Concerto for Double String Orchestra (Tippett)


's Concerto for Double String Orchestra is one of his most popular and frequently performed works.
Like other works of the composer's early maturity such as the First Piano Sonata and the First String Quartet, the Concerto is characterized by rhythmic energy and a direct melodic appeal. Representing both a meeting point for many of his early influences and a release for the catalytic experiences that defined the decade after leaving London and the Royal College of Music, the Concerto was an experiment in multiplicities, where the diversity of the thematic material became synthesized through the timbral unity of the ensemble—two ensembles in fact, a further manifestation of the opposition and divisions contributing to the work’s multi-dimensionality. The influence of Bartok and Stravinsky can be shown, as well as that of the 17th century English Madrigal School. From these, and from folk-song, Tippett derives his distinctive and personal technique of 'additive rhythm'. This has been described as 'a kind of rhythm the effect of which is determined by an accumulation of irregular, unpredictable accents in the music'. The composer David Matthews describes the effect thus: "t is the rhythmic freedom of the music, its joyful liberation from orthodox notions of stress and phrase length, that contributes so much to its vitality".
By dividing the orchestra into two equal and identical sections Tippett is able to play one off against the other, using syncopation and imitation to add further to the rhythmic vitality and propulsion of the music. This antiphonal effect is similar to that found in Renaissance and early Baroque choral music by composers such as Monteverdi and Gabrieli. The first movement is in sonata form and contrasts a vigorous, driving theme in octaves with a more delicate, lightly scored idea on violins and cellos. The slow movement opens with one of Tippett's most affecting and heartfelt melodies for low solo violin, revealing the composer's deep love of Blues, especially the singing of Bessie Smith. A fugue offers chromatic contrast, and the movement is rounded off by a return of the opening tune on solo cello. In the rondo finale Tippett uses a melody generally described as 'based on a Northumbrian bagpipe tune' to bring the work to an exciting and uplifting climax. However this melody, as it appears here, is unlike any traditional Northumbrian bagpipe tune, and, having a compass of two octaves, would be unplayable on the instrument.
As in the 1941 oratorio A Child of Our Time and the Symphony No. 3 of 1973, Tippett's humanitarian concerns are clearly evidenced in his use of melodies deriving from, and referring to, folk and popular musical sources.
Tippett completed the score on June 6 1939 and it was premiered April 21 1940.

The tonality

Movement 1 - Allegro con brio
While the movement initially sounds like ritornello form, it is actually in sonata form.