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{{About|the composer|the Internet pioneer|Bob Kahn|the comic artist born "Robert Kahn"|Bob Kane}} |
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This article includes a list of references, related reading, or external links, but its sources remain unclear because it lacks inline citations. Please help improve this article by introducing more precise citations. (January 2009) (Learn how and when to remove this message)
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Robert Kahn (July 21, 1865 – May 29, 1951) was a German composer, pianist, and music teacher.
Kahn was born in Mannheim, the second son of Bernhard Kahn[1] and Emma Eberstadt, one of eight siblings, including financier, Otto Kahn. His parents belonged to a distinguished family of bankers and merchants. In 1882, Kahn entered the Königlichen Hochschule für MusikinBerlin, where he studied for the next three years. Between 1885 and 1886, he continued his musical education under the tutelage of Josef RheinbergerinMunich. On a visit to Vienna the following year, Kahn met and befriended composer Johannes Brahms, who reputedly[citation needed] offered to make Kahn his pupil. Although Kahn declined the invitation out of diffidence, Brahms' music would exert a profound influence on his compositional style throughout his career.
After finishing the military service, Kahn worked as a freelance composer in Berlin until 1890. For the next three years he was employed as a Korrepetitor (rehearsal pianist) at the Stadttheater in Leipzig. Having been appointed lecturer in composition at his alma mater in 1894, Kahn was responsible for the training of some of the leading luminaries of 20th century classical music. Among his famous students were pianists Arthur Rubinstein and Wilhelm Kempff, the conductor Ferdinand Leitner, the composers Nikolaos Skalkottas and Günter Raphael, as well as the violinist Karl Klinger.
While Kahn was composing and teaching in Berlin he also was active as chamber musician and Lied accompanist on stage with leading soloists and singers of his time, ranging from Joseph Joachim and Richard Mühlfeld up to Adolf Busch, from Johann Messchaert up to Ilona Durigo and Emmy Destinn.
In 1916, Kahn was elected to the Prussian Academy of Arts, a membership he held until 1934 when the Nazi regime ordered him to resign because he was a Jew. The government also prohibited the publication and performance of his music. This drove him to leave Germany for England in 1938, where he spent the last years of his life in relative obscurity but inextinguishable creative power, which resulted in a voluminous collection of piano music with more than 1,000 yet unpublished pieces. He died in Biddenden, Kent. Kahn and his music were almost entirely forgotten after World War II, but are slowly being rediscovered by musicians and audiences, like the case of many other composers of "degenerate music" persecuted by the Nazis.
Kahn composed prolifically for the chamber repertoire, writing in an intimate, lyrical style that is reminiscent of Felix Mendelssohn, Robert Schumann, and Johannes Brahms. Like his friend Brahms, Kahn eschewed the emotional extravagance of the late Romantics. His output included 1 piano quintet, 2 string quartets, 3 piano quartets, 5 piano trios, 2 violin sonatas, 2 cello sonatas, several choral pieces, and numerous lieder. Beside several Pieces for choir and orchestra his only purely instrumental orchestral works were a serenade Aus der Jugendzeit ("From Youth") (1890) and a Konzertstück for piano and orchestra in E-flat minor, Op. 74 (1920).
Kahn was often engaged to create works for some of the finest musicians who flourished during the early decades of the 20th century up to the young Adolf Busch with whom Kahn performed his Suite op.69 for Violin and Piano the first time. His first Violin Sonata in G minor was dedicated to Joseph Joachim who obviously asked to perform it when Kahn was still a young Student in Berlin and even Clara Schumann mentioned already this Sonata in her diary. The second Violinsonata A minor, Op. 26 (1897) was dedicated to the violinist Joseph Joachim, while the String Quartet No. 1 in A major, Op. 8 (1889) was to first performed by the Joachim Quartet as the second [string quartet] was first performed by the Klingler Quartett - the successor of the Joachimquartett in the German concert life of the beginning 20th century. Finally his clarinet trio op.45 was dedicated and performed by the famous Clarinetist Richard Mühlfeld who also inspired Brahms to his late chambercompositions. Hans von Bülow conducted the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra in the world premiere of Kahn's orchestral serenade.
