Editing Michael Tippett (section)

===Recognition and controversy===
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.<ref name="Kemp44"/> Tippett formed 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.<ref name=K52>Kemp, pp. 52–55</ref> Pears sang the tenor solo part, and other soloists were borrowed from [[Sadler's Wells Opera]].<ref>Gloag, ''A Child of Our Time'', p. 89</ref> 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.<ref>Steinberg, p. 287</ref><ref>Bowen, p. 35</ref> Tippett's immediate reward was a commission from the BBC for a [[motet]], ''The Weeping Babe'',<ref>Rees, p. xxvi</ref> which became his first broadcast work when it was aired on 24 December 1944.<ref name= Kemp500>Kemp, pp. 500–501</ref> He also began to give regular radio talks on music.<ref name= Bowen26>Bowen, p. 26</ref>

In 1946 Tippett organised at Morley the first British performance of Monteverdi's ''[[Vespro della Beata Vergine|Vespers]]'', adding his own organ ''Preludio'' for the occasion.<ref>Cole, p. 59</ref><ref>Kemp, p. 181</ref> Tippett's compositions in the immediate postwar years included his [[Symphony No. 1 (Tippett)|First Symphony]], performed under Sargent in November 1945, and the String Quartet No. 3, premiered in October 1946 by the [[Zorian Quartet]].<ref name= Kemp500/> His main creative energies were increasingly devoted to his first major opera, ''[[The Midsummer Marriage]]''.<ref name= Bowen26/> During the six years from 1946 he composed almost no other music, apart from the ''Birthday Suite for Prince Charles'' (1948).<ref name= Whittall141>Whittall (1982), p. 141</ref>
{{Quote box|width=300px|bgcolor=#E0E6F8|align=right|quote= I saw a stage picture&nbsp;... of a wooded hilltop with a temple, where a warm and soft young man was being rebuffed by a cold and hard young woman&nbsp;... to such a degree that the collective, magical archetypes take charge—Jung's ''anima'' and ''animus''.|salign = left |source= Tippett, outlining the origins of ''The Midsummer Marriage''.<ref>Tippett (1959), pp. 54–55</ref> }}

The musical and philosophical ideas behind the opera had begun in Tippett's mind several years earlier.<ref>Gloag, "Tippett's Operatic World", p. 231</ref> 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]]''.<ref name= Dickinson>{{cite journal|last= Dickinson|first=Alan Edgar Frederic|title= Round about ''The Midsummer Marriage''|journal=[[Music & Letters]]|volume= 37|issue= 1|date= January 1956|pages=50–60|jstor= 729998|doi= 10.1093/ml/37.1.50}} {{subscription}}</ref> The strain of composition, combined with his continuing responsibilities at Morley and his BBC work, affected Tippett's health and slowed progress.<ref name= Bowen27>Bowen, p. 27</ref> Following 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 (Orff)|Carmina Burana]]'', and [[Thomas Tallis]]'s rarely performed 40-part motet ''[[Spem in alium]]''.<ref name= Kemp47>Kemp, pp. 47–48</ref><ref>Tippett (1991), pp. 158–159</ref>

In 1951 Tippett moved from Limpsfield to a large, dilapidated house, Tidebrook Manor in [[Wadhurst]], Sussex.<ref name= Kemp47/> 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.<ref name= Robinson96>Robinson, pp. 96–98</ref><ref name= Kemp500/> ''The Midsummer Marriage'' was finished in 1952, after which Tippett arranged some of the music as a concert suite, the ''Ritual Dances'', performed in [[Basel]], Switzerland, in April 1953.<ref name= Bowen27/> The opera itself was staged at [[Royal Opera House|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.<ref name= Gloag230>Gloag, "Tippett's Operatic World", pp. 230–231</ref> According to Bowen, most "were simply unprepared for a work that departed so far from the methods of Puccini and Verdi".<ref name= K52/><ref name= Bowen28>Bowen, p. 28</ref> Tippett's libretto was variously described as "one of the worst in the 350-year history of opera"<ref name= Gloag230/> and "a complex network of verbal symbolism", and the music as "intoxicating beauty" with "passages of superbly conceived orchestral writing".<ref>{{cite news|last=Heyworth|first=Peter|author-link=Peter Heyworth|title=''The Midsummer Marriage''|newspaper=[[The Observer]]|location=London|date= 30 January 1955|page=11}}</ref> 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 the composer has found the right music for his ends".<ref name= Dickinson/>

Much of the music Tippett composed following the opera's completion reflected its lyrical style.<ref name= odnb/> 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 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".<ref>''The Times'', 4 September 1953, quoted in Kemp, p. 52</ref> Such comments helped foster a view that Tippett was a "difficult" composer, or even that his music was amateurish and poorly prepared.<ref name= odnb/> These perceptions were strengthened by controversies around several of his works in the late 1950s. The [[Piano Concerto (Tippett)|Piano Concerto]] (1955) was declared unplayable by its scheduled soloist, [[Julius Katchen]], who had to be replaced before the première by [[Louis Kentner]]. The [[Dennis Brain|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 [[Transposition (music)|transposed]] down.<ref>Bowen, p. 30</ref> When the [[Symphony No. 2 (Tippett)|Second Symphony]] was premièred by the [[BBC Symphony Orchestra]] under Boult, in 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".<ref name=K52/>{{#tag:ref|Tippett put most of the blame on the orchestra's leader, [[Paul Beard (violinist)|Paul Beard]], "who was always very difficult about my music". Beard had reorganised the string parts, despite Tippett's warning that this would lead to trouble. According to Tippett, Beard also "slowed down his violin solo in the scherzo, and the string-playing in general became more and more ragged".<ref>Tippett (1991), pp. 207–209</ref>|group= n}} 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.<ref>Letter from R.J.F. Howgill to ''The Times'', quoted in Kemp, p. 54</ref>