Musicians - Charles-Valentin Alkan

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	Musicians - Charles-Valentin Alkan

Charles-Valentin Alkan (November 30 1813–March 29 1888) was a French composer and one of the greatest virtuoso pianists of his day. His compositions for solo piano include some of the most fiendishly difficult ever written, and performers who can master them are few and far between.

Biography

Life and career

Alkan was born Charles-Valentin Morhange to a Jewish family in Paris, where his father lived as a music teacher. Charles-Valentin and his brothers, who were also musicians, used their father's first name, Alkan, as their last. Charles-Valentin Alkan spent his life in and around Paris. His only known excursions were a concert tour in England in 1833-1834, and a brief visit to Metz on family matters in the 1840s.

Alkan was a child prodigy. He entered the Paris Conservatoire at the age of six, where he studied both piano and organ. His teachers included Joseph Zimmermann, who also taught Georges Bizet, César Franck, Charles Gounod, and Ambroise Thomas. At the age of seven, he won a first prize for solfège, and at the age of nine, Luigi Cherubini described his technique and ability as extraordinary. His opus 1 dates from 1828, when he was 14 years old.

In his twenties, he played concerts in elegant social circles and taught piano. His friends included Franz Liszt, Frédéric Chopin, George Sand, and Victor Hugo. By the age of twenty-four, he had built a reputation as one of the great virtuoso pianists of his day, rivalling other touring virtuoso composer-pianists of the day such as Liszt, Sigismond Thalberg and Friedrich Kalkbrenner. Liszt once stated that Alkan had the most perfect technique he had ever seen. At this time, because of various personal problems and reverses, he withdrew into private study and composition for the remainder of his life, with only occasional forays back into the limelight. In spite of his early fame and technical accomplishment, he spent much of his life after 1850 in obscurity, performing in public only occasionally. In his last decade he emerged to give a series of 'Petits Concerts' at the Erard piano showrooms, which featured music not only by himself but of his favourite composers from Bach onwards. He was occasionally assisted in these concerts by his siblings. Those attending included Vincent d'Indy.

There are periods of Alkan's life about which little is known, other than that he was immersed in the study of the Bible and the Talmud. It appears from his correspondence with Ferdinand Hiller that Alkan completed a full translation into French of both the Old Testament and the New Testament, from their original languages. This has been completely lost, as have many of Alkan's compositions. Amongst the missing works are some string sextets and a full-scale orchestral symphony, quite different from the Symphony for piano solo in op. 39, which was described in an article in 1846 by Léon Kreutzer, to whom Alkan had shown the score.

The pianist Elie-Miriam Delaborde (1839–1913) is generally believed to be Alkan's illegitimate son. He was taught by Alkan in his youth and performed and edited many of Alkan's works; like his father was a notable pédalier player.

Death

Alkan died in Paris at the age of 74. For many years it was believed that his death was caused by a bookcase falling on him in his home, brought down as he reached for a volume of the Talmud which he had placed on the highest shelf (in the position closest to Heaven). This apocryphal tale, which appears to have been circulated by Delaborde, has been effectively disproved by Hugh MacDonald in an article in the Musical Times (vol. 129, 1978 - More on Alkan's Death). The story may have its roots in a legend told of the Rabbi Aryeh Leib ben Asher, known as 'Shaagat Aryeh', rabbi of Metz, the town from which Alkan's family originated. (See also talk page for discussion of Alkan's death). Alkan is buried in the Cimetière de Montmartre, Paris.

A myth also circulates about an alleged obituary of Alkan, cited as fact in Ronald Smith's biograhpy and since widely quoted, credited to the magazine 'Le Ménéstrel', beginning with the words "Alkan is dead. He had to die in order to prove his existence." No such obituary appeared in 'Le Ménéstrel' and none has been located to date in any other contemporary journal.

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