Alfred Sittard
Alfred Sittard (born November 4, 1878 in Stuttgart , † March 31, 1942 in Berlin ) was a German cantor , composer of church music and one of the most important organists of his time.
life and work
Sittard was a student of his father, the music teacher and musicologist Josef Sittard (1846-1903), as well as the Hamburg Petri cantor Wilhelm Köhler-Wümbach (1858-1926) and the Petri organist Carl Armbrust (1849-1896).
In 1896 and 1897, after the early death of Armbrust, he took over his post as Primaner of the Johanneum . From 1897 to 1901 Sittard studied at the Cologne Conservatory with Friedrich Wilhelm Franke , Franz Wüllner and Isidor Seiß. From 1901 to 1902 he worked as a trainee conductor at the Hamburg City Theater and was awarded the Mendelssohn Prize for Composition in 1902 . In 1903 he became the organist of the Kreuzkirche in Dresden , then in 1912 the organist of the newly rebuilt St. Michaelis Church in Hamburg with what was then the largest church organ by Walcker . He founded the choir at the Michaelis Church and directed the Hamburg teachers' choir from 1920 to 1925. In 1925 he was appointed professor for organ playing at the Academy for Church and School Music in Berlin. From 1933 he was also the director of the State and Cathedral Choir Berlin .
As an organ virtuoso, he toured Romania, Spain, Holland, Belgium, Hungary, Italy, Czechoslovakia, Russia and Sweden.
He wanted to retire on April 1, 1942, but died surprisingly on his last day at work.
Sittard has made numerous recordings on shellac records and piano rolls for the philharmonic organs made by M. Welte & Sons . His name is remembered at the University of the Arts in Berlin with the Sittard Foundation, which was founded in 1974 and which also awards grants to less well-off organ students . His grave (family grave) is in the Hamburg cemetery Ohlsdorf .
Works
- Several compositions for organ and for choir
- The main organ and the auxiliary organ of the large St. Michaelis Church in Hamburg . Hamburg, Boysen & Maasch, 1912
- To the development of organ playing . In: Pedagogical Reform 44 (1920), pp. 264-265 online version on Bildungsgeschichte online .
- Old Hamburg church music . In: Bachheft , Hamburg, Böhme, 1921, p. 196.
Documents
Letters from Alfred Sittard are in the holdings of the Leipzig music publisher CF Peters in the Leipzig State Archives .
literature
- Article 'Alfred Sittard' in: German Musicians Lexicon ed. by Erich H. Müller. Limpert, Dresden 1929
- Burkhard Meischein: “… to cultivate the organ in Bach's spirit.” Alfred Sittard, organist at the Kreuzkirche , in: Die Dresdner Kirchenmusik im 19. und 20. Century , ed. by Matthias Herrmann, Laaber 1998, pp. 333–342 ( Musik in Dresden 3), ISBN 3-89007-331-X
- * Paul Frank, Wilhelm Altmann : Kurzgefasstes Tonkünstler-Lexikon , Heinrichshofen´s Verlag Wilhelmshaven, 15th edition (1936), p. 585, ISBN 3-7959-0083-2
Web links
- Literature by and about Alfred Sittard in the catalog of the German National Library
- Sheet music and audio files by Alfred Sittard in the International Music Score Library Project
- Entry on Alfred Sittard in Kalliope
- Recordings in the International Historical Organ Recording Collection
Individual evidence
- ^ Alfred Sittard Foundation on the pages of the UdK Berlin
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Sittard, Alfred |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | German organist and conductor |
| DATE OF BIRTH | November 4, 1878 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Stuttgart |
| DATE OF DEATH | March 31, 1942 |
| Place of death | Berlin |