Ernest Bloch    

   Swiss-American Composer (1880-1959)

 

‘Ernest Bloch has always seemed to me to be one of the Seven Wonders. Like Hercules, a world of ecstasy, of pain rested on his shoulders. He also seemed at one with the great vistas and jagged peaks of the Swiss Alps, against which he loved to photograph himself (he was a superb photographer, one of the first generation of Leica fanatics!), as at Agate Beach, with the pounding Pacific breakers. He was cast by the gods in a superhuman mold — a prophetic scale of size and vision, of strength and vitality which exceeded the common mortals.’  — Yehudi Menuhin

Bloch received acclaim, prizes and honours during his lifetime and his music was performed regularly. Legendary cellist Pablo Casals wrote: ‘For me, the greatest composer of our time is Ernest Bloch.’ Composer Alfredo Casella stated, ‘his art is one of grandeur and majesty which sometimes recalls the Moses of Michelangelo’. In recent years, major orchestras and world-renowned soloists have been performing and recording many of Bloch’s best-known works.

by Eric B Johnson

…Bloch saw these photographs in Stieglitz’s gallery in May or June 1922. This well-known episode was an affirmation for Stieglitz that photography, like music, can express the human soul. This account by Stieglitz has become a widely accepted event in the annals of photography. Bloch did not write a symphony called “Clouds,” as Stieglitz recounted, but did write evocative pieces for the piano in 1922-23 including…

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his anniversaries

This year’s anniversaries

2024 marks the 100th anniversary of these compositions by Bloch:

From Jewish Life: Three Sketches for Violoncello and Piano

In the Mountains

Meditation Hebraique: cello and piano

Nuit Exotique: violin and piano

Poeme Mystique (Sonata No. 2)

Three Nocturnes for Violin, Cello and Piano

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