KARG-ELERT, SIGFRID

born Nov. 21, 1877, Oberndorf-on-Neckar, Ger. died April 9, 1933, Leipzig a principal German organ composer of his generation. After study at the Leipzig Conservatory, in 1919 Karg-Elert became a member of the staff there. Influenced in his earlier works by Claude Debussy, Aleksandr Scriabin, and Arnold Schoenberg, he later developed an original style influenced by Impressionism and by Renaissance and Baroque polyphony. A virtuoso organist, he also performed in concert tours on the Kunstharmonium. Among his best-known works are the 33 stylistic studies for harmonium, ranging from Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina to Schoenberg, and the Sixty-Six Chorale Improvisations, and 20 Chorale Preludes and Postludes for organ.