Ed Zubrow writes:

>The music is rhythmically very interesting. While tonal it is also
>harmonically inventive. It makes use of English folk themes (and the
>notes say also some of his own opera themes) but it never sounds
>provincial.

Marvellous that Ed has discovered Tippett's superb music - a joy for
life.  I balked a little, though, at something behind the paragraph
above.  If the observations had been about (say) Bartok, with "Hungarian"
substituted for "English", would the word "provincial" would have still
been deemed appropriate?

Why should the use of English folk material - or any other for that
matter - ever lead to a danger of "provincialism"?  In my experience,
composers from any country who have worked with folk material (de Falla,
Copland, Janacek, Stravinsky) have gained rather than lost international
appeal and understanding through using it.  Is the "provincial" tag
reserved for the English?

Christopher Webber, Blackheath, London, UK
http://www.zarzuela.net
"ZARZUELA!" The Spanish Music Site