Sir Arthur Edward Drummond Bliss, CH, KCVO (August 2, 1891 - March 27, 1975) was a British composer. The Order of the Companions of Honour is a British and Commonwealth Order (decoration). ... Victoria founded the Royal Victorian Order. ... August 2 is the 214th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (215th in leap years), with 151 days remaining. ... 1891 (MDCCCXCI) was a common year starting on Thursday (see link for calendar). ... March 27 is the 86th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (87th in leap years). ... 1975 (MCMLXXV) was a common year starting on Wednesday. ...

Born to an English father and American mother, Bliss was destined to display characteristics of both nations, his profound romanticism balanced by an unquenchable energy and optimism. After studying at the Royal College of Music under Charles Villiers Stanford, he served as an infantry officer in the First World War. Motto: (French for God and my right) Anthem: Multiple unofficial anthems Capital London Largest city London Official language(s) English (de facto) Unification    - by Athelstan AD 927  Area    - Total 130,395 km² (1st in UK)   50,346 sq mi  Population    - 2005 est. ... Romanticism was an artistic and intellectual movement that originated in late 18th century Western Europe. ... // The Royal College of Music from Prince Consort Road, London The Royal College of Music is a prestigious music school located in Kensington, London. ... Sir Charles Villiers Stanford (September 30, 1852 – 29 March 1924) was an Irish composer. ... Combatants Allied Powers: British Empire France Italy Russia United States Central Powers: Austria-Hungary Bulgaria Germany Ottoman Empire Commanders Ferdinand Foch Georges Clemenceau Joseph Joffre Victor Emmanuel III Luigi Cadorna Armando Diaz Nicholas II Aleksei Brusilov Herbert Henry Asquith Douglas Haig John Jellicoe Woodrow Wilson John Pershing Wilhelm II Paul...

With the return of peace, Bliss’s career took off rapidly as a composer of what were, for British audiences, startlingly new pieces often for unusual ensembles, such as a concerto for wordless tenor voice, piano and strings, and Rout for soprano and chamber orchestra, in which the voice sings phonetic sounds rather than words. Much of his early music shows the influence of Stravinsky and Debussy. A landmark was his Colour Symphony of 1922 which explores the idea of the musical associations of different colours. Igor Fyodorovich Stravinsky (Russian: Игорь Фёдорович Стравинский, Igor Fëdorovič Stravinskij) (June 17, 1882 – April 6, 1971) was a Russian composer best known for three compositions from his earlier, Russian period: LOiseau de feu (The Firebird) (1910), Petrushka (1911), and Le sacre du printemps (The Rite of Spring) (1913). ... Claude Debussy, ca. ... 1922 (MCMXXII) was a common year starting on Sunday (see link for calendar). ...

From the late twenties onwards Bliss moved more into the traditional English scene with choral works such as Pastoral and Morning Heroes, and in the 1930s he wrote the music for the film Things to Come and the ballet Checkmate. Bliss was always an ambitious, prolific composer, and some of his works were clearly intended for a wider international audience than they actually received. The Introduction and Allegro and the Piano Concerto are examples, the concerto being premiered by Solomon at the 1939 New York World's Fair. Morning Heroes is a symphony for orator, chorus and orchestra by the English composer Arthur Bliss. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... Things to Come is a 1936 British science fiction film, produced by Alexander Korda and directed by William Cameron Menzies. ... Checkmate (Failure and checkmate) is music for ballet written by the British composer Arthur Bliss (1891-1975) in 1936-1937 on a choreography of Ninette de Valois. ... Artists depiction of Solomons court (Ingobertus, c. ... The 1939 New York Worlds Fair, located on the current site of Flushing Meadows-Corona Park (also the location of the 1964 New York Worlds Fair), was one of the largest worlds fairs of all time. ...

During the Second World War Bliss became Director of Music at the BBC, and formed ideas which led to the division of music broadcasting into categories after the war, such as the present day Radios 1 and 3. In 1950 he was knighted and in 1953 he was appointed to succeed Arnold Bax as Master of the Queen's Musick. Combatants Major Allied powers: United Kingdom Soviet Union United States Republic of China and others Major Axis powers: Nazi Germany Italy Japan and others Commanders Winston Churchill Joseph Stalin Franklin Roosevelt Harry Truman Chiang Kai-Shek Adolf Hitler Benito Mussolini Hideki Tojo Casualties Military dead: 17,000,000 Civilian dead... The British Broadcasting Corporation, invariably known as the BBC (and also informally known as the Beeb or Auntie) is the largest broadcasting corporation in the world, employing 26,000 staff in the UK alone and with a budget of £4 billion. ... A statue of an armoured knight of the Middle Ages For the chess piece, see knight (chess). ... Sir Arnold Edward Trevor Bax, KCVO (November 8, 1883 — October 3, 1953), was an English composer and poet. ... Master of the Queens Music (or Master of the Kings Music) is a prestigious post in the British royal court. ...

The post-war period illustrates Bliss's curious failure to attain the success he aimed for. His opera The Olympians, despite a full-scale production at Covent Garden, was not popular, his oratorio The Beatitudes was forgotten beside the success of Benjamin Britten's War Requiem at the 1962 Coventry Festival, and his cello concerto, written for the great Russian cellist Mstislav Rostropovich to play at the Aldeburgh Festival, was overshadowed by those of Benjamin Britten, Henri Dutilleux and Witold Lutosławski. Bliss recorded fine interpretations of several of his major works, but they were not taken up widely by other conductors. His swansong, Metamorphic Variations, a large orchestral work, was first performed in 1972, but not by the great Stokowski as Bliss had hoped. The Teatro alla Scala in Milan. ... An oratorio is a large musical composition for orchestra, vocal soloists and chorus. ... Edward Benjamin Britten, Baron Britten, OM CH (November 22, 1913 – December 4, 1976) was a British composer, conductor, and pianist. ... The War Requiem is a requiem composed by Benjamin Britten for the reconsecration of Coventry Cathedral on May 30, 1962 following its destruction during World War II. A mourning song for the victims of war, Britten’s War Requiem is considered one of the great heartrending choral-orchestral works of... Coventry was the seventh and final weekend-long festival hosted by the rock band Phish. ... Mstislav Rostropovich Mstislav Leopoldovich Rostropovich (Мстисла́в Леопо́льдович Ростропо́вич) (born March 27, 1927), affectionately known as Slava, is Russian and a naturalized American cellist and conductor, considered to be one of the greatest cellists ever. ... Edward Benjamin Britten, Baron Britten, OM CH (November 22, 1913 – December 4, 1976) was a British composer, conductor, and pianist. ... Henri Dutilleux (born January 22, 1916 in Angers, France) is one of the most important French composers of the second half of the 20th century, producing work in the tradition of Maurice Ravel, Claude Debussy, and Albert Roussel, but in a style distinctly his own. ... Witold LutosÅ‚awski at his home. ... Leopold Stokowski Leopold Stokowski (April 18, 1882 - September 13, 1977) (born Antoni Stanisław Bolesławowicz) was the conductor of the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, the Philadelphia Orchestra, the NBC Symphony Orchestra and the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra. ...

The Leicestershire Schools Symphony Orchestra had the great fortune of working with Sir Arthur Bliss when he conducted them in a performance of his Piano Concerto at the 1970 Cheltenham Festival with Frank Wibaut as soloist. An earlier concert performance of the concerto was also given at Loughborough, again with Sir Arthur Bliss conducting. Later that year, Bliss recorded his Introduction and Allegro with the orchestra for the Argo label. The relationship with the LSSO continued well into 1975 with a new production of his ballet The Lady of Shalott being staged at the Leicester Haymarket Theatre. This occasion was also featured in the television programme Girl in a Broken Mirror (see external video link below). The Cheltenham Festival is the most prestigious meeting in the National Hunt racing calendar in the United Kingdom. ... Statistics Population: 57,600 Ordnance Survey OS grid reference: SK536195 Administration Borough: Charnwood Shire county: Leicestershire Region: East Midlands Constituent country: England Sovereign state: United Kingdom Other Ceremonial county: Leicestershire Services Police force: Leicestershire Constabulary Fire and rescue: {{{Fire}}} Ambulance: East Midlands Post office and telephone Post town: LOUGHBOROUGH Postal... Argo Records was founded in 1951 by Harley Usill (born c1925-died 1991), with £500 capital, as a company primarily specialising in spoken word recordings and other esoteric material. ...

Since his death Bliss's music has undergone a modest revival on radio and recordings, but his reputation remains insecure. His music undoubtedly has a personality of its own and is loved by its adherents.

Sir Arnold Edward Trevor Bax, KCVO (November 8, 1883 — October 3, 1953), was an English composer and poet. ... Master of the Queens Music (or Master of the Kings Music) is a prestigious post in the British royal court. ... Malcolm Benjamin Graham Christopher Williamson (November 21, 1931 - March 2, 2003) was an Australian composer. ...

External links

• The Arthur Bliss society
• Leicestershire Schools Symphony Orchestra website
• The Lady of Shalott rehearsal sequence from 1975 A short video of the Leicestershire Schools Symphony Orchestra conducted by Eric Pinkett.
• Introduction and Allegro A short audio extract from the 1970 recording by the LSSO conducted by Bliss