Sir Arthur (Edward Drummond) Bliss

Composer, born in London, UK. He studied at the Royal College of Music, and in 1921 became professor of composition there, but resigned his post after a year to devote himself to composing. He was music director of the BBC (1942–4), and on the death of Bax in 1953 became Master of the Queen's Musick. His compositions include the ballets Checkmate (1937) and Miracle in the Gorbals (1944), the opera The Olympians (1949), chamber music, and piano and violin works. He was knighted in 1950.

Sir Arthur Edward Drummond Bliss, CH, KCVO (August 2, 1891 - March 27, 1975) was a British composer.

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.

With the return of peace, Bliss’ 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.

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.

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.

The post-war period illustrates Bliss' curious failure to attain the success he aimed for.

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.

Since his death Bliss' music has undergone a modest revival on radio and recordings, but his reputation remains insecure.