''Robin Hood'' is a ballad opera by Michael Tippett based on the legend of Robin Hood. Composed in 1934, the score remains unpublished. However, Tippett later used an expanded version of the

overture Overture (from French ''ouverture'', "opening") in music was originally the instrumental introduction to a ballet, opera, or oratorio in the 17th century. During the early Romantic era, composers such as Beethoven and Mendelssohn composed overt ...

as the finale to his 1948 ''Suite in D major (For the Birthday of Prince Charles)''.

Background

During the

Great Depression The Great Depression (19291939) was an economic shock that impacted most countries across the world. It was a period of economic depression that became evident after a major fall in stock prices in the United States. The economic contagio ...

of the 1930s, Tippett was hired to organize the musical life at the

Cleveland Work Camps The Cleveland Work Camps in England were known locally as "Heartbreak Hill". They were a series of short events, staged in the East Cleveland ironstone mining villages of Boosbeck and Margrove Park, which ran from 1932 to 1938 with the aim of he ...

for unemployed miners in North Yorkshire. As part of his work there, he revised and abridged John Gay's '' The Beggar's Opera'' for performances in the church hall next to the Miners' Institute in

Boosbeck Boosbeck is a village in the borough of Redcar and Cleveland and the ceremonial county of North Yorkshire, England. The name is Viking in origin and means "the stream near a cow shed". Between 1878 and 1960, the village had a Boosbeck railway ...

. Encouraged by its success, he composed a ballad opera of his own, ''Robin Hood'', with a subtext that reflected the difficulties faced by the unemployed miners. At this time in his life Tippett was involved with radical left-wing politics and the libretto reflected these socialist views. Performers in the opera included friends of the composer such as

Wilfred Franks Wilfred Florestan Franks (1908–2003) was a British artist, designer, sculptor, dancer and actor. He married Daphne Rudd in 1951 Biography Franks trained at the Staatliche Bauhochschule (de) in Weimar, Germany from 1929 to 1930. He also atte ...

, and local miners such as Tom Batterbee. It was first performed in 1934 by the local villagers, miners, and students at the work camps. Although a success both with the participants and the audience, the work bears little resemblance to the composer's mature style, and Tippett would later not allow it to be performed. Nevertheless, some of the songs from the opera were sung again in 2009 at the Station Hotel in Boosbeck and recorded for the BBC Radio 3 Programme Music Matters.North (2009)

References

;Notes ;Sources * Anderson, Don (2008
Program Notes: Nakamatsu Plays Mozart
The Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra. Accessed 31 October 2008. * Myers, Alan (2004

''Myers Literary Guide: The North-East'' (online version first published in 2004 with the Centre for Northern Studies). Accessed 31 October 2008. * North, John (2009) The Northern Echo, UK
A Snippet Of Tippett
* See also http://ironawecleveland.blogspot.it/2009/11/snippet-of-tippett-2.html {{authority control Operas Operas by Michael Tippett English-language operas 1934 operas Depictions of Robin Hood in music Ballad operas