Bloch, Max, 1908-1982

Collection, 1921-1982: 2 boxes (96 folders (ca. 2,850 leaves, 4 booklets, 10 periodicals, 2 photographs)), 2 recordings

Max Bloch – amateur musician, studied with Viktor Ullmann in Prague (1933-1938). He received his law degree from Prague University. He emigrated from Czechoslovakia in 1938, arriving in the United States in 1941, becoming a citizen in 1943. He was vice-president of one of the largest actuarial firms in New York. During World War II, he worked for the United States Army in Europe as a translator of German documents. Ullmann (1898-1944, died at Auschwitz concentration camp) was a student of Schoenberg. The bulk of this collection deals specifically with Ullmann. See Journal of the Arnold Schoenberg Institute III/2 (Oct. 1979) pp. 150-177 for information on Ullmann and VI/1 (June 1982) pp. 128 for an obituary of Bloch.

Contents

Printed announcements of events. 29 items: 1929, 1978-1982
Printed and manuscript articles by Jitka Ludvová. 5 items: 1979-1982
By Viktor Ullmann. 9 items: 1921-1930
By others. 26 items: 1924-1934, 1972-1979
Clippings. 27 items: 1929, 1937, 1977-1982
Ephemera. 5 items: 1924-1985
Permission forms. 4 leaves
List of addresses. 4 leaves
List of Ullmann’s musical works. 4 leaves
Research notes. 7 leaves
Periodical issues. 5 items: 1979-1981
Photographs of Ullmann. 2 items: 1938
Photographs of Viktor&Martha Ullmann, Igor Stravinsky, Alois Haba, Jaroslav Krick. 3 items: 1924-1930
Programs and program notes. 13 items: 1930, 1977-1981
Recordings. 2 items: 1970, 1979
Music: Thomas Mann canon by Schoenberg. 1 leaf
Music by Ullmann. 24 items: 1925-1944

Correspondence. 404 items: 1925- 1939, 1975-1982

(H.G. Adler. 14 items: 1977-1982
Albert Steffen ) Stiftung. (Friedrich Behrmann 3 items: 1981
ASI (Steven Braford Smith). 1 item: 1981
Heidi Lesemann. 2 items: 1979-1980
Jerry McBride. 3 items: 1979
Leonard Stein. 24 items: 1978-1981
Clara Steuermann. 14 items: 1979-1980
Max Bloch. 161 items: 1975-1982
Edith Bloedy. 2 items: 1978-1979
Fritz Bondy. 1 item: 1979
Martin Bookspan. 7 items: 1975-1981
Clasart (Eva-Maria Jack). 1 tiem: 1979
Rudolf Firkusny. 1 item: 1980
Theodore Front. 1 item: 1978
Hans Heinsheimer. 1 item: 1980
Humanities in Society (Ronald Gottesmann). 1 item: 1980
Barbara Jaskot. 5 items: 1980- 1981
Internationale Schönberg-Gesellschaft. 1 item: 1978
Jerusalem Theatre (Herbert Rosenkranz). 1 item: 1978
Abraham Kaplan. 1 item: 1975
Joza Karas. 9 items: 1977-1981
Karl Michael Komma. 2 items: 1978-1979
Die Künstlergilde e. V.-Musik-Archiv. 4 items: 1979
Jitka Ludvová. 73 items: 1978- 1982
Manhattan School of Music (Robert H. Alexander). 1 item: 1982
Daniel Rice. 2 items: 1982
Metropolitan Opera Guild (Francis Robinson) 1 item: n.d.
Teresa Stratas. 1 item: n.d.
New Grove Dictionary (Ian Jacobs). 1 item: 1981
Stanley Sadie. 5 items: 1981
The New Yorker (Andrew Porter). 2 items: 1977-1980)
Neue Zürcher Zeitung (Andres Briner). 1 item: 1981
Österreichische Nationalbibliothek (Franz Grasberger). 2 items: 1979
Paul Pisk. 1 item: 1979
Sigurd Rascher. 9 items: 1978-1980
RILM Abstracts (Naomi Steinberger). 1 item: 1980
Josef Rufer. 1 item: 1980
Pinda Schefa. 3 items: 1978-1979
Rudolf Serkin. 3 items: 1980
Rudolf Stephan. 1 item: 1978
Hans Heinz Stuckenschmidt. 3 items: 1977-1979
Josef Trauneck. 3 items: 1938-1939
John Tyrell. 1 item: 1981
Viktor Ullmann. 13 items: 1925-1939
University of Southern Falifornia (Carl Hartnack). 1 item: 1982
Leonard Wines. 1 item: 1982
Nancy Williams. 4 items: 1980-1982
Kerry Woodward. 1 item: 1977)
WQXR (Robert Sherman. 5 items: 1978-1980
Louise Zemlinsky. 2 items: 1982
Fritz Zweig. 1 item: 1981
Unidentified. 1 item: n.d.)

Music

Op. 3a: Variations and Double Fugue on a Theme by Arnold Schoenberg for piano
Composed as op. 11, 1925. This version (5 variations) performed 1926 but not preserved.
Second version (op. 3a, 9 variations) performed 1929. Printed. Ullmann acting as publisher. Photostat copy of Ullmann’s handwriting. Located at Katedra Dejin a Teorie hudby, Knihovna, Praha 1, Brehová 7

Op. 10: Piano Sonata No. 1
Composed and performed in 1936. Printed, Ullmann acting as publisher. Photostat copy of Ullmann’s handwriting. Original located at Katedra Dejin a Teorie hudby, Knihovna, Praha 1, Brehová 7

Op. 17: Six Songs on Poems by Albert Steffen for Soprano and Piano
Composed, performed and printed 1937, with Ullmann as publisher. Original located at Katedra Dejin a Teorie hudby, Knihovna, Praha 1, Brehová 7

Op. 18: FiveLove Songs by Ricarda Huch for Soprano and Piano
Composed 1937-1939. Printed 1939 as op. 26 with Ullmann as publisher. No public performance. Original located at at Katedra Dejin a Teorie hudby, Knihovna, Praha 1, Brehová 7

Op. 19: Piano Sonata No. 2
Composed 1938-1939. Printed without date. Performance uncertain. Original located at Katedra Dejin a Teorie hudby, Knihovna, Praha 1, Brehová 7

Op. 20: Spiritual Songs for High Voice and Piano
Composed presumably 1940, printed 1940 with Ullmann as publisher. Original located at Katedra Dejin a Teorie hudby, Knihovna, Praha 1, Brehová 7

Op. 23: Slavonic Rhapsody for Orchestra and Saxophone Obbligato
Composed presumably 1940, score printed 1940 with Ullmann as publisher. Photostat copy. Original located at Katedra Dejin a Teorie hudby, Knihovna, Praha 1, Brehová 7

Op. 25: Piano Concerto
Score printed 1940 with Ullmann as publisher. Photostat copy. Original located at Katedra Dejin a Teorie hudby, Knihovna, Praha 1, Brehová 7

Op. 26: Piano Sonata No. 3
Composed before or during 1940. Printed 1940 with Ullmann as publisher. Photostat copy. Original located at Katedra Dejin a Teorie hudby, Knihovna, Praha 1, Brehová 7

Op. 29: Three Sonnets from the Portugese – Love Songs of Famous Women, Second Series
Poems by Elisabeth Barret-Browning. German translation by R.M. Rilke. Composed presumably 1939/1940. Printed 1940 with Ullmann as publisher. Photostat copy. Original located at Katedra Dejin a Teorie hudby, Knihovna, Praha 1, Brehová 7

Op. 30: Song Book of Hafis for Bass and Piano, First Suite
Persian texts, German rendering by Hans Bethge. Composed before or during 1940. Printed 1940 with Ullmann as publisher. Photostat copy. Original located at Katedra Dejin a Teorie hudby, Knihovna, Praha 1, Brehová 7

Op. 34: Six Sonnets de Louise Labé pour chant et piano
Composed before or during 1941. Printed 1941 with Ullmann as publisher. Photostat copy. Original located at Katedra Dejin a Teorie hudby, Knihovna, Praha 1, Brehová 7

Op. 36: Der zerbrochene Krug
One-act opera based on a text by Heinrich von Kleist. Composed before or during 1941 with Ullmann as publisher. Photostat copy. Original located at Katedra Dejin a Teorie hudby, Knihovna, Praha 1, Brehová 7

Op. 38: Piano Sonata No. 4
Composed before or during 1941. Printed 1941 with Ullmann as publisher. Photostat copy. Original located at at Katedra Dejin a Teorie hudby, Knihovna, Praha 1, Brehová 7

Op. 45: Piano Sonata No. 5
Manuscript dated June 28, 1943. A second manuscript without date, of the first two movements, has been preserved, also four pages of an orchestral score marked First Symphony dated August 20, 1943. Photostat copy of Ullmann’s handwriting. Original located at Katedra Dejin a Teorie hudby, Knihovna, Praha 1, Brehová 7

Op. 46: String Quartet No. 3
Manuscript dated January 23, 1943. Photostat copy of Ullmann’s handwriting. Original located at Katedra Dejin a Teorie hudby, Knihovna, Praha 1, Brehová 7

Op. 49: Piano Sonata No. 6
Manuscript dated August 1, 1943. Photostat copy of Ullmann’s handwriting. Original located at Katedra Dejin a Teorie hudby, Knihovna, Praha 1, Brehová 7

Op. 49: Der Kaiser von Atlantis oder die Tod-Verweigerung
A Play in One Act by Peter Kein, Music by Ullmann. Score completed November 18, 1943. Photostat copy of Ullmann’s handwriting. All rights reserved for Germany, Austria and Swisserland by Edition Eulenburg GmbH CH 8134 Adliswil

Op. 53: Three Songs on texts in Yiddish. 1944
Photostat copy of Ullmann’s handwriting. Original located at Katedra Dejin a Teorie hudby, Knihovna, Praha 1, Brehová 7

Works composed at Theresienstadt

(1) Three Songs for Baritone and Piano on texts by C.F. Meyer
Autumn 1942. Photostat copy of Ullmann’s handwriting.

(4) Chansons des enfants francais
Only one song for voice and piano has been preserved. September 27, 1943. Photostat copy of Ullmann’s handwriting.

(6) Hölderlin-Lieder. Two songs for voice and piano
The second “Der Frühling” was published in the anthology prepared by K.M. Komma, “Lieder und Gesänge nach Dichtungen von Friedrich Hölderlin”. Tübingen 1967. Photostat copy of Ullmann’s handwriting.

(9) Piano Sonata No. 7
August 22, 1944. Photostat copy of Ullmann’s handwriting.

(16) Abendphantasie for voice and piano, text by Hölderlin
Photostat copy of Ullmann’s handwriting.

Schönberg Music cited

Program, program notes, clippings, announcements: Opp. 18, 21, 24, 40, 45, Brettllieder, Canons

Compiled by Julia Schilly, 13.10.2004