Michael Tippett’s Fifth String Quartet : A Study in Vision and Revision

Schuttenhelm provides a detailed account of the events leading up to and through the quartet’s compositional process, as well as a brief summary of its reception history. In addition to a comprehensive analysis of the entire quartet, the volume also takes into account Tippett’s preliminary attempts for the work and measures the significance its subsequent removal had upon the overall design. Evidence of an altered ending is also shown, together with an assessment of how this affected the proportions of the work. This commentary benefits from the author’s extensive experience working with Tippett’s letters, sketchbooks, and manuscripts.

Thomas Schuttenhelm 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. The commentary discusses this work in the context of Tippett’s creative development and places it within the historical context of the genre of the string quartet. The commentary includes interviews with the members of the Lindsay String Quartet, who premiered the work, as well as previously unpublished letters from the composer and interviews with Tippett in which he discusses the quartet in detail. Special attention is given to Tippett’s preliminary attempts, which were only recently discovered (2011) and to the evidence that suggests he altered the original ending. Included are images from the composer’s sketchbooks and manuscripts, as well as the original beginning and the altered ending.