Symphony No. 1 (Tippett)
The Symphony No. 1 by the British composer Michael Tippett was completed in 1945.
Instrumentation
The
Form
The symphony is in four movements, marked as follows:
- 1. Allegro vigoroso, quasi alla breve
- 2. Adagio
- 3. Presto
- 4. Allegro moderato ma con brio
History
Tippett began to think about writing a symphony while in prison in 1943. He had already written one symphony (in B flat) but rejected it as immature and over-influenced by Sibelius.
The new symphony was completed on 25 August 1945 and received its first performance on 10 November 1945 by the
Musical elements
Tippett himself said that the symphony was exuberant rather than refined: "... it's got drive and it's highly wrought".