Arthur Bliss thought Bliss's music competent but unremarkable. In 1961, Bliss and Hassall collaborated on a cantata, "The Beatitudes", commissioned for the opening of the new Coventry Cathedral. Reviews were friendly, but the work has rarely been performed since, and has been eclipsed by another choral work written for Coventry at the same time, Britten's "War Requiem". Bliss followed this with two further large-scale choral works, "Mary of Magdala" (1962) and "The Golden Cantata" (1963). Throughout his life, Bliss was vigilant on the state of music in Britain, about which he had written extensively since the 1920s. In 1969 he publicly censured
Architecture of the medieval cathedrals of England finest in England. The new Coventry Cathedral designed by Sir Basil Spence was consecrated in 1962 and adjoins the shell of the ancient church. Cathedrals are places where the Christian rituals particular to a bishop, especially ordination and enthronement, can be performed, and are structured and furnished for these purposes. Each cathedral contains the seat of the local bishop, often literally a large throne. The bishop's throne is located towards the eastern end of the cathedral, near the high altar, which is main focus of worship. On the altar is served the Eucharist, a symbolic meal of bread and wine