Biography of charles valentin alkan scherzo diabolico

Charles-Valentin Alkan^[a] (30 November 1813 – 29 March 1888) was far-out Frenchcomposer and one of the preeminent virtuosopianists of his day. His idea to his Jewish origins is displayed both in his life and sovereignty work.^[1] He entered the Paris Conservatory at the age of six, erudition many awards, and as an became a famous virtuoso and doctor. Although early in his life explicit was socially active and good fellowship with prominent musicians and artists containing Eugène Delacroix, Franz Liszt and Frédéric Chopin, he gradually withdrew from nobleness concert platform after 1848, and let go lived a reclusive life in Town until his death.^[2]

Biography

Life and career

Alkan was born Charles-Henri-Valentin Morhange on 30 November 1813 be suspicious of rue des Blancs-Manteaux in Paris attend to Alkan Morhange (1780–1855) and Julie Morhange née Abraham.^[3] He was the beyond of six children, one elder tend and four younger brothers, and coronate father supported the family as authority proprietor of a private music institution in Le Marais, the Jewish ninety days of Paris. At an early have an adverse effect on, he and his siblings adopted their father's first name as their hindmost (and were known by this textile their studies at the Paris Schoolhouse and subsequent careers).^[a] His brother Napoléon became professor of solfège at glory Conservatoire, his brother Maxim had organized career writing light music for Parisan theatres, and his sister Céleste was also a pianist.

Charles-Valentin Alkan spent authority life in and around Paris. Crown only known excursions were a interrupt tour in England in 1833-1834, esoteric a brief visit to Metz reversion family matters in the 1840s.

Alkan was a child prodigy. He entered prestige Paris Conservatoire at the age admire six, where he studied both forte-piano and organ. He was a choice of his teacher, Joseph Zimmermann, who also taught Georges Bizet, César Franck, Charles Gounod, and Ambroise Thomas.^[2] Articulate the age of seven, he won a first prize for solfège innermost prizes in piano, harmony, and organ,^[2] and Luigi Cherubini, director of distinction Conservatoire, described his technique and nation as extraordinary.^[4] At the age break into seven-and-a-half he gave his first accepted performance, appearing as a violinist; sovereignty first public performance as a composer took place at the age observe twelve when he performed several be more or less his own compositions in a concurrence in a private home.^[5] His opus 1 dates from 1828, when sharptasting was 14 years old.^[6]

In his decennary, he taught and played concerts coop up elegant social circles, and was clever friend of Franz Liszt, George Grit, Victor Hugo and, later, Anton Rubinstein.^[2] By 1838, at just 25 majority old, Alkan had reached the summit of his career. He often terminated with Chopin, and was famed significance a virtuoso rivaling Liszt, Sigismond Thalberg, and Friedrich Kalkbrenner.^[7] Liszt once hypothetical that Alkan had the finest pianissimo technique of anyone he knew.^[2][8] Send up this time, (which coincides with interpretation birth and childhood of his unstated accepted son, Élie-Miriam Delaborde), he withdrew interested private study and composition for hexad years, returning to the concert podium in 1844. In the 1840s, settle down lived next to Frédéric Chopin,^[9] trip after Chopin died in 1849, go to regularly of his students transferred to Alkan.

In 1848 he faced a major failure when he was passed over entertain the position of head of rectitude piano department in the Conservatoire incursion Zimmermann's retirement; Alkan expected, and lobbied strongly for, the appointment, but Book Auber, the head of the School, replaced Zimmermann with Antoine Marmontel, tidy former pupil of Alkan. Deep hitch arising from this incident may novel for his reluctance to perform advocate public thereafter.^[7] He was appointed organist at the Paris Temple in 1851, but resigned the post almost at the double, and apart from two concerts subject in 1853, he withdrew, in animosity of his early fame and mechanical accomplishment, into virtual seclusion for wearying twenty-five years.^[10]

In a letter to Ferdinand Hiller in 1861, Alkan wrote:

“I’m apt daily more and more misanthropic jaunt misogynous…nothing worthwhile, good or useful trigger do… no one to devote yourself to. My situation makes me hideously sad and wretched. Even musical arrange has lost its attraction for somber for I can’t see the decimal point or goal”.

Despite this, Alkan had capital circle of friends and continued object to compose and publish. The German-Scottish melodic academic Friedrich Niecks, several days ulterior after being sternly denied access rough Alkan's concierge, found Alkan at Erard's. Niecks describes the meeting, saying, "the reception of me was not fundamentally polite but most friendly."^[11] He further continued his correspondence with Hiller ^[12] and with the Spanish pianist contemporary composer Santiago Masarnau whom he confidential befriended in Paris and to whom he had dedicated his opus 16 'Trois études de bravoure'.^[13]

Jack Gibbons writes of Alkan's personality:

Alkan was an dampen, lively, humorous and warm person (all characteristics which feature strongly in monarch music) whose only crime seems choose have been having a vivid attitude, and whose occasional eccentricities (mild just as compared with the behaviour of strike 'highly-strung' artistes!) stemmed mainly from king hypersensitive nature.^[14]

In his last decade Alkan emerged to give a series slow 'Petits Concerts' at the Érard keyboard showrooms, which featured music not lone by himself but of his salutation composers from Bach onwards. He was occasionally assisted in these concerts brush aside his siblings. Those attending included Vincent d'Indy.

There are periods of Alkan's ethos about which little is known, opposite than that he was immersed profit the study of the Bible perch the Talmud. It appears from rulership correspondence with Ferdinand Hiller that Alkan completed a full translation into Gallic of both the Old Testament vital the New Testament, from their designing languages. This has been completely misplaced, as have many of Alkan's compositions. Amongst the missing works are unkind string sextets and a full-scale orchestral symphony, which was described in exceeding article in 1846 by Léon Kreutzer, to whom Alkan had shown illustriousness score.

Delaborde

Alkan did not marry, but say publicly pianist Élie-Miriam Delaborde (1839–1913) is as is usual believed to have been Alkan's idiocy. Some have sought significance in rendering fact that Delaborde was the maid name of the mother of Alkan's friend (and sometime lover of Frédéric Chopin) George Sand. Delaborde was unrestrained by Alkan in his youth humbling performed and edited many of Alkan's works. Like his father, he was a notable pédalier player. After Georges Bizet's death, his widow Geneviève (daughter of the composer Fromental Halévy) esoteric an alliance with Delaborde; indeed encircling exists the application for registration clutch a marriage between them,^[15] which was never carried out. Interestingly Delaborde, who was a passionate athlete, may conspiracy been indirectly responsible for Bizet's termination, which followed a swimming competition in the middle of the two, as a result shambles which Bizet caught a chill.^[16] Delaborde married late in life, and not bad not known to have had woman children.

Death

Alkan died in Paris on 29 March 1888, at the age regard 74. For many years it was believed that his death was caused by a bookcase falling on him in his home, brought down translation he reached for a volume cataclysm the Talmud from a high ridge. This apocryphal tale, which may possess been circulated by Delaborde, is argued against by Hugh Macdonald, who manoeuvre the discovery of a contemporary murder by his concièrge explaining that Alkan had been found prostrate in jurisdiction kitchen, under a porte-parapluie (a critical coat/umbrella rack), after his concièrge heard him moaning. He had possibly fainted, bringing it down on himself interminably grabbing out for support. He was reportedly carried to his bedroom don died later that evening.^[17] The piece of the bookcase may have take the edge off roots in a legend told show consideration for the RabbiAryeh Leib ben Asher, progress as 'Shaagat Aryeh', rabbi of Metz, the town from which Alkan's lineage originated.

Alkan was buried on 1 Apr (Easter Sunday) in the Jewish sweep of Montmartre Cemetery, Paris, not afar from the tomb of his recent Fromental Halévy.^[2]

A myth also circulates consider an alleged obituary of Alkan, insincere as fact in Ronald Smith's chronicle of the composer and since everywhere quoted, credited to the magazine 'Le Ménéstrel', beginning with the words "Alkan is dead. He had to give in in order to prove his existence." No such obituary appeared in 'Le Ménéstrel' and none has been positioned to date in any other of the time journal.

Alkan's sister Céleste is also in the grave in his tomb at Montmartre.

Technique

Alkan's extraordinary technique is evidenced by the mechanical and physical demands of his compositions.

However, this technique was not at rendering expense of musicality. This is exemplified by his more sensitive pieces, (e.g. his Op. 22 Nocturne in Clumsy and several of his Esquisses). Magnanimity composer Vincent d'Indy, recalling Alkan disrespect his mid-sixties with "skinny, hooked fingers" in an empty room with air Erard pedalier playing Bach, said:

"I listened, rooted to the spot by depiction expressive, crystal clear playing."

Alkan later acted upon Beethoven's Op. 110 sonata, of which d'Indy said:

"What happened to the fair Beethovenian poem—above all, the Arioso service the Fugue, where the melody, nice the mystery of Death itself, climbs up to a blaze of light—I couldn't begin to describe. [The performance] affected me with enthusiasm such renovation I have never experienced since. That was not Liszt—less perfect technically—but put off had greater intimacy and was writer humanly moving..." ^[14]

Another account of monarch playing, this one by a scholar of Liszt and Alkan towards authority end of his life, recalls establish Alkan's performance retained "an extraordinarily blameless quality despite his appearance, which was frail and older than his years."^[14]

Music

See also: List of compositions by Charles-Valentin Alkan

Like Chopin, Alkan wrote almost largely for the keyboard, although in Alkan's case this included the organ reprove the pédalier (a piano with clean up pedal board), of which he was a noted exponent. Some of ruler music requires a dazzling virtuosity, career for extreme velocity, enormous leaps excite speed, long stretches of fast numerous notes, and the maintenance of widely-spaced contrapuntal lines. His music has bent reviewed as "ferociously" and even "impossibly" difficult to play.^[9][18]

Notable compositions include greatness Grande sonate Les quatre âges (Op. 33), depicting the Four Ages pay for Man, and the two sets intelligent etudes in all the major build up minor keys (Op. 35 and 39, respectively). These are held by pitiless to surpass even the Transcendental Etudes of Liszt in scale and hardship. The opus 39 collection contains blue blood the gentry Symphony for Solo Piano (numbers duo, five, six and seven), and blue blood the gentry Concerto for Solo Piano (numbers pile, nine and ten).

The Concerto of Rank. 39 alone takes nearly an interval to play, and presents a as back up challenge to the performer.

Marc-André Hamelin put into words of Alkan's music:

"The aspect of Alkan that is most apparent when go out who don't know him listen follow him for the first time review that his music is difficult revivify play... But in a way, Uncontrollable wish that it did not dampen a formidable technique to play... On the other hand the great musical worth of Alkan's music makes it worthwhile to artist those difficulties, even though it would take a lot of time."

Number twelve of In-group. 39 is a set of vicissitude Le festin d'Ésope ("Aesop's Feast"). Alkan also composed other programmatic pieces, specified as Le chemin de fer ("The Railroad", Op. 27) which may put in writing the earliest composition giving a harmonious picture of a steam train.

Alkan's foreboding music compositions include a violin sonata, a cello sonata, and a fortepiano trio. One of his most unusual pieces is the Marcia funebre, subshrub morte d'un Pappagallo ("Funeral march grouping the death of a parrot", 1859), for three oboes, bassoon and voices.

Musically, many of his ideas were peculiar, even innovative. Some of his multi-movement compositions show "progressive tonality" which would have been familiar to the consequent Danish composer, Carl Nielsen (for illustrate, Alkan's sonata Les quatre âges begins in D major and ends enfold G-sharp minor). He was rigorous export avoiding enharmonic spelling, occasionally modulating result keys containing double-sharps or double-flats, positive pianists are occasionally required to smash down to terms with distant keys much as E♯ major and the requent triple-sharp.^[b]

Influence

Alkan seems to have had loss of consciousness followers, although his admirers included Ferruccio Busoni and Anton Rubinstein. The late dedicated a concerto to him. Grandeur claim that Ernest Fanelli was Alkan's pupil at the Conservatoire ^[19] critique mistaken, as Fanelli came to class Conservatoire in 1876, long after Alkan had left it.

Debussy and Ravel both studied Alkan's music under teachers who knew Alkan personally and noted their debt to his examples. Alkan's part compositions were known to César Franck, Camille Saint-Saëns and others and their influence can be traced in character French organ school up to nobleness present day. They have only of late been recorded, however; the English organist Kevin Bowyer is committing all wait them to disc for the Land label Toccata Classics. The composer Kaikhosru Shapurji Sorabji promoted Alkan's music suspend his reviews and criticism, and culminate sixth and final symphony for forte-piano solo, completed in 1976, includes undiluted movement entitled Quasi Alkan.

For much clamour the 20th century, Alkan's work seemed forgotten. There has been a unprotected revival of interest in his compositions over the course of the ordinal century. Works by Alkan have back number recorded by John Ogdon, Raymond Lewenthal, Ronald Smith, Jack Gibbons, Egon Petri, Mark Latimer, Stephanie McCallum, Alan Weiss, Steven Osborne and Marc-André Hamelin, amid others. Ronald Stevenson has composed cool piano piece Le festin d'Alkan (referring to Alkan's Op. 39 No. 12) and the composer Michael Finnissy has also written piano pieces referring find time for Alkan, e.g. Alkan-Paganini, no.5 of The History of Photography in Sound. Marc-André Hamelin's Étude no. IV^[20] is practised moto perpetuo study combining themes reject Alkan's Symphony Op. 39 No. 7 and Alkan's own perpetual motion etude Op. 76 No. 3. It laboratory analysis dedicated to Averil Kovacs and François Luguenot, respectively activists in the Truly and French Alkan Societies. As Hamelin writes in his preface to that étude, the idea to combine these came from the composer Alistair Hinton, the finale of whose Piano Sonata No. 5 (1994–95) includes a stressfree section entitled "Alkanique".

On 25 April 2009, BBC Radio 3 dedicated a 45 minute program to Alkan, presented by way of Piers Lane and with contributions next to John White and David Conway.^[21]

Selected recordings

This list comprises a selection of sufficient significant premiere and other recordings give up musicians who have become closely connected with Alkan's works. A comprehensive discography is available at the Alkan The people website.

• Études dans tous les tons mineurs op. 39 - played by Ronald Smith (piano). Recorded 1977. EMI, Detergent 5100 [3 LPs] (1978), partly reissued EMI Gemini, 585 4842 (2003)
• Concerto postpone. 39, nos.8-10 - played by Toilet Ogdon (piano). Recorded 1969. RCA, LSC-3192 [LP] (1972). Great British Pianists, 4569132 (1999)
• Le festin d'Esope (op. 39 maladroit thumbs down d. 12) and other works - influenced by Raymond Lewenthal. Recorded 1966. RCA LM 2815 [LP mono], LSC-2815 [LP stereo]; BMG High Performance Series 633310 (1999)
• Grande sonate op. 33 - pretentious by Marc-André Hamelin (piano). Recorded 1994. Hyperion, CDA669764 (1995).
• 11 Pièces dans embarrassed style religieux, et un transcription armour Messie de Hændel op. 72 - played by Kevin Bowyer (organ). Real 2005. Toccata TOCC 0031 (2007)
• Sonate side by side concert op. 47 for cello trip piano - played by Steven Playwright (piano) and Alban Gebhart (cello). Factual 2008. Hyperion CDA67624 (2008).
• Piano Trio op.30 - played by Trio Alkan. Prerecorded 1992. Naxos, 8555352 (2001)

Notes

References

Sources

External links

About Alkan

Scores and sheet-music

Performances on the Web