Booked for Bloch

Lake Oswego couple makes English version of four-volume French biography their goal

By Paul Haist

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There was a time in the early to mid-20th century when the Swiss-American Jewish composer Ernest Bloch, who spent the final 18 years of his life in Oregon, was the second most popular composer in America after George Gershwin. That’s measured in terms of how frequently his music was performed by leading symphony orchestras between 1924 and 1946.

A great deal has been written in America about Gershwin. Less has been written here about Bloch, and nothing about Bloch has been published here that is comprehensive, that covers his life and his work in exquisite detail.

French author Joseph Lewinski has completed a massive four-volume biography of Bloch. That book, “Ernest Bloch: Sa vie et sa pensée” (His Life and Thoughts), was published in 2005 by Editions Slatkine, a prestigious publishing house in Geneva. It is available only in French.

Now, a Lake Oswego couple is at work on a two-volume translation and distillation of Lewinski’s huge work, and it appears to be a labor of love for Dr. Jill Timmons and her husband Professor Sylvain Frémaux, both highly accomplished musicians.

Timmons is a professor of music and artist-in-residence at Linfield College in McMinnville. She earned her doctor of musical arts and both the bachelor of arts and bachelor of music degrees from the University of Washington. Her master of music degree was awarded by Boston University.

Frémaux is a native of France who has lived in the United States since 1974. He earned a law degree in France, but his love of music led him to earn a bachelor of music degree at the University of Southern California and a master of music degree from Yale University. Like his wife, Frémaux has served on college music faculties.

Both Timmons and Frémaux have distinguished performance histories.

Timmons is a pianist with an extensive discography. Ken Burns chose her recording of works by American composer Amy Beach for his recent PBS Documentary “The War.” Her live performance venues have included New York’s Carnegie Recital Hall and Merkin Hall, and the National Gallery of Art in Washington. For five years she also directed the Two Piano Institute at the Ernest Bloch Music Festival in Newport, Ore.

Frémaux is a conductor who has worked widely with American and international orchestras, and is past music director/conductor of the Newport Symphony and artistic director of the Ernest Bloch Music Festival.

The two bring to the daunting project of translating a work as large as Lewinski’s more than their artistry and love of music.

They are scholars and writers. They collaborated on “Alexandre Tansman: Diary of a Twentieth Century Composer,” which was published online by the Polish Music Research Center at the University of Southern California, and for which they were awarded the Stefan and Wanda Wilk Prize for Research in Polish Music.

Timmons and Frémaux’s admiration for Bloch and his work is considerable. They credit him with “first establishing Jewish art music as an independent and universal art form.”

They contrast Bloch with Gustav Mahler, another Jewish composer, but one “not inspired by Hebraic tradition,” said Frémaux.

Bloch himself spoke clearly about Jewish and spiritual issues in his music.

In a letter to friends about his composition “The Sacred Service” he wrote, “It far surpasses a Jewish service now. It has become a cosmic poem, a glorification of the laws of the universe…It has become a private affair between God and me.”

Hebraic tradition and spirituality were not the only inspirations for Bloch, said Timmons.

“It’s important to dispel the idea that Bloch wrote only Jewish inspired works,” she said, pointing to diverse influences in his music, including Chinese, Native American and American hymn sources. Timmons singled out also the power of nature as a major influence in Bloch’s work, which she and Frémaux linked to his choice to live the last quarter of his life in a house overlooking the rugged Oregon coast.

Bloch settled in Agate Beach in 1941 after holding important musical posts across America. He had left Switzerland in 1916 in response to pre-Holocaust pressures arising in Europe. He ascended quickly to prominence in the American music world. In the first year after his arrival in America the New York premier of his “Jewish Cycle” marked a turning point in his career, leading to his wide recognition “as one of the most forceful and creative voices in Western music,” according to Frémaux.

“He really has his own voice,” said Timmons. “He was not lured into what was trendy at the time.”

Frémaux noted that Bloch produced about a quarter of his output in Oregon and that the works composed in Oregon were markedly different from what preceded them.

“Grief-stricken after the Holocaust, Bloch composed some of his most stark, spare music in Oregon.”

Frémaux and Timmons can elaborate at great length on Ernest Bloch, but for now their focus is on creating the new English version of Lewinski’s book.

The total budget for the project is $235,000. They already have raised nearly 45 percent of that amount.

Several key milestones in the project have been logged, not the least of which was obtaining the English language publishing rights from Editions Slatkine.

Lewinski, with whom Frémaux has shared a close professional relationship, granted his permission to proceed with the project while offering continued support.

Linfield College, which once awarded Bloch an honorary degree, offered its support of the project by granting Timmons paid academic leave while she works on the project. She estimates her part of the project will total about 1,000 hours.

The couple has completed an outline of the two-volume English edition.

They say that little or nothing will be lost in the reduction to two volumes owing to much duplication throughout the four-volume French version and the economy of expression in English as opposed to French.

Some structural components of the translation already have been compiled, such as an index of all compositions and another of recordings.

Letters of endorsement for the project have been acquired from key figures including Elizabeth Auman, the Bloch archivist at the Library of Congress, Alexander Knapp, a leading international Bloch scholar at the University of London, and the Swiss and American Bloch heirs.

What remains to be finished are the translation and the English editing. Frémaux will do the former, a task estimated to require about 2,000 hours of work. Timmons is the English editor.

The couple wants to complete the project by next year, on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of Bloch’s death in Portland (1959).

In order to make that happen they need to raise about $135,000 to launch the project.

“This is a project with a global impact,” said Timmons. “Bloch was one of the leading forces in music in the 20th century.”

“Lewinski’s monumental work is the comprehensive account of Bloch’s life and works. It is a permanent contribution to Jewish history. Our English version will now grant all English readers access to this classic biography,” said Frémaux.

Persons interested in supporting this project may contact Catherine Jarmin Miller, director of corporation and foundation relations at Linfield College (503-883-2494, or e-mail: cjarmin@linfield.edu.