born Jan. 2, 1905, London, Eng.
died Jan. 8, 1998, London
British composer.
Tippett studied composition (192328) at the Royal College of Music. His early music was conservative, but in the late 1930s he developed a personal, modernistic idiom that was marked by rhapsodic lyricism, intricate counterpoint , and polyphonic rhythms that have a lilting, bounding quality. He devoted most of his energies to compositions with words (generally his own), including the cantatas A Child of Our Time (1941) and The Mask of Time (1984), and the operas The Midsummer Marriage (1952), King Priam (1961), The Knot Garden (1969), and The Ice Break (1976). Beginning with King Priam , his surging rhythms and lush harmonies gave way to a starker, more taut style. His instrumental works include symphonies and string quartets.