Leo Blech

Leo Blech was a German conductor and composer, best known for his work at the Royal Opera House, later the Berlin State Opera, from 1906 to 1937, and later as a conductor at the German Opera from 1949 to 1953. He was born in Aachen into a Jewish family.

He studied piano in Berlin with Ernst Rudorff, composition with Woldemar Bargiel, and later continued his training with Engelbert Humperdinck.

From 1893 to 1899, Blech worked as a conductor at the municipal theater in Aachen. There, in 1893, he successfully presented his first opera, Aglaja. From 1899 to 1906 he worked at the New German Theatre in Prague, where he earned a reputation as a fine opera conductor and composer and wrote several operas during this period.

Beginning in 1906, he conducted for more than thirty years, with an interruption from 1923 to 1926, at the Royal Opera, later the Berlin State Opera. In the 1920s he also worked at the German Opera House, the Berlin People's Opera, and the Vienna People's Opera.

After the Nazis came to power, Blech, because of his Jewish origin, emigrated first to Riga from 1938 to 1941, and then to Stockholm. There he appeared as a guest conductor at the Royal Swedish Opera and in symphonic concerts. During and after the Second World War, he conducted at the Royal Opera in Stockholm. In 1949 he returned to Berlin and conducted at the City Opera until 1953.

Blech's repertoire was very broad. He became especially renowned for his performances of operas by Wagner and Verdi, as well as Bizet's Carmen, which he conducted more than 600 times. He also appeared in symphonic concerts, and critics noted the flexibility and elegance of his interpretations.

Among Blech's recordings, the best known was Beethoven's Violin Concerto, with Fritz Kreisler as soloist. His legacy as a composer includes six operas as well as a number of orchestral, choral, and chamber works. A square in Berlin and a street in Aachen were named after him.

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