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 comprehensive analysis of the entire quartet. Tippett had only recently returned from a trip to the US, which included performances in Columbus, Hartford, Boston, and culminated in the premiere of New Year in Houston, On 27 October 1989. Shortly after, Tippett returned to his home in Wiltshire and promptly completed Byzantium. In the third movement of his Second String Quartet, Tippett experimented with dividing the ensemble into succession of duo statements that were kaleidoscopically reconfigured throughout the movement. With the exception of the palindromic devices used in the 'Night Music' from Third Symphony, the third movement of Third Piano Sonata, and "By the Sea" from Songs for Achilles, Tippett rarely allowed a system or process to determine the 'measurement' of his music. Tippett described the last bar of the first movement as 'a Beethoven trick'.