# Harry Blech

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{{Short description|British violinist and conductor}}
{{more citations needed|date=September 2025}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}
{{Infobox person
| honorific_suffix = {{post-nominals|country=GBR|CBE}}
| name             = Harry Blech
| image            = Harry Blech.jpg
| caption          = Blech in 1958
| birth_name       = Hirsch Blech
| birth_date       = {{birth date|1910|3|2|df=y}}
| birth_place      = [London](/source/London), [England](/source/England)
| death_date       = {{death date and age|1999|5|9|1909|3|2|df=yes}}
| death_place      = [Wimbledon](/source/Wimbledon%2C_London), London, England
| occupation       = {{flatlist|
* [Violin](/source/Violin)ist
* [Conductor](/source/Conducting)
}}
| education        = {{plainlist|
* [Trinity College of Music](/source/Trinity_Laban_Conservatoire_of_Music_and_Dance)
* [Royal Manchester College of Music](/source/Royal_Manchester_College_of_Music)
}}
| known_for        = Founder of the [London Mozart Players](/source/London_Mozart_Players)
| awards           = 
}}
[[File:Music Goes To War- Entertainment in Wartime London, England, UK, 1943 D15046.jpg|thumb|upright=1.3|The Blech String Quartet playing [Mozart's Horn quintet](/source/Horn_Quintet_(Mozart)), K. 407, with soloist [Dennis Brain](/source/Dennis_Brain), [National Gallery](/source/National_Gallery) lunchtime concert, 1943<ref name="ODNB"/><ref>The other string players were Max Salpeter (violin), Keith Cummings (viola) and Douglas Cameron (cello).</ref>]] 
'''Hirsch "Harry" Blech''' [CBE](/source/CBE) (2 March 1909 – 9 May 1999) was a British violinist and conductor. He founded the [London Mozart Players](/source/London_Mozart_Players) in 1949, and was known also as a conductor of studio recordings for [His Master's Voice](/source/His_Master's_Voice_(British_record_label)) and [Decca Records](/source/Decca_Records).<ref name="ODNB">{{cite ODNB|id=72248|first=Michael|last=Kennedy|title=Blech, Harry}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last1=Potter |first1=Tully |title=Harry Blech |url=https://www.theguardian.com/news/1999/may/12/guardianobituaries2 |access-date=8 September 2025 |work=The Guardian |date=12 May 1999}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last1=Campbell |first1=Margaret |title=Obituary: Harry Blech |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/obituary-harry-blech-1093058.html |access-date=8 September 2025 |date=12 May 1999}}</ref>

==Life==
Harry Blech was born in London, to Henri Blech and his wife, Sophie Stock, in June 1909. His birth was not registered until the following year, and to avoid a fine for late registration his father pretended Harry was born on 2 March 1910, which date has entered many reference works.

He was a scholarship boy at the [Trinity College of Music](/source/Trinity_College_of_Music), London, where he studied violin under [Sarah Fennings](/source/Sarah_Fennings). On her advice he took lessons in [Czechoslovakia](/source/Czechoslovakia) from [Otakar Ševčík](/source/Otakar_%C5%A0ev%C4%8D%C3%ADk). At age 18 he moved to become a pupil of [Arthur Catterall](/source/Arthur_Catterall) at the [Royal Manchester College of Music](/source/Royal_Manchester_College_of_Music), and in 1929 joined the [Hallé Orchestra](/source/Hall%C3%A9_Orchestra).<ref name="ODNB"/>

During the 1930s Blech played in the [BBC Symphony Orchestra](/source/BBC_Symphony_Orchestra). In 1936 he left to become the leader of his own eponymous string quartet, with Edward Silverman, Douglas Thompson and [William Pleeth](/source/William_Pleeth). During the war, Silverman died of a heart condition, Thomson was killed while learning to fly and Pleeth joined the army, so new string players were brought in. Blech became a conductor in 1942 under wartime conditions, and formed the London Wind Players from the RAF Symphony Orchestra. After the war he formed the London Symphonic Players; the Blech String Quartet disbanded in 1950, when Blech found difficulty in playing the violin.<ref name="ODNB"/>

After conducting Mozart concertos in 1948 for the pianist [Dorothea Braus](/source/Dorothea_Braus), Blech formed the London Mozart Players, which he conducted until 1984, when he was succeeded by [Jane Glover](/source/Jane_Glover). He was twice married, having children with both wives, and died in [Wimbledon](/source/Wimbledon%2C_London) on 9 May 1999.<ref name="ODNB"/>

==Notes==
{{Reflist}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Blech, Harry}}
Category:1909 births
Category:1999 deaths
Category:English classical violinists
Category:20th-century British conductors (music)
Category:English male conductors (music)
Category:British male classical violinists
Category:Players of the BBC Symphony Orchestra
Category:Commanders of the Order of the British Empire

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Harry Blech](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harry_Blech) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harry_Blech?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.