''A Colour Symphony'', Op. 24, F. 106, was written by
Arthur Bliss
Sir Arthur Edward Drummond Bliss (2 August 189127 March 1975) was an English composer and conductor.
Bliss's musical training was cut short by the First World War, in which he served with distinction in the army. In the post-war years he qu ...
in 1921–22.
It was his first major work for
orchestra
An orchestra (; ) is a large instrumental ensemble typical of classical music, which combines instruments from different families.
There are typically four main sections of instruments:
* bowed string instruments, such as the violin, viola, c ...
,
[ and is today one of his best-known compositions.
]
Orchestration
The symphony is scored for 3 flutes (one doubling on piccolo), 2 oboes, cor anglais, 2 clarinets, bass clarinet, 2 bassoons, double bassoon, 4 horns, 3 trumpets, 3 trombones, tuba, 2 tympanists, cymbals, 2 harps and strings.
History
''A Colour Symphony'' was written to be performed at the Three Choirs Festival
200px, Worcester cathedral
200px, Gloucester cathedral
The Three Choirs Festival is a music festival held annually at the end of July, rotating among the cathedrals of the Three Counties (Hereford, Gloucester and Worcester) and originally featu ...
, held in 1922 in Gloucester
Gloucester ( ) is a cathedral city and the county town of Gloucestershire in the South West of England. Gloucester lies on the River Severn, between the Cotswolds to the east and the Forest of Dean to the west, east of Monmouth and east ...
, at the invitation of Sir Edward Elgar, who also invited Herbert Howells
Herbert Norman Howells (17 October 1892 – 23 February 1983) was an English composer, organist, and teacher, most famous for his large output of Anglican church music.
Life
Background and early education
Howells was born in Lydney, Gloucest ...
and Eugene Goossens to write a piece each. Howells wrote ''Sine Nomine'' for wordless chorus, which was not given its second performance until his centenary year 70 years later, in 1992. Goossens wrote a piece called ''Silence'' for chorus and orchestra.[ Elgar's own contribution was his orchestration of ]Johann Sebastian Bach
Johann Sebastian Bach (28 July 1750) was a German composer and musician of the late Baroque period. He is known for his orchestral music such as the '' Brandenburg Concertos''; instrumental compositions such as the Cello Suites; keyboard wo ...
's ''Fantasia and Fugue in C minor''.
Bliss decided to write a symphony, but was at first undecided what the theme or character of the work would be. He could not get started for some weeks. One day, by chance, he came across a book on heraldry in which he read of the symbolic meanings attached to certain colours; this gave him the notion of writing a work about colours. He attempted to give each movement a character corresponding to these meanings, but without attempting to depict the colours themselves. Bliss dedicated the symphony to the conductor Adrian Boult.[
The first performance, with the ]London Symphony Orchestra
The London Symphony Orchestra (LSO) is a British symphony orchestra based in London. Founded in 1904, the LSO is the oldest of London's symphony orchestras. The LSO was created by a group of players who left Henry Wood's Queen's Hall Orc ...
, in Gloucester Cathedral on 7 September 1922, was conducted by the composer. It was not well received at first, due to poor preparation. The work uses a large orchestra, but the platform was so taken up with the chorus required for other works also being performed, that several instruments had to be omitted.[Greene's Biographical Encyclopedia of Composers]
/ref> Elgar attended, but found it "disconcertingly modern".
/ref> It nevertheless entered the repertoire and has been recorded various times, although it is now an infrequent visitor to concert platforms.
Analysis
The four movements are:
A theme from towards the end of the ''Red'' movement was used as the signature tune of the televised "Royal Institution Christmas Lectures
The Royal Institution Christmas Lectures are a series of lectures on a single topic each, which have been held at the Royal Institution in London each year since 1825, missing 1939–1942 because of the Second World War. The lectures present sc ...
".
Revision
In 1932, Bliss revised the codas of the first two movements.[ He conducted the revised work himself in a recording with the ]London Symphony Orchestra
The London Symphony Orchestra (LSO) is a British symphony orchestra based in London. Founded in 1904, the LSO is the oldest of London's symphony orchestras. The LSO was created by a group of players who left Henry Wood's Queen's Hall Orc ...
in 1955.
The last movement, "Green", was separately published as ''Pyonepsion''.
Other uses
In 1977, a ballet
Ballet () is a type of performance dance that originated during the Italian Renaissance in the fifteenth century and later developed into a concert dance form in France and Russia. It has since become a widespread and highly technical form of ...
called ''Royal Offering'' was created, with music based on ''A Colour Symphony''.
A short extract from the 'Red' movement was used as the opening music to BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC
Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...
...
until 2011.
The British artist Kevin Laycock created a visual piece called ''Four Movements in Colour'', in which he attempted to portray, in colour, the sounds created by Arthur Bliss. In 2004, Laycock created a series of paintings called ''Tectonics'' as a direct response to Bliss's ''A Colour Symphony'' using parallel compositional structures.