Editing Michael Tippett (section)

====Second period: ''King Priam'' to 1976====

In his analysis of ''[[King Priam]]'', Bowen argues that the change in Tippett's musical style arose initially from the nature of the opera, a tragedy radically different in tone from the warm optimism of ''The Midsummer Marriage''.<ref>Bowen, p. 63</ref> Clarke sees the change as something more fundamental, the increases in dissonance and atonality in ''Priam'' being representative of a trend that continued and reached a climax of astringency a few years later in Tippett's third opera, ''The Knot Garden''. Tippett's new modernistic language, writes Clarke, was rooted in his desire to represent a wider range of human experiences, characteristic of a changing world: "War, violence, sex, homoeroticism, and social and interpersonal alienation [would now feature] much more overtly in [his] dramatic works or works with text".<ref name= grove/> Critics acknowledged ''Priam'' as a considerable achievement, but received the new musical style cautiously. Gloag did not think the change an absolute departure from Tippett's earlier style,<ref>Gloag, "Tippett's Operatic World", p. 242</ref> but Milner viewed ''King Priam'' as a complete break with Tippett's previous work, pointing out the lack of counterpoint, the considerably increased dissonances, and the move towards [[atonality]]: "very little of the music is in a definite key".<ref name= Milner/>
{{Quote box|width=280px|bgcolor=#E0E6F8|align=left|quote= "Compared with the Concerto for Orchestra both ''Priam'' and the Piano Sonata No. 2 seem preliminary studies&nbsp;... The occasional harshness of the orchestra in ''Priam'' has yielded to a new sweetness and brilliance, while the dissonances are less strident and percussive&nbsp;... This Concerto triumphantly justifies Tippett's recent experiments"|salign = right |source= Anthony Milner on the Concerto for Orchestra (1963).<ref name= Milner/>}}
Many of the minor works that Tippett wrote in the wake of ''King Priam'' reflect the musical style of the opera, in some cases quoting directly from it.<ref>Kemp, p. 370</ref> In the first purely instrumental post-''Priam'' work, the Piano Sonata No. 2 (1962), Milner thought the new style worked better in the theatre than in the concert or recital hall, although he found the music in the Concerto for Orchestra (1963) had matured into a form that fully justified the earlier experiments.<ref name= Milner/> The critic [[Tim Souster]] refers to Tippett's "new, hard, sparse instrumental style" evident in ''The Vision of Saint Augustine'' (1965), written for baritone soloist, chorus and orchestra,<ref name= Souster>{{cite journal|last=Souster|first=Tim|author-link=Tim Souster|title= Michael Tippett's ''Vision''|journal=[[The Musical Times]]|volume= 107|issue= 1475|date= January 1966|pages= 20–22|jstor= 953675|doi= 10.2307/953675}} {{subscription}}</ref> a work Bowen considers one of the peaks of Tippett's career.<ref name= Bowen144/>

During the late 1960s Tippett worked on a series of compositions that reflected the influence of his American experiences after 1965: ''The Shires Suite'' (1970), ''[[The Knot Garden]]'' (1970) and the [[Symphony No. 3 (Tippett)|Symphony No. 3]] (1972).<ref name= Bowen34>Bowen, p. 34</ref> In ''The Knot Garden'' Mellers discerns Tippett's "wonderfully acute" ear only intermittently, otherwise: "thirty years on, the piece still sounds and looks knotty indeed, exhausting alike to participants and audience".<ref name= Mellers195/> The Third Symphony is overtly linked by Tippett to [[Symphony No. 9 (Beethoven)|Beethoven's Ninth Symphony]] through a vocal finale of four blues songs, introduced by a direct quotation from Beethoven's finale. Tippett's intention, explained by the music critic [[Malcolm MacDonald (music critic)|Calum MacDonald]], was to explore the contemporary relevance of the grand, universal sentiments in [[Friedrich Schiller|Schiller]]'s ''[[Ode to Joy]]'', as set by Beethoven. Tippett's conclusion is that while the need to rejoice remains, the 20th century has put paid to the Romantic ideals of universality and certainty.<ref name= MacD/>

After completing his Piano Sonata No. 3 (1973), "a formidable piece of abstract composition" according to Bowen,<ref name= Bowen122/> Tippett returned to the modern vernacular in his fourth opera, ''[[The Ice Break]]'' (1976). Describing the music in an introduction to the published libretto, Tippett identifies "two archetypal sounds: one relating to the frightening but exhilarating sound of the ice breaking on the great northern rivers in the spring; the other related to the exciting or terrifying sound of the slogan-shouting crowds, which can lift you on your shoulders in triumph, or stamp you to death".<ref name= Shaw>{{cite journal|last= Tippett|first=Michael|title= "Back to Methuselah" and "The Ice Break"|journal= The Shaw Review|publisher= Penn State University Press|volume= 21|issue= 2|date= May 1978|pages=100–103|jstor= 40682521}} {{subscription}}</ref> The work was generally regarded as a critical and public failure, but aspects of its music have been recognised as among Tippett's best. The critic [[John Warrack]] writes that, after the violence of the opening acts, the third act's music has a lyrical warmth comparable to that of ''The Midsummer Marriage''".<ref>{{cite journal|author-link= John Warrack|last= Warrack|first= John|title= The Ice Break|journal=[[The Musical Times]]|volume= 118|issue= 1613|date= July 1977|pages=553–556|jstor= 958095|doi= 10.2307/958095}} {{subscription}}</ref> William Mann in ''The Times'' was equally enthusiastic, finding the music compelling and worthy of many a rehearing.<ref>William Mann, ''The Times'' 8 July 1977, quoted in {{cite journal|last= Tippett|first=Michael|title= "Back to Methuselah" and "The Ice Break"|journal= The Shaw Review|publisher= Penn State University Press|volume= 21|issue= 2|date= May 1978|pages=100–103|jstor= 40682521}} {{subscription}}</ref>