Presents
Ernest Bloch
Night for String Quartet
Ernest Bloch (1880-1959) was born in the Swiss city of Geneva. He received violin lessons as a child but started composing on his own. He eventually enrolled at the Brussels Conservatory where he studied violin with Eugène Ysaÿe and then later studied composition with Iwan Knorr at the Frankfurt Conservatory. In 1916, he moved to the United States where he remained for the rest of his life. He became a prominent teacher, serving as the first director of the Cleveland Institute of Music and later of the San Francisco Conservatory. Among his many students were George Antheil, Frederick Jacobi, Bernard Rogers, and Roger Sessions. Bloch's early works show the influence of of Richard Strauss but also of Claude Debussy. Once can hear elements of post-Brahmsian late German romanticism as well as French impressionistic effects works from this period. As time went on, he tended to use Jewish liturgical and folk music for his inspiration. He composed in virtually every genre.
Night was one of several miniatures for string quartet which Bloch composed in the 1920s. He completed it in 1923. It is a tenebral evocation of nature, with its dark, sometimes gloomy and limpid melodies, oscillating accompanimental figurations, and gently pulsating rhythms. However it does end with an upbeat C major chord. The dedicatee is the American composer Roger Sessions one of Bloch’s best known pupils.
This is a highly evocative and effective work suitable for concert as an encore or where a short piece is required. It is well within the reach of amateurs who will also find it quite attractive.
Parts: $11.95
Parts & Score: $14.95
