Title Page | Collection Summary | Biographical/Organizational Note | Scope and Content | Arrangement
Biographical Sketch
| Date | Event |
|---|---|
| 1880, July 24 | Born, Geneva, Switzerland |
| 1889 | Began playing violin with Albert Gos, his first instructor |
| 1894 | Began music theory and composition studies with Émile Jaques-Dalcroze, Geneva Conservatory of Music Jaques-Dalcroze advised Bloch to continue violin instruction under Louis Étienne Ernest Reyer at the same institution |
| 1896 | Composed first orchestral piece Symphonie Orientale of 1896 Began further violin study under Franz Schörg, Royal Conservatory of Music |
| 1899 | Left Belgium to study in Germany Studied composition in Frankfurt under Ivan Knorr |
| 1900 | Met future wife, Marguerite Auguste Schneider, at Hoch Conservatory |
| 1901 | Began composition studies in Munich under Ludwig Thuille Premiere of Vivre-Aimer at the second Festival of Contemporary Swiss Music, a work inspired by the meeting of Marguerite Schneider and dedicated to teacher Jaques-Dalcroze Met Edmond Fleg in Geneva |
| 1903 | Left Munich for Paris, France Met Claude Debussy |
| 1904, Aug. 13 | Married Marguerite Schneider |
| 1904 | Returned to Geneva |
| 1907, Aug. 7 | Daughter Suzanne Bloch born |
| 1907 | Began teaching and lecturing in Geneva and Lausanne |
| 1910, Nov. 30 | Premiere of the opera Macbeth, on which Bloch and Fleg collaborated since 1904 |
| 1912-1916 | Composed Israel Symphony |
| 1913 | Father died Composed first mature symphonic work, Three Jewish Poems, dedicated to the memory of his father |
| 1916 | Arrived in United States upon securing position of touring conductor for dancer Maud Allan (persuaded to pursue this post by friend Alfred Pochon) Moved by his pessimistic view of the future brought on by World War I, Bloch composed Schelomo |
| 1917, May 3 | Society of the Friends of Music in New York presented all-Bloch concert at Carnegie Hall |
| 1917 June | Returned to Europe |
| 1917 Aug. | Returned to New York with his family Head of theory department, David Mannes School of Music, New York |
| 1919 | Viola Suite awarded Coolidge Prize Became affiliated with the Julius Hartt School of Music, Hartford, Connecticut Became affiliated with the Joanne Bird School, Peterborough, New Hampshire |
| 1920 | First musical director and instructor, Cleveland Institute of Music |
| 1925 | Became Director, San Francisco Conservatory of Music |
| 1927 | Composed America: An Epic Rhapsody Awarded Carolyn Beebe Prize for 1926 work Four Episodes |
| 1928 | Musical America awarded Bloch $3,000 prize for America |
| 1929 | Received honorary membership, Accademia di Santa Cecilia, Rome |
| 1930 | Resigned from San Francisco Conservatory Returned to Europe to composeSacred Service, commissioned by San Francisco's Temple Emanuel |
| 1933 | Completed Sacred Service |
| 1938, Mar. 5 | Macbeth revived at Teatro San Carlo in Naples |
| 1939, Mar. 17-18 | Conducted Boston Symphony in an all-Bloch program that included the premiere of Two Symphonic Interludes, extracted from Acts I and II of Macbeth |
| 1939 | Left Europe and moved to Lake Grove, Oregon |
| 1940 | Professor, University of California, Berkeley |
| 1941 | Purchased home at Agate Beach, Oregon |
| 1947 | Honored by the Juilliard School of Music, in conjunction with the League of Composers, for thirty years of service to American music Received Gold Medal in Music from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, the first award of its kind |
| 1950 | Honored at a six-day festival of his music given by Samuel Laderman (founder of the Ernest Bloch Society) and the Chicago Federation of American Hebrew Congregations in celebration of seventieth birthday |
| 1952 | Retired from University of California, Berkeley |
| 1953 | Received double award from the Music Critics Circle of New York City for String Quartet No. 3 and Concerto Grosso No. 2 Invited by Italian government to attend series of concert and radio performances of his works, climaxed by the production of his opera Macbeth |
| 1955 | Received doctoral degrees from Brandeis University and Reed College Completed the one-movement Proclamation for Trumpet and Orchestra |
| 1957 | Composed his last workTwo Last Poems |
| 1959, July 15 | Died, Portland, Oregon |