Morning Heroes

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Morning Heroes is a choral symphony by the English composer Arthur Bliss. The work received its first performance at the Norwich Festival on 22 October 1930, with Basil Maine as the speaker/orator.{{cite journal |title=The Norwich Festival | journal=The Musical Times | volume=71 | issue=1054 | pages=1081–1082 | date=1 December 1930 | doi=10.2307/914304 | author1=F.B. | publisher=The Musical Times, Vol. 71, No. 1054 | jstor=914304}} Written in the aftermath of World War I, in which Bliss had performed military service,{{cite journal | last=Burn | first=Andrew | title=Rebel to Romantic: The Music of Arthur Bliss | journal=The Musical Times | volume=132 | issue=1782 | pages=383–386 | date=August 1991 | doi=10.2307/965884 | publisher=The Musical Times, Vol. 132, No. 1782 | jstor=965884}} Bliss inscribed the dedication as follows:

"To the Memory of my brother Francis Kennard Bliss and all other Comrades killed in battle"

The work sets various poems:{{cite journal | last=Butcher | first=A.V. | title=Walt Whitman and the English Composer | journal=Music & Letters | volume=28 | issue=2 | pages=154–167 | date=April 1947 | doi=10.1093/ml/XXVIII.2.154 | jstor=855527}}{{cite journal |title=Morning Heroes: A New Symphony by Arthur Bliss | journal=The Musical Times | volume=71 | issue=1052 | pages=881–886 | date=1 October 1930 | doi=10.2307/916872 | author1=H.G. | publisher=The Musical Times, Vol. 71, No. 1052 | jstor=916872}}

• Homer, The Iliad, passages from Book VI (translation of W Leaf) and Book XIX (translation of Chapman)
• Walt Whitman, "Drum Taps"
• Wilfred Owen, "Spring Offensive"
• Li Tai Po
• 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.{{cite journal | last=Palmer | first=Christopher | title=Aspects of Bliss | journal=The Musical Times | volume=112 | issue=1542 | pages=743–745 | date=August 1971 | doi=10.2307/954592 | publisher=The Musical Times, Vol. 112, No. 1542 | jstor=954592}}