Michael Tippett was one of the most important figures in British music during the second half of the twentieth century. This module will centre round three works from the early and middle periods of his work: the oratorio A Child of Our Time and the operas The Midsummer Marriage and The Knot Garden, but will also allow study of a selection of his instumental music and his later works. We shall examine the background to the ealry works in Tippett's reading in mythology, philosophy and Jungian psychology.