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The Arthur Bliss Society

President: Ian Venables Vice-Presidents: Peter Ainsworth Terry Barfoot Chairman: Gerald Towell

Sir Arthur Bliss 1929

The Arthur Bliss Society was founded in early 2003 with the aim of furthering the appreciation, understanding and knowledge of the music of Sir Arthur Bliss (1891-1975).  He was one of the most important figures in British musical life from the early 1920s (when he was regarded as an enfant terrible) through to his later years and his tenure of the office of Master of the Queen's Music from 1953, following Sir Arnold Bax, who had died suddenly in October of that year. The Committee benefited greatly from the support and encouragement of the late Lady Bliss, our first President, and then from the late George Dannatt.  For the Chairman's tribute to him, and links to press obituaries, see his page. Our Vice-Chairman, David Wilby, has written an appreciation for MusicWeb. We were delighted when Peter Ainsworth  and Ian Venables accepted invitations to become Vice- Presidents of the Society.  Not long afterwards our Chairman had lunch with them at the House of Commons (photograph).  Following George's death, Ian was invited to become our third President and Terry Barfoot agreed to follow Ian as a Vice-President. We were equally delighted to welcome four distinguished musicians as the first Patrons of the Society:  Mark Bebbington, James Gilchrist, Julian Lloyd Webber and David Lloyd-Jones. A substantial Newsletter is published twice a year, in the Spring and Autumn.  A cumulative index is also available. Non-members wishing to buy copies of this or of the Index please contact the Chairman. The website of The Bliss Trust contains biography, bibliography and discography, and we complement this on the Society's site with active information about social and study events, current news and comment, details of membership, how to join and how to contact us.  Whilst the Bliss Trust website is still the place to go for the complete discography, we have listed new and recent discs on this site, as well as some new photographs.  We still appeal for any non-copyright photographs that we could show here, or copyrighted ones that we might be allowed to display.   Our Performances page is accessed by lovers of Sir Arthur's music worldwide, and we are as keen to include notices of performances abroad as we are those in the UK.  We know that far more performances take place in other countries than we show on our performances page and we look to our site visitors for information.  We have no other regular means of knowing about concerts before they take place.    The Enquiries page gives the opportunity to site visitors, whether members of the Society or not, to contribute questions or comments. We devote a page to the Charlton Kings Choral Society because of its close links with the late Lady Bliss, initially through our Chairman.  Three of our six Committee members belong to the choir, and a fourth, John Wright, is its Conductor. The Links page joins us to other interesting and relevant websites: please suggest any useful additions.  Please also let the webteam know of forthcoming performances of Bliss music, so that we can publicise them here.

Privacy and Cookies Policy

All enquiries relating to copyright should be addressed to The Bliss Trust, whose details can be found on their website.

Archive enquiries should be adressed to The Music Department, Cambridge University Library. The Bliss Archive can be accessed here.

updated on 17 October 2017 © The Arthur Bliss Society 2003-2017