List of compositions by Harrison Birtwistle

Opera and other dramatised works

• The Mark of the Goat, children's dramatic cantata for actors, singers, 2 choirs, 3 melody instruments, piano, large and small percussion ensembles
• Punch and Judy, A tragical comedy or comical tragedy in 1 act
• Down by the Greenwood Side, A Dramatic Pastoral
• Pulse Field: Frames, Pulse and Interruptions, ballet, for 6 dancers and 9 musicians
• Bow Down, music theatre, for 5 actors and 4 musicians
• The Mask of Orpheus, Lyric Tragedy in 3 acts
• Yan Tan Tethera, A Mechanical Pastoral
• Gawain, Opera in 2 acts,
• The Second Mrs Kong, Opera in 2 acts
• The Last Supper, Opera in 1 act
• The Io Passion, Chamber Opera
• The Minotaur, Opera
• The Corridor, Scena for two voices and ensemble
• The Cure, for two singers and ensemble

  Orchestra

• Chorales, for orchestra
• Nomos, for 4 amplified instruments and orchestra
• The Triumph of Time, for orchestra
• Melencolia I, for clarinet, harp and 2 string orchestras
• Earth Dances, for orchestra
• Endless Parade, for trumpet, strings and vibraphone
• Machaut à ma manière, for orchestra
• Gawain's Journey, for orchestra
• Antiphonies, for piano and orchestra
• The Cry of Anubis, for tuba and orchestra
• Panic, for alto saxophone, jazz drummer, wind, brass and percussion
• Exody, for orchestra
• Sonance Severance 2000, for orchestra
• The Shadow of Night, for orchestra
• Night’s Black Bird, for orchestra
• Concerto for Violin and Orchestra
• Responses, for piano and orchestra
• Deep Time, for orchestra
• Variation IX in Pictured Within: Birthday Variations for M.C.B.'', for orchestra

  Chamber ensemble without voices

• The World is Discovered, 6 Instrumental Movements after Heinrich Isaac, for chamber ensemble
• 3 Movements with Fanfares, for chamber orchestra
• Tragoedia, for flute, oboe, clarinet, bassoon, horn, harp and string quartet
• Chorale from a Toy Shop, open scoring
• Three lessons in a frame, for piano solo, flute, clarinet, violin, cello and percussion.
• Medusa, for flute, clarinet, violin, cello, piano, percussion and electronics
• Verses for Ensembles, for 3 instrumental ensembles
• Some Petals from my Twickenham Herbarium, for piccolo, clarinet in Bb, glockenspiel, piano, violin and violoncello
• An Imaginary Landscape, for brass, percussion and double basses
• Tombeau in memoriam Igor Stravinsky, for flute, clarinet, harp and string quartet
• Grimethorpe Aria, for brass band
• For O, for O, the Hobby-Horse is Forgot, Ceremony, for 6 percussionists
• Silbury Air, for chamber ensemble
• Carmen Arcadiae Mechanicae Perpetuum, for chamber ensemble or orchestra
• Mercure: Poses Plastiques, arranged for 14 players
• Still Movement, for 13 solo strings
• Secret Theatre, for chamber ensemble
• Fanfare for Will, for brass ensemble
• Salford Toccata, for brass band
• Ritual Fragment, for chamber orchestra
• Fanfare for Glyndebourne, for brass ensemble and timpani
• Bach Measures, for chamber ensemble
• Slow Frieze, for piano and ensemble
• Placid Mobile, for 36 trumpets
• The Silk House Tattoo, for two trumpets and side drums
• Sonance 2000, for brass ensemble
• 17 Tate Riffs, for ensemble
• Fanfare, for brass and percussion
• Tenebrae David, for brass ensemble
• Theseus Game, for large ensemble with two conductors
• Cantus Iambeus, for thirteen instruments
• The Io Passion: Nocturnes, for clarinet and string quartet
• Cortege, for 14 musicians
• Virelai , for 12 players
• Crescent Moon over the Irrational, for flute doubling piccolo, clarinet, harp and string quartet
• Fantasia upon all the notes for flute, clarinet, harp and string quartet,
• In Broken Images, for woodwind, brass and percussion
• Five Lessons in a Frame, for ensemble
• Sonance for a New Space, for 3 trumpets, 4 trombones and bells
• Donum Simoni MMXVIII for woodwind, brass and percussion

  Instrumental groups of 5 or fewer performers, without voices

• Refrains and Choruses, for wind quintet
• Précis, for piano
• Verses, for clarinet and piano
• Linoi, for basset clarinet in A and piano, or clarinet, piano, tape and dancer; or clarinet, piano and cello
• Four Interludes for a Tragedy, for basset clarinet and tape
• Ut Heremita Solus, for flute, clarinet, violin, cello, piano and glockenspiel
• Hoquetus David, for flute, clarinet, violin, cello, piano and glockenspiel
• 8 Lessons for Keyboards
• Signals, for clarinet and tape
• Dinah and Nick's Love Song, for 3 melody instruments and harp
• Sad Song, for piano
• Chanson de Geste, for amplified sustaining instrument and tape
• Clarinet Quintet, for clarinet and string quartet
• Pulse Sampler, for oboe and claves
• Duets for Storab, for 2 flutes
• Berceuse de Jeanne, for piano
• Antiphonies from the Moonkeeper, for trumpet
• Hector's Dawn, for piano
• An Interrupted Endless Melody, for oboe and piano
• 5 Distances for 5 Instruments, for flute, oboe, clarinet in B flat, bassoon and horn in F
• Hoquetus Petrus, for two flutes and piccolo trumpet
• 9 Movements, for string quartet
• Harrison’s Clocks, for piano
• The Silk House Tattoo, for two trumpets and 3 side drums
• Betty Freeman: Her Tango, for piano
• Ostinato with Melody, for piano
• The Axe Manual, for piano and percussion
• Saraband: The King's Farewell, for piano
• Crowd, for solo harp
• The Io Passion - Aubades and Nocturnes, for basset clarinet and string quartet
• Dance of the metro-gnome, for piano
• Five Little Antiphonies for Amelia, for two trumpets
• Double Hocket, for piano trio
• The Tree of Strings, for string quartet
• 3 Fugues from The Art of Fugue, for string quartet
• The Message , for E flat clarinet, trumpet in C and military drum
• Bourdon , for violin and viola
• Roddy's Reel, for bass clarinet with audience participation
• Oboe Quartet
• Duet 3, for cor anglais and bassoon
• Trio, for violin, cello and piano
• Gigue Machine, for piano
• Beyond the White Hand, for guitar
• Variations from the Golden Mountain, for piano
• Duet 4, for violin and flute
• Duet 5, for horn and trombone
• Hoquetus Irvineus, for string quartet
• The Silk House Sequences, for string quartet
• Intrada, for piano and percussion
• Keyboard Engine, for two pianos
• Duet for Eight Strings, for viola and cello

  Vocal music (with and without instruments)

• Monody for Corpus Christi, for soprano, flute, violin and horn
• Narration: A Description of the Passing of a Year, for a cappella chorus
• Music for Sleep, for children's voices, piano and percussion
• Entr'actes and Sappho Fragments, for soprano and instruments
• Ring a Dumb Carillon, for soprano, clarinet in B flat and percussion
• Carmen Paschale, motet for choir and organ
• The Visions of Francesco Petrarca
• Monodrama
• Cantata, for soprano and instruments
• Nenia: The Death of Orpheus, for soprano, 3 bass clarinets, crotales and piano
• Meridian, for mezzosoprano, 2 three-part women's choirs and instruments
• Prologue, for tenor and 7 instruments
• The Fields of Sorrow, for 2 sopranos, 8-part choir and instruments
• Epilogue, "Full fathom five", for baritone, horn, 4 trombones and 6 tam-tams
• La Plage: 8 Arias of Remembrance, for soprano and 5 instruments
• Five Chorale Preludes, for soprano, clarinet, basset horn and bass clarinet
• … agm …, for 16 voices and 3 instrumental ensembles
• On the Sheer Threshold of the Night, Madrigal, for 4 soloists and 12-voice choir
• Deowa, for soprano and clarinet in B flat
• Songs by Myself, for soprano and chamber ensemble
• Words Overheard, for soprano and chamber orchestra
• 4 Songs of Autumn, for soprano and string quartet
• An die Musik, for soprano and chamber ensemble
• The Wine Merchant Robin of Mere, for male voice and piano
• 4 Poems by Jaan Kaplinski, for soprano and 13 instruments
• 9 Settings of Celan for soprano, 2 clarinets, viola, cello and double bass
• Pulse Shadows
• The Woman and the Hare, for soprano, reciter and ensemble
• Love Cries, from the opera The Second Mrs. Kong, for soprano, mezzo-soprano, tenor and orchestra
• Three Latin Motets, from The Last Supper, for unaccompanied choir
• 9 Settings of Lorine Niedecker, for soprano and cello
• The Sadness of Komachi, for tenor and prepared piano
• The Ring Dance of the Nazarene, for baritone, tombak, choir and ensemble
• The Gleam, for unaccompanied choir
• 3 Brendel Settings, for baritone and orchestra
• 3 Arias by Bach, for soprano, countertenor and chamber ensemble
• 26 Orpheus Elegies, for oboe, harp and countertenor
• Today Too, for tenor, flute and guitar
• Neruda Madrigales, for chorus and ensemble with live electronics
• The Mouse Felt…, for baritone and piano
• Lullaby, for two sopranos, unaccompanied
• Song of Myself, for baritone, double bass and percussion
• Bogenstrich for baritone, cello and piano
• Angel Fighter, for chamber chorus, tenor, countertenor and ensemble
• From Vanitas, for tenor and piano
• Semper Dowland, semper dolens, for tenor and ensemble
• 3 Settings of Lorine Niedecker, for soprano and cello
• The Moth Requiem, for twelve female voices, three harps and alto flute
• Songs from the Same Earth, for tenor and piano
• Chorale-Prelude, for SATB chorus a capella
• Three Songs from The Holy Forest, for soprano and ensemble
• ...when falling asleep, for soprano, speaker and ensemble

  Electronic music

• Chronometer, for 2 asynchronous 4-track tapes

  Incidental music for theatre

National Theatre productions

• Hamlet
• Tamburlaine the Great
• Julius Caesar
• Volpone
• The Country Wife
• The Cherry Orchard
• Brand
• The Double Dealer
• Herod
• As You Like It
• The Oresteia
• The Trojan War Will Not Take Place
• Coriolanus
• The Tempest
• The Winter's Tale
• Cymbeline
• Bacchai

  Other

• The Innocents

  Film scores

• The Offence