Introduction: This essay concerns
the genesis, the context, and the premiere of Arthur Bliss’s Second String
Quartet. Included is a discography as well as a single of the first recording
by the Griller Quartet, the work’s dedicatees. The composer provided a detailed
technical analysis. (Roscow, ed., 1991, p.192-195). I have made much use of
this in my “A Path Through the Quartet” below.
Genesis: There is only one other work listed in the
Bliss catalogue shown to have been completed in 1950. (Foreman, 1980, p.113).
This was the grand sounding Heritage of Britain which consist of two orchestral
signature tunes for BBC Radio. The total duration is 73 seconds. They were first
heard during a broadcast on 3 April 1951, (Radio Times, 30 March 1951, p.21) played
by Ian Whyte and the BBC Scottish Orchestra. Dutton Epoch have recently issued
these two miniatures on CDLX7387.
The previous year (1949) had seen
the completion of Bliss’s first opera, The Olympians, with a libretto by
J.B. Priestley. Its first night at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden was on
29 September 1949. The same year saw the first screening of the Gainsborough
Picture film Christopher Columbus, starring Fredric March in the title
role, and Florence Eldridge as Queen Isabella. The final offering that year was
the incidental music for Summer Day’s Dream. This play, written by J.B.
Priestley, was given its first London performance at the St Martin’s Theatre on
8 September 1949. It starred Herbert Lomas and Andina Mandlova. The plot, set
in the future (1975), posits a post-nuclear war scenario, with the British nation
returning to a pre-industrial agrarian economy. Bliss’s contribution was Christopher’s
Theme, lasting for just over a minute.
In June 1950, Bliss received a
Knighthood in the King’s Birthday Honours List. Along with Trudy, they
celebrated their Silver Wedding Anniversary. They had been married on 1 June
1925, at the Old Mission, Santa Barbara, California. (Craggs, 1996, p.20f)
Bliss writes (Bliss, 1970,
1989, p.186) “to free myself from brooding over all the hopes and subsequent
frustrations associated with The Olympians I retreated into the intimate
and private world of chamber music.” The Griller Quartet were “four old
friends” of the composer. In 1950 they were celebrating the twenty first
anniversary of their “coming together.”. Bliss resolved to give them a “birthday
present which they could acknowledge at the Edinburgh Festival that year.” The
Quartet was written during the spring and summer of 1950. The result was the
“most substantial chamber work that I had attempted.”
Anecdotally, as each movement was
completed, it was sent to the Griller Quartet for study and preparation. The
complex finale was in rehearsal only a few days before the premiere. (The
Stage, 7 September 1950, p.12).
A Question of Numbering: Arthur
Bliss composed several essays for this medium. The earliest was the String
Quartet in A major, op.4 completed around 1914. The “parts” were published by
Stainer and Bell in 1915 but were subsequently withdrawn. (Foreman, 1980, p.46).
Two years later, the Fugue for string quartet was entered into the Elgar Fugue
Competition. Bliss wrote (Music Student November 1916, p.108) that “I
intended to write a phantasy of three movements…but time has only allowed me to
complete the first and give an inkling of the second…” It was never published,
and the holograph is missing. Around 1923/4 Bliss wrote another string quartet.
Foreman (op. cit. p.46) explains that the surviving manuscript “is an
unfinished working score and not the fair copy.” Chronologically, this is the
“second string quartet.” There is also a
short Allegro in manuscript. This was written in the late-1920s. The first of
the “official” String Quartet was commissioned by Elizabeth Sprague Coolidge
and was dedicated to her. It was published by Novello in 1942 simply as ‘String
Quartet,’ and with the miniature score as ‘String Quartet No.1.’ (Craggs 1996,
p.153f)
There is, then, a possibility of
confusion over the numbering of Arthur Bliss’s string quartets. Craggs (1996,
p.154) refers to the present example as Quartet No.4 for strings. Yet, the miniature
score published in 1951 carries the title “Second String Quartet.”
The problem is solved by Lewis
Foreman (1980, p.44). He explains that “the identification of a number of
manuscripts which have come to light since the composer’s death has resulted in
the discovery of the String Quartet written in 1923, previously thought lost.
Thus, four quartets are in existence.” Foreman suggests that the quartets
should be identified by date of composition. Sadly this suggestion has not generally
been taken up. The current situation is that the quartets published as
Nos. 1 and 2 are in fact Nos. 3 and 4 respectively.
In this essay I have used the
published title, the Second String Quartet.
Excursus 1: The Griller
Quartet: The Griller Quartet came together in 1928/29 and survived until
1961 without a change of personnel. The original members were Sidney Griller, (1st
violin), Jack O’Brien, (2nd violin), Philip Burton, (viola) and
Colin Hampton, (cello). All were, or had been, students at the Royal Academy of
Music where they were encouraged to play as an ensemble by the violist and teacher
Lionel Tertis.
These four musicians were highly
skilled at performing the main classical repertoire, but they were especially
adept at introducing contemporary music by British and Continental composers.
They were soon recognised as one of the foremost English ensembles. On 5
February 1939, the Griller Quartet made their debut in New York. At that event
they performed Arnold Bax’s Quartet in G major, No.1, as well as works by
Mozart and Haydn.
To help their music making, they
moved into the same house. Even marriage did not interrupt this professional
menage à quatre. During the Second World War, the members of the Quartet all
enlisted in the Royal Air Force, however, they were still able to concertise.
After the end of hostilities, the Griller Quartet resumed recitals and returned
to the United States on a regular basis.
The Quartet had a yearly
residency at the University of California between 1949 and 1961. Several
celebrated composers have dedicated music to them, including Darius Milhaud, Ernest
Bloch, Roger Sessions and, of course, Arthur Bliss.
In 1960, O’Brien and Burton left
the quartet. After some attempts at replacement, Griller finally abandoned the
ensemble in 1963.
Bibliography: Bliss, Arthur,
As I Remember (London: Faber and Faber, 1970: Revised and enlarged, Thames Publishing, 1989)
Craggs, Stewart R.,
Arthur Bliss: A Bio-bibliography (Westport, Connecticut, Greenwood Press, 1988)
Craggs, Stewart R.,
Arthur Bliss: A Source Book (Aldershot, Scolar Press, 1996)
Foreman, Lewis,
Arthur Bliss: Catalogue of the Complete Works (Sevenoaks, Novello, 1980; suppl. 1982)
Roscow, Gregory, ed.,
Bliss on Music: Selected Writings of Arthur Bliss 1920-1975, (Oxford, Oxford University Press, 1991)
The files of
Daily Telegraph, The Gramophone, The Musical Times, New York Times, Press and Journal, Radio Times, The Scotsman, The Stage, The Times, record and CD liner notes etc.
To be continued
With thanks to The Arthur Bliss Society Journal where this essay was first published.