Kahn, Robert (composer)

Robert Kahn ( German: Robert Kahn ; July 21, 1865 , Mannheim , Germany - May 29, 1951 , Biddenden ( Eng. Biddenden ), Kent , England ) - German composer , pianist and music teacher . Brother of banker Otto Kahn , uncle of jazz musician Roger Wolfe Kahn .

In 1882-1885 studied at the Berlin Higher School of Music , including with Friedrich Kiel , then for a year he worked in composition in Munich under the guidance of Joseph Reinberger .

Kahn worked fruitfully in the chamber genre, his works are written in a lyrical style reminiscent of Mendelssohn , Schumann and Brahms . Like his friend Brahms, Kahn shunned the emotional extravagance of the later romantics.

Compositions: 2 string quartets, 2 piano quintets , 3 piano quartets , 5 piano trios, 3 violin sonatas , 2 cello sonatas , “Mahomets Gesang” for choir and orchestra , many romances , choirs for female voices, piano pieces, etc.

Kahn often received orders for creating works from the best musicians of the first decade of the 20th century until the young Adolf Bush , with whom he first performed his suite for violin and piano, op.69. His first violin sonata in G minor, op.5 (1886) was dedicated to Joseph Joachim , who performed it when Kahn was still a student in Berlin , and Klara Schumann mentions this sonata in his diary. Second Violin Sonata in A Minor, Op. 26 (1897) was also dedicated to Joachim, while String Quartet No. 1 in A Major, Op. 8 (1889) was first performed by the Joachim Quartet . His clarinet trio, op.45 was dedicated and performed by the famous clarinet player Richard Mülfeld , who was also the inspirer of Brahms' later chamber compositions. The premiere of the Kahn orchestral serenade was performed by the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Hans von Bülow .