Arthur Bliss

Checkmate - Complete Ballet

English composer and conductor Sir Arthur Bliss composed this successful ballet, Checkmate, in 1937. Bliss made various concert arrangements of the music, and it brought him chances to write various dance scores. The ballet's 12 sections introduce the various pieces on the chessboard and lead up to a climactic struggle, with the work's title indicating the outcome. With its theme of a war based in the game of chess, it never fails to spark the imagination with its depiction of the struggle between the opposing forces of Love and Death.