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Tippett: Concerto for double string orchestra, 1st mvt.
Context
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English composer Michael Tippett (1905-98) was very active in social projects
during the 1930s and during WWII
Concerto written in 1940 for an orchestra of unemployed professional
musicians which Tippett conducted at Morley College in London
Alongside the Fantasia Concertante on a theme of Corelli, also for strings, the
Concerto has remained one of the composer’s most popular works
The Anthology gives the first of three movements; as a whole the Concerto
follows the pattern fast – slow – fast
Orchestration
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Strong echo of baroque string concertos in the way in which Tippett sets off one
group of instruments against another
Double string orchestra means what it says on the tin: the strings of a standard
symphony orchestra are divided into two separate sets of VnI, VnII, Vla, Cello
& Bass and placed on either side of the conductor
Antiphonal effects are built in to the piece in many places, with the two
orchestras answering each other (bars 8-12, for example)
As in all antiphonal pieces (cf. Gabrieli’s Sonata pian’ e forte) there are times in
the music when both groups combine to create emphasis, e.g. b.90
At other times one or more individual line might be strengthened by using all
the available instruments, as in bars 13-6, where all of the double basses play
together
Often doubles melodic lines at the octave, so that an apparently full texture is
actually only two lines, giving the music a wiry, somewhat rough feel in places
(e.g. the opening bars and repeats o this passage)
Other than pizzicato, used sparingly, and the direction sul tasto poco a poco
Naturale (b.113) the string writing is straightforward, without any double
stopping or effects such as tremolo
Textures
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Contrapuntal, setting off two or more independent lines of music against each
other, as in the opening bars and from b.194 to the end.
Homophonic, as in passages such as bars 43-65: this looks elaborate, but it is a
melodic line passed from one set of upper strings to the other, over a rising and
falling arpeggio pattern in the lower strings
Monophonic, as in bars 40-1 and 48-9, where there is a single unaccompanied
melodic line (played in octaves)
Musical language
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In many ways conservative for 1940, being diatonic and modal (centred on
notes and scales rather than chords) and clearly based on melodic lines
But: rhythmic language is complex and very distinctive:
o Although written in equal bar lengths (for the most part) the accents of
the melodic lines often flow across the barlines and create frequent
syncopations
o The basic rhythmic unit is a quaver, hence the time signature 8/8,
rather than 4/4
o Emphasis from longer notes create irregular quaver groupings of 3s, 4s,
5s, etc. (see the first example on the music sheet). This is referred to as
additive rhythm and had been pioneered by Stravinsky in works such as
the Rite of Spring (1913)
o Frequent cross-rhythms created between melodic lines (see example 1)
which look back the the instrumental polyphony of the Renaissance (cf.
Holborne’s Galliard in the Anthology, p.193)
Opening bars contain much of the melodic material for the piece, such as the
alternating notes of b.1 which are subject to various developments (see sheet)
A new theme, marked scherzando (playfully) starts in b.22, but even that refers
back to a motive from the opening (see sheet)
Structure
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Bars 1-20 create a sort of ritornello which returns, in part, in bars 68-71, 129-46
and 194-7
The whole movement is based on a sonata form groundplan, with a
development section starting at b.68 and a recapitulation from b.129 and the
coda beginning in b.194
There are substantial repeated passages (cf. bars 1-18 with 129-46 and bars 3367 with 159-93)
Note the curious section in the development between bars 93 and 106, in
which the alternating note figure is rhythmically augmented (quavers become
crotchets, then minims, etc.) and the constant syncopations are replaced by a
regular pulse
Tippett saves up the most complicated music for the coda: up to four separate
lines are combined together in the last couple of pages to create an exhilarating
climax to the movement.