Arnold Bax . Arnold Bax (1883–1953) was an English composer, poet, and author. Best known for his orchestral music, he also wrote songs, choral music, chamber pieces, and solo piano works. In addition to a series of symphonic poems, he wrote seven symphonies, and was for a time widely regarded as the leading British symphonist. Bax was born in Streatham to a prosperous family who encouraged his music career, and his private income enabled him to follow his own path as a composer without regard for fashion or orthodoxy. While still a student at the Royal Academy of Music, Bax became fascinated with Ireland and the Celtic Revival. In the years before the First World War he lived in Ireland and became a member of Dublin literary circles, writing fiction and verse under the pseudonym Dermot O'Byrne. His best-known work is the symphonic poem Tintagel (1917). In 1942 Bax was appointed Master of the King's Music.