Bloch, Ernest

Bloch, Ernest
born July 24, 1880, Geneva, Switz.
died July 15, 1959, Portland, Ore., U.S.

Swiss-born U.S. composer.

He conducted and lectured at the Geneva Conservatory before moving in 1916 to the U.S., where he served as director of the San Francisco Conservatory (1925–30) and taught at the University of California, Berkeley (1942–52). He worked in tonal, atonal, and serialist idioms (See also tonality; atonality; serialism); his works, many of them inspired by Jewish themes, include the opera Macbeth (1910), Schelomo for cello and orchestra (1916), the large choral works America (1926) and Avodath hakodesh (1933), and a violin concerto (1938).

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▪ American composer
born July 24, 1880, Geneva, Switz.
died July 15, 1959, Portland, Ore., U.S.
 composer whose music reflects Jewish cultural and liturgical themes as well as European post-Romantic traditions. His students included Roger Sessions (Sessions, Roger) and Randall Thompson (Thompson, Randall).

      Bloch studied with the noted Swiss composer Émile Jaques-Dalcroze (Jaques-Dalcroze, Émile) and in Belgium with the violinist Eugène Ysaÿe (Ysaÿe, Eugène). From 1911 to 1915 he taught at the Geneva Conservatory. He toured the United States in 1916 with the dancer Maud Allen, and after the tour company went bankrupt he settled in New York. He was director of the Cleveland Institute of Music from 1920 to 1925 and of the San Francisco Conservatory from 1925 to 1930. In 1930 he went to Switzerland, but he returned to the United States in 1939, settling in Oregon in 1943. He taught composition for several summers at the University of California at Berkeley.

      Bloch's music reflects many post-Romantic influences, among them the styles of Claude Debussy (Debussy, Claude), Gustav Mahler (Mahler, Gustav), and Richard Strauss (Strauss, Richard). His interest in the chromatic sonorities of Debussy and Maurice Ravel (Ravel, Maurice) is evident in the tone poem Hiver-Printemps (1905; Winter-Spring). Bloch composed a significant group of works on Jewish themes, among them the Israel Symphony (1916), Trois poèmes juifs for orchestra (1913; Three Jewish Poems), the tone poem Schelomo for cello and orchestra (1916; Solomon), and the suite Baal Shem for violin and piano (1923). His sacred service Avodath Hakodesh for baritone, chorus, and orchestra (1930–33) represents the full maturity of his use of music appropriate to Jewish themes and liturgy. Many of Bloch's works show a strong neoclassical trend, combining musical forms of the past with 20th-century techniques. Examples include his Concerto Grosso No. 1 (1925) and his Quintet for piano and strings (1923), which utilizes quarter tones to colour and heighten the emotional intensity of the music. His other notable works include an “epic rhapsody” for orchestra (America, 1926), the Suite for viola and piano (1919), and five string quartets (1916, 1945, 1952, 1953, 1956).

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Universalium. 2010.

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  • BLOCH, ERNEST — (1880–1959), composer. Bloch, who was born in Geneva, revealed his musical gifts as a child and was only ten when he wrote down a vow that he would become a composer and then, in ritual fashion, burned the inscribed paper over a mound of stones.… …   Encyclopedia of Judaism

  • BLOCH (ERNEST) — BLOCH ERNEST (1880 1959) Compositeur américain d’origine suisse à qui la musique hébraïque doit ses lettres de noblesse au XXe siècle. Natif de Genève, Ernest Bloch y travaille la rythmique avec Émile Jaques Dalcroze. Puis, il étudie le violon… …   Encyclopédie Universelle

  • Bloch,Ernest — Bloch (blŏk, blôk, blôKH), Ernest. 1880 1959. Swiss born American composer noted for his chamber music, such as Quintet for Piano and Strings (1923), and for works with Jewish themes, including Israel Symphony (1916). * * * …   Universalium

  • Bloch, Ernest — (1880–1959)    US composer. Born in Geneva, Switzerland, Bloch received his musical education in European schools and finally settled in the United States in 1916, where the rest of his life was spent in composing, conducting and teaching.… …   Who’s Who in Jewish History after the period of the Old Testament

  • Bloch, Ernest — (1830 1959)    American composer of Swiss origin. He was professor of composition at the Geneva Conservatory. In 1917 he settled in the US, where he served as director of the San Francisco Conservatory of Music. His works include Trois poemes… …   Dictionary of Jewish Biography

  • Bloch, Ernest — ► (1880 1959) Compositor suizo, representante de la escuela moderna. Compuso la sinfonía Israel (1916), la rapsodia Schelomo (1916) y la ópera Macbeth (1910), entre otras. * * * (24 jul. 1880, Ginebra, Suiza–15 jul. 1959, Portland, Ore., EE.UU.) …   Enciclopedia Universal

  • Ernest Bloch — Saltar a navegación, búsqueda Ernest Bloch fotografiado con unos niños Este artículo se refiere al compositor. Para el filósofo del mismo nombre, ver Ernst Bloch. Ernest Bloch (24 de julio de 1880 – 15 de julio de 1959) fue u …   Wikipedia Español

  • Ernest Bloch — mit Kindern Ernest Bloch (* 24. Juli 1880 in Genf; † 15. Juli 1959 in Portland, Oregon) war ein schweizerisch amerikanischer Komponist jüdischer Abstammung. Leben Ernest Bl …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Bloch — Bloch, Conrad E. Bloch, Ernest Bloch, Ernst Bloch, Felix Bloch, Marc * * * (as used in expressions) Bloch, Ernest Bloch, Felix Bloch, Marc (Léopold Benjamin) Marcel Bloch …   Enciclopedia Universal

  • Ernest Bloch — Pour les articles homonymes, voir Bloch. Ernest Bloch Ernest Bloch, né à Genève le 24 juillet 1880 et mort le 15 juillet …   Wikipédia en Français

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