Robert Bloom

Born| (1908-05-03)May 3, 1908
Pittsburgh, Allegheny County, Pennsylvania
Died| February 13, 1994(1994-02-13) (aged 85)
Cincinnati, Hamilton County, Ohio
Genres| Classical
Occupation(s)| Oboist, composer, arranger, teacher
Instrument| Oboe

Musical artist

Robert Bloom (May 3, 1908 - February 13, 1994) was an oboist with an orchestral and solo career, a composer and arranger contributing to the oboe repertory, and a teacher of several successful oboists.[1] Bloom is considered seminal in the development of an American school of oboe playing.[2]

At the Curtis Institute of Music Bloom was a pupil of Marcel Tabuteau for three years.[2] In the 1930s he played English horn in the Philadelphia Orchestra under Leopold Stokowski and first oboe in the Rochester Philharmonic under José Iturbi.[2] He was the principal oboe in Arturo Toscanini's NBC Symphony Orchestra from 1937 to 1943.[3] Bloom plays on recordings by the Columbia Symphony and the RCA Symphony.[2]

In 1946 Bloom was one of the founding members of the Bach Aria Group, with which he played until 1980.[1][2] Recordings by the Bach Aria Group featuring Bloom started appearing from the late 1940s.[4] Bloom transcribed and elaborated 18th-century masterworks for the oboe.[5] His own compositions include a Sonatina for oboe and piano.[1]

Bloom was a professor at Yale and Juilliard.[1] His pupils include William Bennett,[6] Bill Douglas,[7] Tim Hurtz,[8] Richard Killmer,[9] Bert Lucarelli,[10] Ray Still,[10][11] Allan Vogel,[10] and Richard Woodhams,[2] In the spring of 1988, friends, colleagues, and former pupils gathered in Lincoln Center's Alice Tully Hall in New York for an 80th-birthday tribute.[2]

A few years after Bloom's death in 1994,[12] his widow, Sara Lambert Bloom, published The Robert Bloom Collection, scores and parts to his 21 editions of 18th-century masterworks, 10 transcriptions, and 10 compositions.[13] The Art of Robert Bloom, a 7-CD set of live performances of concertos, chamber music, and Bach arias performed by Bloom over his 60-year career was released in 2001 on Boston Records label.[14]

Bloom's daughter, Kath Bloom is a singer-songwriter and music therapist based in Litchfield, CT.[15]

## References

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1. ^ a b c d "Robert Bloom Is Dead; Oboist and Teacher, 85". The New York Times. February 16, 1994. Retrieved 5 September 2015.
2. ^ a b c d e f g Webster, Daniel. "Taking Note Of A Remarkable Oboist." in The Philadelphia Inquirer. May 14, 1988. Retrieved 5 September 2015.
3. ^ Sachs, Harvey. "Robert Bloom", p. 121 ff. in Arturo Toscanini: From 1915 to 1946. E.D.T., 1987 ISBN 9788870630565
4. ^ Bach Aria Group: Bach Cantatas & Other Vocal Works at Bach Cantatas Website.
5. ^ Ryon, Janna Leigh. Abstract of The Legacy of Oboist and Master Teacher, Robert Bloom. University of Maryland, 2014.
6. ^ "In Tribute to William Bennett" at San Francisco Symphony website. 2013.
7. ^ "Concert program announced", p. 2-B in Wilmington Star-News. October 23, 1977.
8. ^ "Tim Hurtz, oboe" at Penn State University website. 2015.
9. ^ "Richard Killmer, oboe" at Eastman School of Music website. 2019.
10. ^ a b c Burgess, Geoffrey. "Bloom, Robert" in Grove Music Online, edited by Deane Root. Oxford Music Online (Oxford University Press, updated 30 August 2004), accessed September 5, 2015.
11. ^ "Remembering Ray Still" at Chicago Symphony Orchestra website
12. ^ Webster, Daniel. "Robert Bloom; Premier Oboist Played With Phila. Orchestra." in The Philadelphia Inquirer, February 18, 1994. Retrieved 5 September 2015.
13. ^ Stolper, Daniel. "The Robert Bloom Collection: Solo Works and Chamber Music for Oboe" in Notes: Quarterly Journal of the Music Library Association, Volume 58, Number 1, September 2001. pp. 186-191.
14. ^ "The Art of Robert Bloom ~ A series of 7 CDs" at robertandsaralambertbloom.com
15. ^ Danton, Eric R. (24 September 2008). "Folk artist Bloom back after domestic interlude". chicagotribune.com.

## Further reading

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* Bloom, Sara Lambert. "A Tribute to Robert Bloom". Double Reed, Volume 11, Number 3 (1988): 11–21.
* Bloom, Sara Lambert (editor), with contributions and/or quotations from Julius Baker, Samuel Baron, Robert Bloom, Susan Eischeid, Jerome Hoberman, David McGill, Leopold Stokowski, Robert Stumpf II, Daniel Webster and others. Robert Bloom: The Story of a Working Musician. rdg, 2009. (Addenda and errata: 2012) ISBN 9781934866115 OCLC 429118667
* Burgess, Geoffrey. "Bloom, Robert" in The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians. London: Macmillan Publishers. Second edition, 2001.
* Burgess, Geoffrey. "Bloom, Robert" in The Grove Dictionary of American Music, second edition, eight volumes. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2013. ISBN 978-0-19-531428-1.
* Galbraith, Amy M. The American School of Oboe Playing: Robert Bloom, John de Lancie, John Mack, and the Influence of Marcel Tabuteau. West Virginia University, 2011. ISBN 9781124894478
* Schwartz, Norman. "The Pavarotti of the Oboe: Robert Bloom" in The Double Reed, Volume 28 Number 1 (2005).
* Woodhams, Richard. "Robert Bloom, Eminent American Oboist." in The Instrumentalist, Volume 44, Number 4 (December 1989): 24–30.

## External links

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* Official website

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