Bloch's "American" Concerto

Synopsis

Most composers, when they write a Violin Concerto, usually consult with a good violinist during the process—unless, that is, they play violin themselves. That was the case with the Swiss-born American composer and violinist Ernest Bloch, who completed his big violin concerto in 1938.

Bloch was born in 1880, and was in his 30s when he came to America, where he achieved remarkable success with both critics and audiences. His most famous work, “Schelomo,” subtitled a “Hebraic Rhapsody” for cello and orchestra, premiered in New York in 1917, when Bloch was 36 years old. Despite his popularity in America, Bloch returned to Europe for most of the 1930s. By the end of that decade, the rising tide of anti-Semitism in Germany and Italy led the composer, then approaching 60, to reconsider making America his permanent home.

Bloch’s Violin Concerto was premiered in America on today’s date in 1938, a month after he arrived, with violinist Joseph Szigeti and the Cleveland Orchestra conducted by Dimitri Mitropoulos. The main theme of Bloch’s Concerto was supposedly based on a Native American theme, but the tone of the whole work echoes the Hebrew themes in his other music.

Bloch wrote: “Art for me is an expression, an experience of life, not a game or an icy demonstration of mathematical principles. In not one of my works have I tried to be "original" or "modern." My sole desire and single effort has been to remain faithful to my vision.”

Music Played in Today's Program

Ernest Bloch (1880–1959) Violin Concerto Oleh Krysa, violin; Malmo Symphony; Sakari Oramo, cond. BIS 639

On This Day

Births

• 1657 - French composer Michel-Richard de Lalande, in Paris;

Deaths

• 1792 - German-born Swedish composer Joseph Martin Kraus, age 36, in Stockholm;

Premieres

• 1807 - Spontini: opera, "La Vestale," at the Paris Opéra;

• 1893 - Dvorák: Symphony No. 9 ("From the New World") by the New York Philharmonic, Anton Seidl conducting, at a public rehearsal at Carnegie Hall, attended by the composers' children, among other members of the general public (the "official " premiere took place the following evening);

• 1900 - Rachmaninoff: Piano Concerto No. 2, Op. 18 (second and third movements only), in Moscow, with Ziloti conducting and the composer as soloist (Julian date: Dec. 2); The first complete performance of this concerto, with the same conductor and soloist, occurred in Moscow on 27 October (Julian)/November 9 (Gregorian)in 1901;

• 1901 - Rachmaninoff: Cello Sonata, Op. 19, in Moscow, by cellist Anatoly Brandukov, with the composer at the piano (Julian date: Dec. 2);

• 1910 - Reger: Piano Concerto in f, Op. 114, by the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra conducted by Arthur Nikisch, with Frieda Kwast-Hodapp as soloist;

• 1916 - American premiere of Mahler's "Das Lied von der Erde," with vocal soloists Tilly Koenen and Johannes Sembach, with the Philadelphia Orchestra, Leopold Stokowski conducting;

• 1934 - Jean Françaix: Piano Concertino, in Paris, at a Lamoureux concert, with the composer as soloist;

• 1938 - Bloch: Violin Concerto, in Cleveland, Joseph Szigeti, violin and the Cleveland Orchestra, Dimitri Mitropoulos conducting;

• 1938 - Revueltas: "Sensemayá," in Mexico City;

• 1940 - Schoenberg: Chamber Symphony No. 2, in New York City;

• 1986 - Bernstein: "Opening Prayer" for Baritone and Orchestra, at Carnegie Hall by the New York Philharmonic conducted by the composer, with Kurt Ollmann as the vocal soloist;

• 2000 - John Adams: oratorio "El Niño," at Le Châtelet in Paris, by soloists Dawn Upshaw, Lorraine Hunt Lieberson and Willard White, with the Theatre of Voices and the Deutsches Symphonie conducted by Kent Nagano; The American premiere of this work occurred in San Francisco on January 11, 2001;