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
William Coventry, 5th Earl of Coventry William Coventry, 5th Earl of Coventry William Coventry, 5th Earl of Coventry (c.1676 – 18 March 1751), known as William Coventry until 1719, was a British politician. Coventry was the son of Walter Coventry and his wife Anne (née Holcombe). His grandfather Walter Coventry was the youngest brother of Thomas Coventry, 1st Baron Coventry. He was elected to the House of Commons for Bridport in 1708, a seat he held until 1719, and served as Joint Clerk Comptroller of the Board of Green Cloth from 1717 to 1719. The latter year he succeeded his second cousin once removed as fifth