The Music and Thought of Michael Tippett: Modern Times and Metaphysics

Music in the Twentieth Century

by David Clarke

This multi-faceted study looks in detail at the music and thought of Michael Tippett. David Clarke shows how Tippett has roots in the nineteenth century and also reveals his connections with larger developments in Western cultural thinking. The book is made distinctive by its strong interdisciplinary element. It relates observations on the music to ideas in literature, philosophy and literary theory and addresses issues concerned with modernity and postmodernity. Tippett's homosexuality is also considered as a factor in his makeup as a composer.

Genres: Music

356 pages, Paperback

First published October 28, 2001

About the author

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David Clarke is Professor of Music at the University of Newcastle upon Tyne. He is a music theorist in the broadest sense, interested in analytical, philosophical, and cultural approaches to musical and meaning. These concerns have informed his work on the British composer, Michael Tippett, on whom he is a leading authority and the author of several books and essays. Similar priorities have also shaped his recent research into cultural pluralism and musical postmodernism-which has yielded articles on Eminem, 'Elvis and Darmstadt', and BBC Radio 3's 'Late Junction'. David Clarke is also a practicing musician-a violinist and conductor, and lately a vocalist in the North Indian khy?l tradition.