The Midsummer Marriage is an opera in three acts by Michael Tippett, with a libretto by the composer. The work's first performance was at Covent Garden, January 27, 1955, conducted by John Pritchard. The premiere performance was recorded, and is available oncompact disc. Sir Michael Kemp Tippett (2 January 1905 – 8 January 1998) was one of the foremost English composers of the 20th century. ... The Floral Hall of the Royal Opera House The Royal Opera House is a performing arts venue in London. ... Sir John Michael Pritchard (February 5, 1921 - December 5, 1969) was an English conductor. ...

The story of The Midsummer Marriage was consciously modeled after Mozart's Zauberflöte. Both trace the path to marriage of one "royal" and one "common" couple: Jenifer and Mark correspond to Pamina and Tamino, the earthy Jack and Bella to Papageno and Papagena. King Fisher stands in for the Queen of the Night, the Ancients for Sarastro and his priests, and so on. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (January 27, 1756 – December 5, 1791) was one of the most significant and influential of all composers of Western classical music. ... Die Zauberflöte (en: The Magic Flute) is an opera in two acts composed by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart to a German libretto by Emanuel Schikaneder. ...

But the composer's first inspiration for the work was visual: Tippett recalled imagining "a wooded hill-top with a temple, where a warm and soft young man was being rebuffed by a cold and hard young woman to such a degree that the collective, magical archetypes take charge - Jung's anima and animus." Carl Jungs autobiographical work Memories , Dreams and Reflections, Fontana edition Carl Gustav Jung (July 26, 1875 – June 6, 1961) (IPA:) was a Swiss psychiatrist and founder of analytical psychology. ... Anima, in Jungian psychology: 1. ...

The character Sosostris is named after "Madame Sosostris, famous clairvoyante," in T.S. Eliot's poem The Waste Land, and King Fisher's name is inspired by the Fisher King character mentioned in the same poem. Tippett was first given the idea of attempting a verse drama by reading Eliot's plays, and he corresponded with the poet with an eye to collaborating on the libretto for his opera, tackling the job himself when Eliot declined. Thomas Stearns Eliot (September 26, 1888 - January 4, 1965), was a major Modernist Anglo-American poet, dramatist, and literary critic. ... T. S. Eliot (by E. O. Hoppe, 1919) The Waste Land (sometimes mistakenly written as The Wasteland) is a highly influential 433-line modernist poem by T. S. Eliot. ... This article is about the Fisher King from Arthurian legend. ...

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