Julien Paul Blitz (May 21, 1885 – July 17, 1951) was an American cellist, conductor, and teacher. He was the first music director of the
Houston Symphony
The Houston Symphony is an American orchestra based in Houston, Texas. The orchestra is resident at the Jesse H. Jones Hall for the Performing Arts.
History
The first concert of what was to become the Houston Symphony took place on June 21, ...
.
Biography
Blitz was born in
Ghent
Ghent ( nl, Gent ; french: Gand ; traditional English: Gaunt) is a city and a municipality in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It is the capital and largest city of the East Flanders province, and the third largest in the country, exceeded i ...
,
Belgium
Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to th ...
, the son of
violin
The violin, sometimes known as a '' fiddle'', is a wooden chordophone ( string instrument) in the violin family. Most violins have a hollow wooden body. It is the smallest and thus highest-pitched instrument ( soprano) in the family in regu ...
pianist
A pianist ( , ) is an individual musician who plays the piano. Since most forms of Western music can make use of the piano, pianists have a wide repertoire and a wide variety of styles to choose from, among them traditional classical music, ja ...
Mattie Louise Miller (1865–1904). He moved to the United States with his family at the age of two. He began violin studies with his father, who had been appointed the first music director of the Kansas City Philharmonic. He commenced musical studies in 1901 at the Ghent Conservatory, where he studied with Paul-Henri-Joseph Lebrun, Joseph Lampens, Joseph Jacobs, Leon Rinskoph, and Edouard Jacobs. Blitz made his debut in 1904 and graduated cum laude from the conservatory in 1905.
Ostend
Ostend ( nl, Oostende, ; french: link=no, Ostende ; german: link=no, Ostende ; vls, Ostende) is a coastal city and municipality, located in the province of West Flanders in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It comprises the boroughs of Mariakerk ...
, Belgium, then returned to the United States. He lived in
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...
Belton, Texas
Belton is a city in the U.S. state of Texas on the Interstate 35 corridor between Austin and Waco. Belton is the county seat of Bell County and is the fifth largest city in the Killeen-Temple metropolitan area. In 2020, the population of Belton ...
.
In 1913, Blitz founded and became the first music director of the
Houston Symphony
The Houston Symphony is an American orchestra based in Houston, Texas. The orchestra is resident at the Jesse H. Jones Hall for the Performing Arts.
History
The first concert of what was to become the Houston Symphony took place on June 21, ...
; he also directed activities of the Houston Treble Clef Club. Blitz's tenure in Houston lasted until 1916. From 1917 to 1922, he conducted the
San Antonio Symphony
The San Antonio Symphony was a full-time professional symphony orchestra based in San Antonio, Texas. Its season ran from late September to early June. Sebastian Lang-Lessing, its music director from 2010 to 2020, was the last to serve in that ca ...
. In San Antonio Blitz was also the director of the Chaminade Choral Society of the Tuesday Musical Club. Subsequent positions held by Blitz include faculty positions at the San Antonio College of Music;
Austin College
Austin College is a private liberal arts college affiliated with the Presbyterian Church (USA) and located in Sherman, Texas.Kidd-Key College (where he was head of the string department), both in
Sherman, Texas
Sherman is a U.S. city in and the county seat of Grayson County, Texas. The city's population in 2020 was 43,645. It is one of the two principal cities in the Sherman–Denison metropolitan statistical area, and it is part of the Texoma region ...
; the Fort Worth Conservatory, and, from 1934 until 1950, head of the music department at Texas Technological College (later
Texas Tech University
Texas Tech University (Texas Tech, Tech, or TTU) is a public research university in Lubbock, Texas. Established on , and called Texas Technological College until 1969, it is the main institution of the five-institution Texas Tech University Sy ...
) in
Lubbock
Lubbock ( )
is the 10th-most populous city in the U.S. state of Texas and the seat of government of Lubbock County. With a population of 260,993 in 2021, the city is also the 85th-most populous in the United States. The city is in the northw ...
.
Blitz moved to
Dallas
Dallas () is the List of municipalities in Texas, third largest city in Texas and the largest city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the List of metropolitan statistical areas, fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States at 7.5 ...
Blitz was married to pianist Flora Briggs on January 24, 1921, and died in Dallas on July 17, 1951. The Blitzes had one child, Edouard Marquis Blitz, who became the assistant principal cellist of the Dallas Symphony.