Tippett, Sir Michael Kemp

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Tippett, Sir Michael Kemp (1905–98) English composer. His music incorporates apparently disparate musical forms and social themes of justice, pacifism, and humanism. Tippett's oratorio A Child of our Time (1941) was a response to the ‘Kristallnacht’ in Nazi Germany in 1938. His operas include The Midsummer Marriage (1952), King Priam (1962), and New Year (1988). Other works include the oratorio The Mask of Time (1982), String Quartet No.1 (1934), and four symphonies (1945, 1957, 1972, 1977). He was knighted in 1966.