Acknowledgements; Prologue; Part I. The Thirties and the War: 1. Britten: Four early works (1931-3); 2. Tippett: String quartet No. 1, Piano Sonata No. 1 (1934-7); 3. Britten: Our Hunting Fathers to the Violin Concerto (1936-9); 4. Tippett in 1939: the Concerto for Double String Orchestra; 5. Britten in America: 1939-42; 6. Tippett: an oratorio, a string quartet and a cantata (1939-43); 7. Britten's return: 1942-3; 8. Tippett and symphonic form (1944-6); Postscript: the Britten legacy; Part II. After the War (1944-63): 9. Britten: Peter Grimes (1944-5); 10. Britten: the Donne Sonnets and the String Quartet No. 2 (1945); 11. Britten: The Rape of Lucretia and Albert Herring (1946-7); 12. Britten: from Albert Herring to Billy Budd (1947-51); 13. Tippett: The Midsummer Marriage (1946-52); 14. Britten: from Canticle II to Winter Words (1952-3); 15. Tippett: from the Corelli Fantasia to the Piano Concerto (1953-5); 16. Britten: The Turn of the Screw to Noye's Fludde (1953-7); 17. Tippett: Symphony No. 2 (1956-7); 18. Britten: the Nocturne to the War Requiem (1958-61); 19. Tippett: King Priam (1958-61); 20. Tippett: after King Priam (1962-3); Part III. Patterns of Transformation (1963-80): 21. Britten: The Cello Symphony and Curlew River (1963-4); 22. Tippett: The Vision of Saint Augustine (1963-5); 23. Britten: Blake, Pushkin and the second Church Parable (1965-6); 24. Britten: from The Prodigal Son to Who are these children? (1967-9); 25. Tippett: The Knot Garden and Songs for Dov (1966-70); 26. Britten: From Owen Wingrave to Death in Venice (1970-3); 27. Tippett: Symphony No. 3, Piano Sonata No. 3 (1970-3); 28. Britten: the final compositions (1974-6); 29. Tippett: The Ice Break, and after (1973-80); 30. Tippett: Into the eighties (1980-9); Epilogue; Notes; Further reading; Index.