ABSTRACT

This chapter provides a detailed account of the events leading up to and throughout the compositional process associated with Michael Tippett's Fifth String Quartet and a comprehensive analysis of the entire quartet. Tippett was 'invincibly drawn to the medium', and each of his five quartets represents a singular achievement. The Second String Quartet was created from music of decidedly mixed traditions, what Tippett described as a 'combination and contrast of movements—bringing 4 equal types of movement to birth by procuration of 4 techniques which will be able to handle 4 sensibilities'. The Fourth String Quartet was premiered by the Lindsay String Quartet on 20 May 1979, at Bath Festival in South West England. In fact, the pre-conditional phase of the creative cycle associated with the Fifth Quartet can be traced back to that same evening when, after the performance, Tippett turned to first violinist in the Lindsay Quartet, Peter Cropper, and confessed: 'I think I might write a fifth quartet'.