Archival Holdings

Tippett Collection, British Library

The majority of Tippett’s manuscripts and correspondence is held by the British Library in London and is available for study. Links to the relevant Finding Aids are available here. Researchers should contact the Library directly for information on as-yet-uncatalogued material.

The manuscript score of Tippett’s opera The Knot Garden (1966-9) is currently on display at the 'Treasures of the British Library exhibition.

Other holdings

Other significant archival collections include:

•  Correspondence with Benjamin Britten and Peter Pears, held by Britten Pears Arts at Aldeburgh, Suffolk.

• Correspondence with the composer Priaulx Rainier, held by the Royal Academy of Music in London.

• Correspondence with sculptor Barbara Hepworth, held by the Tate Archives in London.

• Correspondence with John Layard, held at the University of California, San Diego, Special Collections and Archives.

 Tippett’s personal library of books and scores is at the Harry Ransom Center, University of Texas at AustIn.

Letter from Michael Tippett to his friend Evelyn Maude, written during his imprisonment in HMP Wormwood Scrubs as a conscientious objector, 21 June 1943.

British Library, MS Mus. 1757/5 f.26v; reproduced by kind permission of the Sir Michael Tippett Will Trust and of the British Library Board