Composer of the Week – Sir Arthur Bliss

Monday was the birthday of British composer Sir Arthur Bliss. Bliss is an interesting character because he was a very prolific composer, and quite popular, for his time, in England. He experimented with different musical styles while younger, but as he grew older, he moved into a traditional English sound with some choral and pastoral works.

Later in life Bliss became the Director of Music at the BBC, and had a great influence there. He was knighted in 1950, and was appointed Master of the Queen’s Music (a title similar to Poet Laureate, but for music), and held that title from 1953 until his death in 1975.

Despite the accolades, Bliss never really achieved the level of success as a composer that he wished for, and although he had some critical successes, they were never really embraced by the public.

One of his early works is A Colour Symphony, which was his first major orchestral work, and is probably his most well-known piece. It explores the symbolic meaning of different colors and tries to portray that character through the music.

The four movements are:

I. Purple, the colour of Amethysts, Pageantry, Royalty, and Death
II. Red, the colour of Rubies, Wine, Revelry, Furnaces, Courage, and Magic
III. Blue, the colour of Sapphires, Deep Water, Skies, Loyalty, and Melancholy
IV. Green, the colour of Emeralds, Hope, Youth, Joy, Spring, and Victory.

Here is the fourth movement, Green, performed by the BBC Welsh Symphony Orchestra with Sir Arthur Bliss conducting.