A Colour Symphony

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.

A Colour Symphony was written to be performed at the Three Choirs Festival, held in 1922 in Gloucester,[3] at the invitation of Sir Edward Elgar, who also invited Herbert Howells and Eugene Goossens to write a piece each.[4] Howells wrote Sine Nomine for wordless chorus,[5] which was not given its second performance until his centenary year 70 years later, in 1992.[6] Goossens wrote a piece called Silence for chorus and orchestra.[5] Elgar's own contribution was his orchestration of Johann Sebastian Bach'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.[7] Bliss dedicated the symphony to the conductor Adrian Boult.[2]

The first performance, with the London Symphony Orchestra, 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.[8] Elgar attended, but found it "disconcertingly modern".[2] It nevertheless entered the repertoire and has been recorded various times, although it is now an infrequent visitor to concert platforms.

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".[10]

In 1932, Bliss revised the codas of the first two movements.[1] He conducted the revised work himself in a recording with the London Symphony Orchestra in 1955.[11]

The last movement, "Green", was separately published as Pyonepsion.

In 1977, a ballet 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 TV coverage of The Proms until 2011.[12]

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.[13] In 2004, Laycock created a series of paintings called Tectonics as a direct response to Bliss's A Colour Symphony using parallel compositional structures.[14]

• Arthur Bliss conducting the London Symphony Orchestra, Decca "Ace of Clubs" ACL 239, 1964, Mono.
• Charles Groves conducting the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, EMI ASD 3416, 1977, Stereo.
• Vernon Handley conducting the Ulster Orchestra, Chandos Records CHAN 8503, 1987, Digital Stereo.
• Barry Wordsworth conducting the BBC Welsh Symphony Orchestra, Nimbus Records NI 5294, 1991, Digital Stereo.
• David Lloyd-Jones conducting the English Northern Philharmonia, Naxos 8.553460, 1996, Digital Stereo.

• Arthur Bliss, liner notes to the recording by Anthony Collins and the London Symphony Orchestra

• Hull, Robert H. (July 1, 1931). "Bliss's 'Colour' Symphony Reconsidered." The Monthly Musical Record, vol. 61, no. 727, p. 200.