Erich Itor Kahn (23 July 1905 - 5 March 1956) was a German composer of Jewish descent, who emigrated to the United States during the years of National Socialism.

Biography

He was born in Rimbach in the

Odenwald The Odenwald () is a low mountain range in the Germany, German states of Hesse, Bavaria and Baden-Württemberg. Location The Odenwald is located between the Upper Rhine Plain with the Bergstraße Route, Bergstraße and the ''Hessisches Ried' ...

, the son of Leopold Kahn, a mathematician and synagogue cantor. He studied piano and composition at the

Hoch Conservatory Dr. Hoch's Konservatorium – Musikakademie was founded in Frankfurt am Main on 22 September 1878. Through the generosity of Frankfurter Joseph Hoch, who bequeathed the Conservatory one million German gold marks in his testament, a school for ...

Frankfurt Frankfurt am Main () is the most populous city in the States of Germany, German state of Hesse. Its 773,068 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the List of cities in Germany by population, fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located in the forela ...

, where his teachers included Paul Franzen and

Bernhard Sekles Bernhard Sekles (20 June 1872 – 8 December 1934) was a German composer, conductor, pianist and pedagogue. Life and career Bernhard Sekles was born in Frankfurt am Main, the son of Maximilian Seckeles and Anna (née Bischheim). The family ...

; he concluded his studies in 1928, although he had been giving public recitals of classical and contemporary repertoire since 1919. He then worked for Radio Frankfurt as a pianist, harpsichordist, composer and arranger, reporting to

Hans Rosbaud Hans Rosbaud (22 July 1895 – 29 December 1962) was an Austrian conductor, particularly associated with the music of the twentieth century. Biography Rosbaud was born in Graz. As children, he and his brother Paul Rosbaud performed with thei ...

, director of the Radio's music department. In April 1933 he was dismissed from his post by the Nazis and emigrated to Paris with his wife Frida (née Rabinowitch). At the beginning of

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

he was interned as an enemy alien at the

Camp des Milles The Camp des Milles was a French internment camp, opened in September 1939, in a former tile factory near the village of Les Milles, part of the commune of Aix-en-Provence (Bouches-du-Rhône).Guénaël LemoueeCamp des Milles : la mémoire de la ...

in the southeastern France;. In 1955, after giving a piano recital, Kahn suffered a

cerebral haemorrhage Intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH), also known as hemorrhagic stroke, is a sudden bleeding into the tissues of the brain (i.e. the parenchyma), into its ventricles, or into both. An ICH is a type of bleeding within the skull and one kind of stro ...

and spent many months in a coma until his death at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York."Erich Itor Kahn Is Dead at 50; Pianist With Chamber Groups" ''New York Times'' (March 6, 1956

/ref> Kahn wrote several distinctive keyboard works including the ''Ciaconna dei tempi di guerra'' (1943) composed for

Ralph Kirkpatrick Ralph Leonard Kirkpatrick (; June 10, 1911April 13, 1984) was an American harpsichordist and musicologist, widely known for his chronological catalog of Domenico Scarlatti's keyboard sonatas as well as for his performances and recordings. Life an ...

to play on the harpsichord, though it is also performable on piano.

References

Adapted from an essay by

Juan Allende-Blin Juan Allende-Blin (born 24 February 1928) is a Chilean composer and academic teacher who lives in Germany. Career Born in Santiago de Chile, Allende-Blin studied first with his uncle, Pedro Humberto Allende, and with , a pupil of Anton Webern. ...

in the booklet notes of

Cybele Cybele ( ; Phrygian: ''Matar Kubileya, Kubeleya'' "Kubeleya Mother", perhaps "Mountain Mother"; Lydian: ''Kuvava''; ''Kybélē'', ''Kybēbē'', ''Kybelis'') is an Anatolian mother goddess; she may have a possible forerunner in the earliest ...

SACD 160.403.

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Kahn, Erich Itor 1905 births 1956 deaths 20th-century German classical composers Hoch Conservatory alumni German male classical composers 20th-century German male musicians