 Born in London in 1891, educated at Rugby, Cambridge and the Royal College of Music, Arthur Bliss composed only a handful of film scores but some of them are very notable, especially his first - for Things to Come (d. William Cameron Menzies, 1936). This was an immediate success and performed as a concert suite at the Promenade Concerts.
Bliss firmly believed that film music should be able to stand alone in this way,
and at least two of his other scores were publicly performed: those for
Conquest of the Air (d. Alexander Esway, Zoltan Korda, John Monk Saunders, Alexander Shaw, Donald Taylor, 1940), which included a twelve-minute suite, and
Men of Two Worlds (d. Thorold Dickinson, 1946), matching the film's lofty aspirations. Wounded
during World War I, he spent time in the US in the '20s, was knighted in 1950, appointed
Master of the Queen's Musick in 1953, and awarded CH in 1971. He also composed
ballets, opera and much chamber music. Brian McFarlane, Encyclopedia of British Film
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FILM & TV CREDITS
