{{short description|German composer (1858–1941)}} {{Infobox person | name = Siegfried Alkan | image = Image:Siegfried Alkan.jpeg | caption = Siegfried Alkan with his mother Johanna in an 1899 photograph | birth_date = {{birth date|1858|3|30|df=y}}<ref name="memorial" /> | birth_name = | birth_place = Dillingen, Saarland, Kingdom of Prussia | death_date = {{Death date and age|1941|12|24|1858|3|30|df=y}}<ref name="memorial" /> | death_place = Mainz, Free State of Prussia<ref name="memorial" /> | occupation = Composer | spouse = | children = }}

'''Siegfried Alkan''' (30 March 1858 &ndash; 24 December 1941) was a German composer from Saarland in the Kingdom of Prussia. He was assaulted and his musical business was looted during the Kristallnacht.

== Biography == Alkan was born in Dillingen, Saarland, within the Kingdom of Prussia<ref name="memorial">{{Cite web |title=Siegfried Alkan |url=https://gedenkbuch.saarbruecken.de/en/memorial_book/person_details/person-193 |access-date=2026-01-05 |website=gedenkbuch.saarbruecken.de}}</ref> to prominent Jewish piano businessman Johannes Alkan and his wife Johanna {{Nee|Bonn}}. His grandfather and two of his nephews were also musicians. He had three siblings.<ref name=":2">{{Cite web |last=Leistenschneider |first=Tina |date=2023-06-26 |title=Jüdischer Friedhof in Diefflen: Mit rund 400 Grabstellen ist der größte jüdische Friedhof – was die Grabstätte in Diefflen so besonders macht |url=https://www.saarbruecker-zeitung.de/saarland/saarlouis/dillingen/juedischer-friedhof-in-diefflen-mit-400-grabstellen-der-groesste-im-saarland_aid-91513701 |access-date=2026-01-05 |website=Saarbrücker Zeitung |language=de}}</ref> He was a distant relative of the composer Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |date=2019-09-01 |title=Provenienzforschung zu Objekten des Open Call: Unrechtmäßige Besitzverhältnisse in Deutschland des anlässlich der documenta 14 gegründeten Rose Valland Instituts – Das Klavier des Siegfried Alkan {{!}} Kulturgutverluste |url=https://kulturgutverluste.de/projekte/provenienzforschung-zu-objekten-des-open-call-unrechtmaessige-besitzverhaeltnisse-0 |access-date=2026-01-05 |website=kulturgutverluste.de |language=de}}</ref> through his mother's relationship to the Oppenheim family.<ref name=":2" />

In November 1938, when he was in his eighties, Alkan was assaulted in the street during the Kristallnacht, and all the musical instruments and sheet music in his shop were destroyed,<ref name=":3">{{Cite web |last=Künkeler |first=Axel |date=2018-11-08 |title=Pogromnacht: "Es geschah auch hier bei uns vor Ort" |url=https://www.saarbruecker-zeitung.de/saarland/saarlouis/dillingen/gedenkfeier-80-jahre-reichspogromnacht-in-dillingen_aid-34372529 |access-date=2026-01-05 |website=Saarbrücker Zeitung |language=de}}</ref> and his piano looted by the Nazis.<ref name=":02">{{Cite web |date=2019-09-01 |title=Provenienzforschung zu Objekten des Open Call: Unrechtmäßige Besitzverhältnisse in Deutschland des anlässlich der documenta 14 gegründeten Rose Valland Instituts – Das Klavier des Siegfried Alkan {{!}} Kulturgutverluste |url=https://kulturgutverluste.de/projekte/provenienzforschung-zu-objekten-des-open-call-unrechtmaessige-besitzverhaeltnisse-0 |access-date=2026-01-05 |website=kulturgutverluste.de |language=de}}</ref> He refused to seek treatment at a Christian hospital, he tried to seek help at his synagogue,<ref name=":4">{{Cite journal |last=Best |first=Katharina |year=1988 |title=Die Geschichte der ehemaligen Synagogen-Gemeinden Dillingen und Nalbach |trans-title=The history of the former synagogue communities of Dillingen and Nalbach |url=https://www.jewishgen.org/yizkor/Dilligen-Nalbach/dil001.html |journal=Unsere Heimat |series=Mitteilungsblatt des Landkreises Saarlouis für Kultur und Landschaft |language=de |issue=3/4 |pages=95–114}}</ref> unaware it had been set ablaze.<ref name=":3" /> He relocated to Mainz, where he died in 1941 for causes unrelated to persecution.<ref name="memorial" /> He never married.<ref name=":4" />

=== Posthumous information === In November 2018, the city of Dillingen held a communal ceremony for the victims of the Kristallnacht, which included honoring Alkan and 50 others.<ref name=":3"/> In 2019, Katja Terlau, a specialist in looted art, and the Rose Valland Institute were able to trace Alkan's piano to a purchase in 1982.<ref name=":0" />

== Music == Alkan's sheet music was written for the piano and the organ. He composed at least 99 musical compositions. His work was distributed by Friedrich Hofmeister Musikverlag and {{Interlanguage link|Kistner & Siegel|de}} in Leipzig: * "{{Lang|de|Gruß an die Saar|italic=no}}" (English: "Greetings to the Saar"; Op. 32)<ref name=":1">{{Cite web |title=Hofmeister XIX |url=https://hofmeister.rilm.org/2008/content/database/indices/composers/composer/compo_000393.html?current=compo_000393&field1Txt=Alkan,+Siegfried&fieldTxt=composers&startTxt=Aa-Az |access-date=2026-01-05 |website=hofmeister.rilm.org}}</ref> * "{{Lang|de|O wüsstest du's|italic=no}}" (English: "Oh, if only you knew"; Op. 39)<ref>{{cite book |url=https://s9.imslp.org/files/imglnks/usimg/0/07/IMSLP107752-PMLP207340-Handbuch_der_Musikalischen_Literatur_1887_A_to_Hermes.pdf |title=Handbuch der musikalischen Literatur, oder Verzeichniss der im deutschen Reiche und in den angrenzenden Ländern erschienenen Musikalien: auch musikalischen Schriften, Abbildungen und plastischen Darstellungen; mit Anzeige der Verleger und Preise |publisher=Friedrich Hofmeister |year=1887 |editor-last=Hofmeister |editor-first=Friedrich |volume=9 |location=Leipzig |pages=13 |language=de}}</ref> * "{{Lang|de|Ur-Großmütterchen|italic=no}}" (English: "Proto-Great-grandmother"; Op. 80)<ref name=":1" /> * "{{Lang|de|Neues Saarlied|italic=no}}" (English: "New Saar Song"; Op. 91)<ref>{{cite book |last=Hofmeister |first=Friedrich |url=https://archive.org/details/Musikalisch-literarischerMonatsbericht1930 |title=Hofmeisters Musikalisch-literarischer Monatsbericht |publisher=Friedrich Hofmeister Musikverlag |year=1930 |volume=102 |location=Leipzig |pages=33 |language=de |issue=I}}</ref> * "{{Lang|de|Es wälzt sich der Nebel im Thale|italic=no}}" (English: "The fog rolls through the valley"; Op. 92)<ref name=":1" /> * "{{Lang|de|Hab' deine Eltern lieb!|italic=no}}" (English: "Love thy parents!" Op. 99)<ref>{{cite book |last=Fritzsch |first=E.W. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=aoQPAAAAYAAJ |title=C. F. W. Siegel's Musikalisches Wochenblatt: Organ für Musiker und Musikfreunde |publisher=Kistner & Siegel |year=1906 |editor-last=Kipke |editor-first=Carl |volume=37 |location=Leipzig |pages=41 |language=de}}</ref>

==References== {{Reflist}}{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Alkan, Siegfried}} Category:1858 births Category:1941 deaths Category:19th-century German Jews Category:20th-century German Jews Category:German Romantic composers Category:People from Saarlouis (district) Category:German male classical composers Category:20th-century German male composers Category:19th-century German male composers Category:Jewish classical composers Category:20th-century German male classical pianists Category:19th-century German classical pianists Category:Holocaust victims Category:Merchants from the Kingdom of Prussia Category:19th-century people from the Kingdom of Prussia Category:19th-century male pianists