Morning Heroes is a choral symphony by the England composer Arthur Bliss. The work received its first performance at the Norwich Festival on 22 October 1930, with Basil Maine as the speaker/orator.
"To the Memory of my brother Francis Kennard Bliss and all other Comrades killed in battle"
The work sets various poems:
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Homer, The Iliad, passages from Book VI (translation of W Leaf) and Book XIX (translation of Chapman)
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Walt Whitman, "Drum Taps"
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Wilfred Owen, "Spring Offensive"
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Li Tai Po
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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.[ Penguin Guide to Classical Music] 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.
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.
The work includes the respective texts.:
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I: "Hector's Farewell to Andromache"
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II: "The City Arming"
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III: "Vigil" - "The Bivouac's Flame"
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IV: "Achilles goes to battle" - "The Heroes"
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V: "Now, Trumpeter, For Thy Close" - "Spring Offensive" - "Dawn on the Somme"
Recordings
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SOMM: Donald Douglas, speaker; BBC Chorus; BBC Chorus; Alexandra Choir; Croydon Philharmonic Society; BBC Symphony Orchestra; Sir Arthur Bliss, conductor; live recording, BBC Proms, Royal Albert Hall, London, 16 August 1968.
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EMI Classics: John Westbrook, speaker; Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra and Choir; Sir Charles Groves, conductor; studio recording, 23 & 24 July 1974, Philharmonic Hall, Liverpool.
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Cala: Brian Blessed, speaker; East London Chorus, Harlow Chorus, East Hertfordshire Chorus; London Philharmonic Orchestra; Michael Kibblewhite, conductor; studio recording, All Hallows Church, Gospel Oak, London, 16-17 November 1991 & 26 January 1992.
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Chandos: Samuel West, speaker; BBC Symphony Chorus; BBC Symphony Orchestra; Sir Andrew Davis, conductor; studio recording, Fairfield Halls, Croydon, 16-17 May 2015.
