Morning Heroes

Morning Heroes is a choral symphony by the English composer Arthur Bliss. The work received its first performance at the Norwich Festival on 22 October 1930, with Basil Maine as the speaker/orator.[1] Written in the aftermath of World War I, in which Bliss had performed military service,[2] Bliss inscribed the dedication as follows:

"To the Memory of my brother Francis Kennard Bliss and all other Comrades killed in battle"

The work sets various poems:[3][4]

• Homer, The Iliad, passages from Book VI (translation of W Leaf) and Book XIX (translation of Chapman)
• Walt Whitman, "Drum Taps"
• Wilfred Owen, "Spring Offensive"
• Li Tai Po
• Robert Nichols, "Dawn on the Somme"

The extracts are spoken by a narrator and sung by a large choir. Juxtaposing the harsh images of trench warfare with the epic heroes of Ancient Greece, the parallels Bliss draws are essentially romantic, and the work as a whole has been criticised as being rather complacent.[5] Bliss himself said that he suffered from a repeating nightmare about his war experiences and that the composition of Morning Heroes helped to exorcise this.[6][7]

Movements

The work falls into five sections, in the structure of a palindrome, with the first movement acting as a prologue, then fast, slow, and fast movements, and the final movement acting as an epilogue.[6] The work includes the respective texts.:[4]

• I: "Hector's Farewell to Andromache"
• II: "The City Arming"
• III: "Vigil" - "The Bivouac's Flame"
• IV: "Achilles goes to battle" - "The Heroes"
• V: "Now, Trumpeter, For Thy Close" - "Spring Offensive" - "Dawn on the Somme"

Recordings

• Chandos: Samuel West, narrator; BBC Symphony; BBC Symphony Chorus; Sir Andrew Davis, conductor.
• EMI Classics: John Westbrook, speaker; Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra and Choir; Sir Charles Groves, conductor
• BBC Radio Classics: Richard Baker, speaker; BBC Symphony Chorus; BBC Symphony Orchestra; Sir Charles Groves, conductor[8]
• Cala: Brian Blessed, speaker; East London Chorus, Harlow Chorus, East Hertfordshire Chorus; London Philharmonic Orchestra; Michael Kibblewhite, conductor

References

1. F.B. (1 December 1930). "The Norwich Festival". The Musical Times. 71 (1054). The Musical Times, Vol. 71, No. 1054: 1081–1082. doi:10.2307/914304. JSTOR 914304.
2. Burn, Andrew (August 1991). "Rebel to Romantic: The Music of Arthur Bliss". The Musical Times. 132 (1782). The Musical Times, Vol. 132, No. 1782: 383–386. doi:10.2307/965884. JSTOR 965884.
3. Butcher, A.V. (April 1947). "Walt Whitman and the English Composer". Music & Letters. 28 (2): 154–167. doi:10.1093/ml/XXVIII.2.154. JSTOR 855527.
4. H.G. (1 October 1930). "Morning Heroes: A New Symphony by Arthur Bliss". The Musical Times. 71 (1052). The Musical Times, Vol. 71, No. 1052: 881–886. doi:10.2307/916872. JSTOR 916872.
5. Penguin Guide to Classical Music
6. Burn, Andrew (October 1985). "'Now, Trumpeter for Thy Close': The Symphony Morning Heroes: Bliss's Requiem for His Brother". The Musical Times. 126 (1713). The Musical Times, Vol. 126, No. 1713: 666–668. doi:10.2307/965037. JSTOR 965037.
7. Palmer, Christopher (August 1971). "Aspects of Bliss". The Musical Times. 112 (1542). The Musical Times, Vol. 112, No. 1542: 743–745. doi:10.2307/954592. JSTOR 954592.
8. A studio recording made in commemoration of the tenth anniversary of the composer's death. See the BBC Radio Classics 15656 9199-2 CD booklet note by John Mayhew, page 3: "This recording was made more than ten years after the commercial record made in Liverpool by Sir Charles Groves, at a BBC Invitation Concert in Studio One at Maida Vale in March 1985."