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Arthur Bliss

From HitStory, the pop encyclopedia of School of Rock · Artist

Sir Arthur Bliss was born in 1891 in Barnes, then still in Surrey, the eldest of three sons of a businessman from Massachusetts. His mother died when he was four and his father passed on to him a love of the arts. He studied classics and music at Cambridge and then spent a year at the Royal College of Music, where Ralph Vaughan Williams and Gustav Holst inspired him more than his teacher Charles Stanford. His studies were cut short by the First World War, in which he served with distinction.

Music and breakthrough

After the war he was known as a headstrong, modernist composer. His works include A Colour Symphony, the cello concerto, the ballets Checkmate and Miracle in the Gorbals and the clarinet quintet. He wrote the music for the 1936 film Things to Come, including a march. In the Second World War he returned from the United States to England to work for the BBC, where he became director of music. After the war he became Master of the Queen's Music. He died in 1975.

Influence

In his later years his music was valued but also found old-fashioned, and it faded into the shadow of younger colleagues such as William Walton and Benjamin Britten. After his death many recordings have appeared, and part of his work has remained in the British repertoire. Bliss shows how a composer from the classical tradition also wrote for the cinema, with a solid, rhythmic orchestral sound.

Listening

Listening tip. Listen to the march from Things to Come and notice the march rhythm and the brass. Try to hear how the music gathers more and more power.

Discography

Studio albums

In School of Rock

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Mentioned in other articles

See also

Categories: ArtistsBritish concert composers (Denham and Ealing)