Editing Arthur Bliss (section)

===Later years===
In 1950, Bliss was [[Knight bachelor|knighted]].<ref name=who/> After the death of [[Arnold Bax|Sir Arnold Bax]] he was appointed [[Master of the Queen's Music]] in 1953, to the relief of Walton, who feared he would be asked to take the post.<ref>Kennedy (1989) p. 170</ref> In ''The Times'', Howes commented, "The duties of a Master of the Queen's Music are what he chooses to make of them, but they include the composition of ceremonial and occasional music".<ref name=times56/> Bliss, who composed quickly and with facility, was able to discharge the many duties of the post, providing music as required for state occasions, from the birth of a child to the Queen, to the funeral of [[Winston Churchill]], to the investiture of the [[Charles, Prince of Wales|Prince of Wales]].<ref name=grove/><ref>Arnold-Forster, Mark. "Birthday Song", ''The Observer'', 21 February 1960, p. 1</ref><ref>Tracey, Edmund. "March of Homage set the stately tone", ''The Observer'', 31 January 1965, p. 4</ref> Howes commended Bliss's ''Processional'' for the 1953 coronation, and ''A Song of Welcome'', Bliss's first official ''pièce d'occasion''.<ref name=times56/>

In 1956, Bliss headed the first delegation by British musicians to the Soviet Union since the end of the Second World War. The party included the violinist [[Alfredo Campoli]], the oboist [[Léon Goossens]], the soprano [[Jennifer Vyvyan]], the conductor [[Clarence Raybould]] and the pianist [[Gerald Moore]].<ref>Bliss, Arthur, "A musical embassy to the USSR – Russia through English eyes", ''The Times'', 1 June 1956, p. 11</ref> Bliss returned to Moscow in 1958, as a member of the jury of the [[International Tchaikovsky Competition]], with fellow jurors including [[Emil Gilels]] and [[Sviatoslav Richter]].<ref>[http://www.tchaikovsky-competition.com/en/history/1958/Jury "The Jury – 1958"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110603093359/http://www.tchaikovsky-competition.com/en/history/1958/Jury|date=3 June 2011}} International Tchaikovsky Competition, accessed 22 March 2011</ref>
[[File:Coventry Cathedral -old and new-5July2008.jpg|thumb|right|[[Coventry Cathedral]] for which Bliss composed ''The Beatitudes'']]
In addition to his official functions, Bliss continued to compose steadily throughout the 1950s. His works from that decade include his Second String Quartet (1950); a scena, ''The Enchantress'' (1951), for the [[contralto]] [[Kathleen Ferrier]]; a Piano Sonata (1952); and a Violin Concerto (1955), for Campoli. The orchestral ''Meditations on a Theme by John Blow'' (1955) was a particularly deep-felt work, and Bliss regarded it highly among his output.<ref name=dnb/> In 1959–60 he collaborated with the librettist [[Christopher Hassall]] on an opera for television, based on the scriptural story of Tobias and the Angel . It won praise for the way in which Bliss and Hassall had understood and adapted to the more intimate medium of television,<ref>"Bliss's New Opera for Television", ''The Times'', 18 May 1960, p. 18</ref> though some critics thought Bliss's music competent but unremarkable.<ref>Heyworth, Peter. "Piedmont in Seville", ''The Observer'', 22 May 1960, p. 22; and Mason, Colin. "Opera on stage and screen." ''The Guardian'', 18 May 1960. p. 7</ref>

In 1961, Bliss and Hassall collaborated on a [[cantata]], ''The Beatitudes'', commissioned for the opening of the new [[Coventry Cathedral]]. Reviews were friendly,<ref>"Sacred music, but in a secular atmosphere", ''The Times'', 26 May 1962, p. 4; and Mason, Colin. "New music at the Coventry Festival", ''The Guardian'', 26 May 1962, p. 5A</ref> but the work has rarely been performed since, and has been eclipsed by another choral work written for Coventry at the same time, [[Benjamin Britten|Britten]]'s ''[[War Requiem]]''.{{refn|At 2011, there had been 11 recordings released of the Britten work;<ref>[https://archive.today/20120802011814/http://www.gramophone.net/Search/Results/Britten+War+Requiem//1/2000-01-01/2009-12-31 "Britten War Requiem"], ''[[Gramophone (magazine)|Gramophone.net]]; accessed 22 March 2011.</ref> the Bliss work had received none.|group= n}} Bliss followed this with two further large-scale choral works, ''Mary of Magdala'' (1962) and ''The Golden Cantata'' (1963).<ref name=grove/>

Throughout his life, Bliss was vigilant on the state of music in Britain, about which he had written extensively since the 1920s.<ref>See for example, Bliss, Arthur. [https://www.jstor.org/stable/765664 "Some Aspects of the Present Musical Situation".] ''Proceedings of the Musical Association, 49th Session (1922–1923)'', pp. 59–77, accessed 23 March 2011 {{subscription required}}; and Bliss, Arthur. [https://www.jstor.org/stable/920199 "Aspects of Contemporary Music"], ''The Musical Times'', May 1934, pp. 401–05; accessed 23 March 2011 {{subscription required}}</ref> In 1969 he publicly censured the BBC for its plan to cut its classical music budget and disband several of its orchestras. He was delegated by his colleagues Walton, Britten, [[Peter Maxwell Davies]] and [[Richard Rodney Bennett]] to make a strong protest to [[William Glock]], the BBC's controller of music.{{refn|Of the six BBC orchestras under threat, three survived, but it is not known whether the composers' protests influenced the outcome.<ref>"Sir Arthur Bliss leads protest on BBC orchestras", ''The Times'', 30 June 1969, p. 3</ref>|group= n}} <!--In the 1970s, he looked to the future of Britain's orchestras by working with the young players of the Leicestershire Schools Symphony Orchestra for some years.{{refn|Bliss conducted the orchestra in his Piano Concerto at the 1970 [[Cheltenham Music Festival]] with Frank Wibaut as soloist, and in the same year recorded his ''Introduction and Allegro'' with the orchestra for the [[Argo Records (UK)|Argo]] label. The relationship with the LSSO continued into 1975 with a new production of his ballet ''The Lady of Shalott'' at the Leicester Haymarket Theatre.|group= n}} CITATIONS LACKING-->

Bliss continued to compose into his eighth and ninth decades, in which his works included the Cello Concerto (1970) for [[Mstislav Rostropovich]], the ''Metamorphic Variations'' for orchestra (1972),<ref name=grove/> and a final cantata, ''Shield of Faith'' (1974), for soprano, baritone, chorus and organ, celebrating 500 years of [[St. George's Chapel, Windsor Castle]], setting poems chosen from each of the five centuries of the chapel's existence.<ref>Howard, Philip. "For England and St George", ''The Times'', 23 April 1975, p. 16</ref>

Bliss died at his London home in 1975 at the age of 83.<ref name=times/> His wife Trudy outlived him by 33 years, dying in 2008 at the age of 104.<ref>{{cite news |title=Lady Bliss |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/3497984/Lady-Bliss.html |access-date=2 August 2021 |work=[[The Daily Telegraph|The Telegraph]] |date=21 November 2008|url-access=subscription}}</ref>