
24287-733: Was indifferently received on its première in Houston , Texas, on 17 October 1989. Donal Henahan in The New York Times wrote, "Unlike Wagner, [Tippett] does not provide music of enough quality to allow one to overlook textual absurdities and commonplaces." The opera was introduced to Britain in the Glyndebourne Festival of 1990. Despite his deteriorating health, Tippett toured Australia in 1989–90, and also visited Senegal . His last major works, written between 1988 and 1993, were Byzantium , for soprano and orchestra;
24450-745: Was much attracted by the sounds of gamelan ensembles—and to Australia, where he conducted a performance of his Fourth Symphony in Adelaide . In 1979, with funds available from the sale of some of his original manuscripts to the British Library , Tippett inaugurated the Michael Tippett Musical Foundation, which provided financial support to young musicians and music education initiatives. Tippett maintained his pacifist beliefs, while becoming generally less public in expressing them, and from 1959 served as president of
24613-530: Was musical, she had inherited an artistic talent from her mother, who had exhibited at the Royal Academy . After their marriage the couple settled outside London in Eastcote , where two sons were born—the second, Michael, on 2 January 1905. Shortly after Michael's birth, the family moved to Wetherden in Suffolk. Michael's education began in 1909 with a nursery governess and various private tutors who followed
24776-418: Was often not fluent, as evidenced by Tippett's first pencil draft manuscripts, which show multiple rubbings-out and reworkings. In this, the musicologist Thomas Schuttenhelm says, his methods resembled those of Beethoven, with the difference that "whereas Beethoven's struggle is considered a virtue of his work, and almost universally admired, Tippett's was the source and subject of a debate about his competency as
24939-638: Was one of several of Tippett's late compositions that were premièred in America. In 1983 Tippett became president of the London College of Music and was appointed a Member of the Order of Merit (OM). By the time of his 80th birthday in 1985 he was blind in his right eye, and his output had slowed. Nevertheless, in his final active years he wrote his last opera, New Year . This futuristic fable involving flying saucers, time travel, and urban violence
25102-408: Was performed in tribute to 9/11 victims. On the day of the 2005 Last Night, the hall management received word of a bomb threat, which led to a thorough search of the Albert Hall for 5 hours, but the concert took place after a short delay. This has led to increased security concerns, given the stature of the Last Night in British culture, which Jacqui Kelly of the Royal Albert Hall staff noted: That
25265-425: Was quite a nerve-wracker – our biggest event, the one everybody knows the Albert Hall for, and we were in real danger of losing it. We're an iconic thing, up there in the public eye, so we have to expect that. 2008 also contained some departures from the traditional programme. "Pomp and Circumstance March No. 1" was moved to after the conductor's speech. In addition, most of Wood's "Fantasia on British Sea Songs"
25428-426: Was replaced by Vaughan Williams's Sea Songs as a final tribute in his anniversary year. However, Wood's arrangements of naval bugle calls from the start of the "Fantasia" were retained, and Sargent's arrangement of "Rule Britannia" returned with Bryn Terfel as soloist. As on his 1994 Last Night appearance, he sang one verse in a Welsh translation, with the chorus also translated into Welsh. Additionally, 2008 saw
25591-406: Was scheduled to happen, following the death of Queen Elizabeth II , the first Last Night cancellation since 1944. Dalia Stasevska had been selected to conduct. Stasevska returned to conduct the First Night in 2023, while Marin Alsop conducted the Last Night. This marked the first time that the BBC Proms had female conductors open and close the season. As a result of the cancellation, the date for
25754-514: Was shown live in several cinemas across Asia and in Canada and Australia. In 2016, anti- Brexit protestors waved EU flags in addition to the usual Union Jack flags. The protests have continued in subsequent years. In 2020, the concert was performed to an empty hall, due to the COVID-19 restrictions in place in the UK . Two years later, in 2022, the concert was cancelled 48 hours before it
25917-426: Was technically liable to further charges for failing to comply with the terms set by his tribunal, the authorities left him alone. On his release, Tippett returned to his duties at Morley, where he boosted the college's Purcell tradition by persuading the countertenor Alfred Deller to sing several Purcell odes at a concert on 21 October 1944—the first modern use of a countertenor in Purcell's music. Tippett formed
26080-491: Was the Last Night's first female conductor in 2013. The Royal Albert Hall could be filled many times over with people who would wish to attend. To involve extra people, and to cater for those who are not near London, the Proms in the Park concerts were started in 1996. Initially there was one, in Hyde Park adjacent to the Hall, which was a simple video relay of the concert at the Royal Albert Hall. As audiences grew, Proms in
26243-438: Was the first at the Royal Albert Hall, when he thanked colleagues and sponsors. Wood gave a similar speech at the 1942 Last Night, and a pre-recorded version was played at the 1943 Last Night. During his tenure as conductor, Sir Malcolm Sargent established the tone of making the Last Night speech more humorous. Subsequent conductors have generally continued this, although one exception was in 1997 when Sir Andrew Davis addressed
26406-441: Was the first complete restoration of the instrument since Harrison and Harrison's work in 1936. The tradition of Promming remains an important aspect of the festival, with over 1000 standing places available for each concert, either in the central arena (rather like the groundlings in the pit at Shakespeare's Globe ) or high in the hall's gallery. Promming tickets cost the same for all concerts (currently £8 as of 2023 ), providing
26569-520: Was thrown into doubt and confusion about both his homosexuality and his worth as an artist. He was saved from despair when, at Ayerst's suggestion, he undertook a course of Jungian analysis with the psychotherapist John Layard . Through an extended course of therapy, Layard gave Tippett the means to analyse and interpret his dreams. Tippett's biographer Ian Kemp describes this experience as "the major turning point in [his] life", both emotionally and artistically. His particular discovery from dream analysis
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