Bloch, Joseph, 1917-2009

Pianist, pedagogue, and musicologist Joseph Bloch (November 6, 1917 -- March 4, 2009) was born in Indianapolis, Indiana. He studied piano with Bomar Cramer as a high school student, attended Butler University (1935-36), received a bachelor's degree from Chicago Musical College (1939), and after serving in the United States Army Air Force during World War II, earned a master's degree in musicology from Harvard University (1946) while studying with Olga Samaroff in New York. Bloch made his New York debut at Town Hall in 1950, toured throughout the United States, Europe, and East Asia, and recorded for the Pierian and C.R.I. labels. He headed the piano department at the University of Denver for two years before joining the faculty of The Juilliard School in 1948. At Juilliard, he taught graduate-level courses on keyboard literature and a required undergraduate survey of piano repertory. Bloch retired from Juilliard in 1983, but was invited to return and continued teaching until 1996, when he was made faculty emeritus. He also taught at the universities of Indiana, Boston, and Temple, and served as a juror in international piano competitions. Bloch published scholarly articles and authored books on Charles-Valentin Alkan and Franz Liszt. In 1985 Bloch was named Chevalier de l'Ordre des Palmes Académiques by the French Government, and he received an honorary doctorate from Juilliard in 2004.