BLOCH, ERNEST

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 Postromantic traditions. His students included Roger Sessions and Randall Thompson. Bloch studied with the noted Swiss composer mile Jaques-Dalcroze and in Belgium with the violinist Eugne Ysae. 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 (192025) and of the San Francisco Conservatory (192530). 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 Postromantic influences, among them the styles of Claude Debussy, Gustav Mahler, and Richard Strauss. His interest in Impressionism appears in the tone poem Hiver-Printemps (1905; Winter-Spring). He composed a significant group of works on Jewish themes, among them the Israel Symphony (1916), Trois pomes juifs (1913; Three Jewish Poems) for orchestra, the tone poem Schelomo (1916; Solomon) for cello and orchestra, and the suite Baal Shem (1923) for violin and piano (or orchestra). His sacred service Avodath Hakodesh, for baritone, chorus, and orchestra, 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 first Concerto Grosso (1925) and his Quintet for Piano and Strings (1923), which utilizes quarter tones to colour and heighten the emotional intensity of the music. Other notable works include his epic rhapsody America (1926) for orchestra, his Suite for Viola and Piano (1919), and his five string quartets.