Not for Snobs

In his 68 years, Swiss-American Composer Ernest Bloch had won fame if not fortune for his soaring, rhapsodic Sche-lomo for cello and orchestra, his fine Israel Symphony, Violin Concerto and string quartets. Still, he was disappointed.

Ever since 1928, when his America won a Musical America, magazine contest (with Koussevitzky and Stokowski among the judges), Bloch had had a notion that its broad, sweeping main theme was the best U.S. national-anthem music around --and specifically a lot better than The Star-Spangled Banner. But in 22 years, The Star-Spangled Banner had held its own and Bloch's America had been heard only a handful of times.

Last week, after closing up his remote, rambling Agate Beach, Ore. home and saying goodbye to his cats and neighbors, quiet little Ernest Bloch set out to give his piece another performance. He handed Portland concertgoers the surprise of the year.

Hours of Joy. Composer Bloch, small, bald and grey-fringed, stood on the stage in front of Werner Janssen's* Portland Symphony Orchestra and began with a speech. Gesturing and stomping, he explained that America was written for all the people, "not just for the intelligentsia and the snobs." It was the story of America: the soil, the Indians, the Mayflower, the Pilgrims, hours of joy, hours of sorrow, the present and the future.

Turning to the organist, Composer Bloch directed him to thunder the final anthem theme, while the audience listened. Then he had the audience sing his words through twice--first sitting down, then standing up.

America, America, thy name is in my heart,

My love for thee arouses me to nobler thoughts and deeds . . .

"Don't be inhibited--I'm not," he bubbled. The audience sat down again. "Now we will do it with the orchestra, and at the end I will turn around and give you the signal and you will all stand up and sing."

Signs of the Times. He jumped to the podium, which rocked unsteadily. "It's unstable--a sign of the times," he cried, then got the orchestra under way.

To most, America sounded un-Blochian: a muddied mixture of Indian tom-toms, Pop! Goes the Weasel, anvils (the industrial age), automobile horns and telephone bells, with his main theme bobbing up here & there. When the grand finale finally came, the audience rose to its feet and roared out the anthem--2,300 voices plus a full orchestra and a booming pipe organ.

At the end, the audience, excited by all the noise and the sound of their own voices, gave perspiring Composer Bloch a rousing standing ovation: they were already on their feet, right where he had ordered them.

* Whose favorites fan is his wife--Cinemactress Ann Harding.

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