Gustav Kahnt

German-born Luxembourg military band conductor and composer (born October 7, 1848 in Berlin, Germany – died January 9, 1923 in Berschbach, Luxembourg). Starting out as conductor of Berlin's Kroll Opera, Kahnt came to the attention of a Luxembourg diplomat in Berlin and was engaged to head the band of the Compagnie des Volontaires Luxembourgeois, which he did from 1881 to 1909; in 1890, he became a naturalized citizen of Luxembourg. Kahnt composed marches, folk songs, theater music, and operettas. His polka-mazurka "Der Specht" (The Woodpecker) was repeatedly recorded in the 1910s and 1920s.