BLOCH, JOSEF:

By: Isidore Singer, Max Weisz

Violin virtuoso and composer; born at Budapest Jan. 5, 1862. He made his first appearance in public at the age of twelve, and attended the National Academy of Music and the National Conservatory. His teachers were R. Volkmann (composition), A. Gobbi, and K. Huber. Bloch is said to have been one of the most distinguished pupils of Huber. When barely sixteen years old he became assistant teacher at the National Conservatory; but his eagerness to learn more impelled him to attend the Paris Conservatoire, where for seven years he participated in public concerts. On his return to Budapest he became a member of the Hubay-Popper String Quartet until its dissolution in 1892. In 1889 he became professor at the National Conservatory at Budapest and also at the National Academy of Music, but since 1899 has been connected solely with the latter institution. Bloch composed short pieces for the violin, two orchestral suites, exercises for the violin—all of which are published in three volumes.

S. M. W.