Alfred Sittard (4 November 1878 –– 31 March 1942) was a German

cantor A cantor or chanter is a person who leads people in singing or sometimes in prayer. In formal Jewish worship, a cantor is a person who sings solo verses or passages to which the choir or congregation responds. In Judaism, a cantor sings and lead ...

, composer of

church music Church music is Christian music written for performance in church, or any musical setting of ecclesiastical liturgy, or music set to words expressing propositions of a sacred nature, such as a hymn. History Early Christian music The onl ...

and one of the most important

organist An organist is a musician who plays any type of organ (music), organ. An organist may play organ repertoire, solo organ works, play with an musical ensemble, ensemble or orchestra, or accompany one or more singers or instrumentalist, instrumental ...

s of his time.

Life and career

Born in

Stuttgart Stuttgart (; Swabian: ; ) is the capital and largest city of the German state of Baden-Württemberg. It is located on the Neckar river in a fertile valley known as the ''Stuttgarter Kessel'' (Stuttgart Cauldron) and lies an hour from the ...

, Sittard was a pupil 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 a primate of the

Gelehrtenschule des Johanneums The ''Gelehrtenschule des Johanneums'' ( ''Academic School of the Johanneum'', short: Johanneum) is a Gymnasium (or Grammar School ) in Hamburg, Germany. It is Hamburg's oldest school and was founded in 1529 by Johannes Bugenhagen. The school's f ...

. From 1897 to 1901 Sittard studied at the

Hochschule für Musik und Tanz Köln The Cologne University of Music ( is a music college in Cologne, Germany. Founded in 1850, it is Europe's largest academy of music. History The academy was founded by Ferdinand Hiller in 1850 as ''Conservatorium der Musik in Coeln''. In 1895 Ger ...

with Friedrich Wilhelm Franke,

Franz Wüllner Franz Wüllner (28 January 1832 – 7 September 1902) was a German composer and conductor. He led the premieres of Wagner's ''Das Rheingold'' and ''Die Walküre'', but was much criticized by Wagner himself, who greatly preferred the more celebrate ...

and Isidor Seiß. He worked as a volunteer conductor at the

Hamburg State Opera The Hamburg State Opera (in German: Staatsoper Hamburg) is a German opera company based in Hamburg. Its theatre is near the square of Gänsemarkt. Since 2015, the current ''Intendant'' of the company is Georges Delnon, and the current ''General ...

from 1901 to 1902 and was awarded the

Mendelssohn Scholarship The Mendelssohn Scholarship (german: Mendelssohn-Stipendium) refers to two scholarships awarded in Germany and in the United Kingdom. Both commemorate the composer Felix Mendelssohn, and are awarded to promising young musicians to enable them to co ...

for composition in 1902. In 1903 he became organist at the Kreuzkirche in Dresden, then in 1912 organist at the newly rebuilt St. Michael's Church, Hamburg with the then largest church organ of Eberhard Friedrich Walcker. He founded the choir at the Michaelis Church and conducted the Hamburger Lehrergesangverein from 1920 to 1925. In 1925 he was appointed professor for organ playing at the

Royal Music Institute of Berlin The Königliches Musik-Institut Berlin (Royal Music Institute of Berlin) was a training centre for musicians and a predecessor of today's Institute for Church Music at the Berlin University of the Arts. History The institute was founded in 1822 ...

. From 1933 he was also the director of the . As an organ virtuoso he toured Romania, Spain, Holland, Belgium, Hungary, Italy, Czechoslovakia, Russia and Sweden. On April 1, 1942, he wanted to retire, but died unexpectedly on his last working day in Berlin at age 63. There exists numerous recordings by Sittard on shellac records and on piano rolls for the philharmonic organs of the Welte & Söhne company. His name is remembered at the

Universität der Künste Berlin The Universität der Künste Berlin (UdK; also known in English as the Berlin University of the Arts), situated in Berlin, Germany, is the largest art school in Europe. It is a public art and design school, and one of the four research universiti ...

with the Sittard Foundation, founded in 1974, which also awards scholarships to underprivileged organ students. His grave (family grave) is located at the Hamburg

Ohlsdorf Cemetery Ohlsdorf Cemetery (german: Ohlsdorfer Friedhof or (former) ) in the Ohlsdorf quarter of the city of Hamburg, Germany, is the biggest rural cemetery in the world and the fourth-largest cemetery in the world. Most of the people buried at the cemete ...

Work

* Several compositions for organ and choir * ''Das Hauptorgelwerk und die Hilfsorgel der großen St. Michaelis-Kirche in Hamburg''. Hamburg, Boysen & Maasch, 1912 * ''Zur Entwicklung des Orgelspiels''. In ''Pädagogische Reform'' 44 (1920),
Online-Version on Bildungsgeschichte Online
* ''Alt-Hamburgs Kirchenmusik''. In ''Bachheft'', Hamburg, Böhme, 1921, .

Documents

Letters from Alfred Sittard are in the collection of the Leipziger Musikverlag

C. F. Peters Edition Peters is a classical music publisher founded in Leipzig, Germany in 1800. History The company came into being on 1 December 1800 when the Viennese composer Franz Anton Hoffmeister (1754–1812) and the local organist Ambrosius Kühne ...

im .

External links

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References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sittard, Alfred German Romantic composers 20th-century hymnwriters Academic staff of the Berlin University of the Arts German organists German choral conductors 1878 births 1942 deaths Musicians from Stuttgart

Life and career

Work

Documents

Further reading

External links

References