American opthalmologist and amateur violinist.

Career Summary

Hans Barkan graduated from Stanford University (A.B.), then from Harvard Medical School in 1910 (M.D.), then studied ophthalmology for two years in Vienna, after which he returned to Harvard to teach pathology. He served in the Army Medical Corps during World War I. In 1925 he was appointed Professor of Ophthalmology and Head of Department at Stanford University Medical School in 1925, in which capacities he served until 1950, retiring from ophthalmology in 1954.

Barkan was also an amateur violinist who played string quartets with members of the San Francisco Symphony, of which he was himself the Director. Barkan wrote the book Johannes Brahms and Theodor Billroth: Letters from a Musical Friendship (Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1957).

Barkan and Moriz Violin

In August 1939 Moriz Violin was introducted to Hans Barkan by Ada Clement of the San Francisco Conservatory of Music. Violin reported to Arnold Schoenberg: "He will invite me next week and we will play quartets and quintets with musicians. He will then endeavor to enable me to play in public, etc., etc. [...] The one ray of sunshine in my protective sky, Dr. Barkan, put me in a hopeful mood because he is himself a supporting member of all the associations, knows all the rich people (e.g. Mrs. Coolidge), and because I can pretty well gain entrée to them for the first time." (LC ASC 27/45, [15]).

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