Morning Heroes

Bliss - Morning Heroes

Britten - Ballad of Heroes

Ivor Gurney - A Gloucestershire Rhapsody

The BBC Concert Orchestra, actor Samuel West and tenor Ben Johnson join with Hertfordshire Chorus and conductor David Temple MBE in this special concert to commemorate the centenary of the ending of the First World War. This is a time for reflection, reconciliation and for honouring the memory of those who fought and died. The concert celebrates the millions of War Heroes, their sacrifice and patriotism.  But every one of us could think of heroes in other forms too - peacemakers, volunteers, those who influence great social change, people we know and people we do not know. 

Bliss composed Morning Heroes, a choral symphony for orator, chorus and orchestra, as a tribute to his brother Kennard Bliss and all those who died in the First World War. This is a moving work of remembrance, composed by Bliss composed by someone who had experienced the war’s horrors personally, which contrasts the harsh realities of war with the more romantic images described in classical texts. It has been talked of as one of the finest choral works of the period.

Britten was well known as a pacifist but he actually composed his three movement Ballad of Heroes as a tribute to honour the fallen British members of the International Brigade who had fought in the Spanish Civil War. Two of the movements are settings of poems by W.H.Auden who had fought with the Brigade. Its musical contrasts echo the uncertainties of a time when growing hostilities were leading to the Second World War.

Poet and composer Ivor Gurney who fought in the First World War, wrote A Gloucestershire Rhapsody in 1919 when he was giving voice to the contrast of his experiences between the Flanders trenches and the beauty of the landscape of his native Gloucestershire. 

The concert takes place in the world renowned acoustic of Watford Colosseum, the venue for many famous recordings over the years.

Event date: 
Saturday, 20 October 2018 - 7:30pm
Ticket Prices: 
Tickets £25, £18, £12 and £5 for children and students
Location: 
Watford Colosseum
Rickmansworth Road
WD17 3JN Watford
United Kingdom