Author Description

Sir Arthur Bliss (1891-1975) was a leading figure in British music for five decades, and one of the foremost British composers to emerge after the First World War. His early works such as the symphony Morning Heroes, the ballet Checkmate, and the opera The Olympians show the influence of Stravinsky and the French group "Les Six." He gained prominence in the British musical establishment and was made Master of the Queen's Musick in 1953. Bliss was also a prolific writer of articles, reviews, lectures, and broadcasts, which provide a vivid commentary on twentieth-century music, the English Musical Renaissance in particular, and display the characteristic vigor and vitality in keeping with his enfant terrible image of the 1920s. Arranged chronologically with biographical lists, the material ranges from self-analysis to a consideration of the place of music in modern society, and this collection forms a valuable source for the study of his own music and the music of his contemporaries.