Biography of Sir Arthur Bliss
English Conductor, Administrator and Composer of Colour Symphony
Brief biography and works of British composer Sir Arthur Bliss, best known for orchestral Colour Symphony.
English composer Sir Arthur Bliss is known for his Colour symphony, for orchestra, and for Things to Come, a film score. He was believed to be the successor of Sir Edward Elgar, whom he knew at Cambridge.
Bliss wrote music that reflected his warm and outgoing personality. By mixing modern and romantic ideas, he skilfully matched his music from brilliantly orchestrated dramatic work, for example, in the ballet Checkmate to simple pieces suitable for amateur choirs or brass bands.
Early Years of Bliss
Sir Arthur Edward Drummond Bliss (1891-1973), English composer, conductor and administrator, was born in London on August 2, 1891, to an American father and an English mother. Before entering Cambridge University at the age of 22, he attended Bilton Grange Prep school and Rugby. After Cambridge, he later studied at the Royal College of Music under Charles Villiers Stanford.
War Years and Musical Career
He served throughout World War I as an infantry officer, and wrote his choral symphony, Morning Heroes, as a heartfelt tribute to those who died. He went to the US and taught there for two years, from 1923. He made a mark with works using the style of the French ‘Les Six’ but successive orchestral works established him as Elgar’s successor.
Bliss conducted the first performance of Stravinsky’s Ragtime for 11 instruments and the first Englishman to adopt the latter’s neo-classicism, but considered his best known work, A Colour Symphony, showed a change to a more conservative Romantic approach.
Notably ceremonial and arresting is his ‘Symphony for Orator, Chorus and Orchestra’, Morning Heroes, perhaps reflective of his experiences of World War I, including being wounded in 1916, gassed two years after, and the death of his brother at the Somme.
His compositions include three ballets (Checkmate, Paris; Miracle in the Gorbals, London; Adam Zero), a notable score for H.G. Wells film score Things to Come and his opera The Olympians express his feelings for high drama and atmosphere.
Among his other works are concertos for piano written for the New York World Fair, violin and cello, songs, chamber and piano music, choral works, notably the choral symphony Morning Heroes.
Awards and Honours
Sir Arthur Bliss was knighted in 1950, and was appointed Master of the Queen’s Musick in 1953. He was director of Music at the BBC, and received a Companion of Honour in 1971.
Works by Arthur Bliss:
- Colour Symphony, for Orchestra, 1922, revised 1932
- Morning Heroes, 1930
- Things to Come, a film score, 1935
- Checkmate, ballet, 1937
- Piano Concerto, 1939, written for the New York World Fair
- Miracle in the Gorbals, ballet, 1944
- Adam Zero, ballet, 1946, a film music for H.G. Wells' score
- The Olympians, opera, 1949
- Violin Concerto, 1955
- Cello Concerto, 1970
- Music for the investiture of Prince Charles
Sources:
Classical Music, edited by John Burrows, Dorling Kindersley (2005)
Oxford Companion to Music, edited by Alison Latham, OUP (2002)
The Grove Concise Dictionary of Music, edited by Standley Sadie, Macmillan (1994)
