An Iktae

**An Iktae** was a Korean composer and conductor. He lived abroad and studied music in Japan, the United States, Germany, Austria, Hungary, and Spain. A classical musician, he conducted numerous major European orchestras such as the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra, the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, and the Rome Philharmonic Orchestra. He composed the national anthem of South Korea, among numerous other Korean songs.

## Biography

### Early life

An Iktae was born in Pyongyang—then part of the Korean Empire—into a wealthy family on 1906 December 5. He had always been into music as a child. He sang hymns at a village church and played the violin. When he was 8, he learned to play the trumpet. At 12, he played in the school orchestra at what's now known as Soongsil University, the first modern university in Korea. He was also taught to play the cello and even received one of his own for his diligence.

Korea by then was already under Japanese rule. Because of this, An Iktae participated in the March 1 Movement and began to protest against the pro-Japanese teachers; he was consequently punished by the school. By September 1919, he began raiding a jail that incarcerated activists caught by the Japanese police. After the police attacked, An successfully fled to a doctor who treated his injuries.

### Japan

In October 1919, An took a train to Busan and boarded a ship for Shimonoseki, then he bound for Tokyo. In 1926, An enrolled at the Kunitachi College of Music in Tachikawa. In 1928, Ahn's father died, and his mother went into financial turmoil in providing her five sons' education. He returned to Korea two years later.

### United States

An first arrived in San Francisco, California, though he was detained and jailed for refusing to hand his beloved cello over to immigration inspection officials. However, he was allowed to perform on his confiscated cello that night imprisoned. A prison guard heard his music for the first time and was very impressed; An was released the next day as a result.

Back in San Francisco, An went to a Korean church introduced by Dr. Mauri, the doctor who had healed him back in Korea during the Japanese police raid. This was around the time he heard Aegukga played to the Scottish tune of "Auld Lang Syne". He didn't like the idea that it was used for his country's national anthem as it was deemed inapt, so he composed his own melody, which would be the melody used today.

He then took a train to Cincinnati, Ohio, and attended the University of Cincinnati College Conservatory of Music. Because of the Great Depression, he had to hustle at a restaurant. He toured the United States playing recitals in major cities. In New York City, An performed in Carnegie Hall.

After his successful tour as a cellist, he wanted to become a conductor. In 1935, Ahn transferred to Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia, where he graduated in 1936.

### Europe

In 1936, An left New York City for Berlin, Germany, where he finished composing "Aegukga", then sent it to a Korean independence movement organization in San Francisco. He also made final touches to the Symphonic Fantasy Korea. He later moved to Vienna, Austria to study under Bernhard Paumgartner. In 1937, Ahn went to Budapest, Hungary to study under Zoltán Kodály. That year, An was invited to Dublin, Ireland to perform Symphonic Fantasy Korea, then went back to Vienna and met with Richard Strauss. Back in Hungary, An attended the Eötvös Loránd University on a scholarship from the Hungarian government, and graduated in 1939.

By the 1940s, he has conducted at the Berlin Philharmonic, the Orchestra of Paris, and the Barcelona Symphony Orchestra and National Orchestra of Catalonia. He spent the last 20 years of his life on the island of Majorca, where he suddenly died of an illness at age 58. His ashes went sent to be buried at the Seoul National Cemetery.