Charles-Valentin Alkan (1813 - 1888)
France

France
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. His attachment to his Jewish origins is displayed both in his life and his work. Like Chopin, Alkan wrote almost exclusively for the keyboard, although in Alkan's case this included the organ and the pédalier (a piano with a pedal board), of which he was a noted exponent. Some of his music requires a dazzling virtuosity, examples of his compositions calling for velocity, enormous leaps at speed, long stretches of fast repeated notes, and the maintenance of widely-spaced contrapuntal lines. Notable compositions include the Grande Sonate Les Quatre Ages (opus 33), depicting the Four Ages of Man, and the two sets of etudes in all the major and minor keys (opus 35 in the major and opus 39 in the minor). These surpass even the Transcendental Etudes of Liszt in scale and difficulty. The opus 39 collection contains the Symphony for Solo Piano (numbers four, five, six and seven), and the Concerto for Solo Piano (numbers eight, nine and ten). The concerto alone takes nearly an hour to play, and presents a great challenge to the performer. Number twelve of Op. 39 is a set of variations Le festin d'Esope ('Aesop's Feast'). He also composed other programmatic pieces, such as Le chemin de fer (1844) which may be the earliest composition giving a musical picture of a railroad. His chamber music compositions include a violin sonata, a cello sonata, and a piano trio. One of his most bizarre pieces is the Marche funebre sulla morte d'un papagallo (Funeral march for a parrot), for three oboes, bassoon and voices.

Musically, many of his ideas were unconventional, even innovative. Some of his multi-movement compositions show 'progressive tonality' which would have been familiar to the later Danish composer, Carl Nielsen (for example, Alkan's first chamber concerto begins in A minor and ends in E major). He was rigorous in avoiding enharmonic spelling, occasionally modulating to keys containing double-sharps or double-flats, so pianists are occasionally required to come to terms with distant keys such as E# major and the occasional triple-sharp.

Alkan seems to have had few followers, although his admirers included Ferruccio Busoni and Anton Rubinstein. The latter dedicated a concerto to him. Debussy and Ravel both studied his music under teachers who knew Alkan personally and noted their debt to his examples. The composer Kaikhosru Shapurji Sorabji promoted Alkan's music in his reviews and criticism, and composed a work with a movement entitled Quasi Alkan. Alkan's organ compositions were known to César Franck, Camille Saint-Saëns and others and their influence can be traced in the French organ school up to the present day.

For many years after his death, Alkan's work was almost completely forgotten. There has been a steady revival of interest in his compositions over the course of the twentieth century. Works by Alkan have been recorded by Egon Petri, John Ogdon, Raymond Lewenthal, Ronald Smith, Jack Gibbons, Mark Latimer, Stephanie McCallum, Marc-André Hamelin, Trevor Parks and Dmitry Feofanov, among others.
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Esquisses (Op.63)
Alkan, Charles-Valentin
Piano solo
2 PDF /

Added the 26 May 2013

Souvenirs de musique de chambre (6 Partitions pour Piano seul)
Alkan, Charles-Valentin
Piano solo
6 PDF /

Added the 01 Apr 2014

Petits Préludes sur les 8 Gammes du Plain Chant
Alkan, Charles-Valentin
Organ solo
1 PDF / Beginner

Added the 10 Apr 2013

Assez Vivement for Harp (Opus 38 No. 1)
Alkan, Charles-Valentin
Harp
1 PDF / 1 MP3 /
Adaptator : MAGATAGAN, MICHAEL

Added the 17 Aug 2012

Neuf préludes (Op.66)
Alkan, Charles-Valentin
1 Piano, 4 Hands (duet)
1 PDF /
Adaptator : Vianna da Motta, José

Added the 21 Mar 2017

Il était un p'tit homme. Rondoletto (Opus n�3)
Alkan, Charles-Valentin
Piano solo
1 PDF /

Added the 08 Jun 2007

Rondoletto 'Il était un p'tit homme' (Op.3)
Alkan, Charles-Valentin
Piano solo
1 PDF /

Added the 27 May 2013

Recueil de Chants (Op.70)
Alkan, Charles-Valentin
Piano solo
1 PDF /

Added the 27 May 2013

2 Petites pièces (Ma Chère Liberté, et Ma Chère Servitude) (Op.60 )
Alkan, Charles-Valentin
Piano solo
1 PDF /

Added the 26 May 2013

Les mois (Op.74)
Alkan, Charles-Valentin
Piano solo
1 PDF /

Added the 26 May 2013

Recueil de Chants (Op.38)
Alkan, Charles-Valentin
Piano solo
2 PDF /

Added the 27 May 2013

3 Petites fantaisies (Op.41)
Alkan, Charles-Valentin
Piano solo
1 PDF /

Added the 26 May 2013

Rondo brillant (Op.4)
Alkan, Charles-Valentin
Piano, 2 Alto Violin, Bass Ad Libitum
1 PDF /

Added the 27 May 2013

Petits préludes sur les 8 gammes du plain-chant
Alkan, Charles-Valentin
Organ solo
1 PDF /

Added the 26 May 2013

Riguadons de petits Violons et Hautbois de Louis XIV Transcribed for Concert Organ solo
Alkan, Charles-Valentin
Organ solo
1 PDF / Easy
Adaptator : MACHELLA, MAURIZIO

Added the 01 Feb 2018

Etude (WoO)
Alkan, Charles-Valentin
Piano solo
1 PDF /

Added the 08 Jun 2007

Haydn, Joseph : Quatuor à corde Ré M Op64 no 5 dit l'Alouette . Finale (Adaptation Piano)
Piano solo
1 PDF /
Adaptator : Alkan, Charles-Valentin

Added the 08 Jun 2007

Petit conte
Alkan, Charles-Valentin
Piano solo
1 PDF /

Added the 26 May 2013

Jean qui pleure et Jean qui rit
Alkan, Charles-Valentin
Piano solo
1 PDF /

Added the 26 May 2013

Variations pour le piano sur Ah ! segnata é la mia morte de l'Opéra Anna Bolena de Donizetti (Opus n�16/4)
Alkan, Charles-Valentin
Piano solo
1 PDF /

Added the 08 Jun 2007

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Details Details	Le Festin d'Esope, Op. 39, No. 12 Piano solo G. Henle $17.95 - See more - Buy online Pre-shipment lead time: 24 hours - In Stock Similar items

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Details Details	Variations A La Vielle Sur Un Air De L'elisire D'amore Piano solo Billaudot $21.99 - See more - Buy online Pre-shipment lead time: 4 to 6 weeks Similar items

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Assez Vivement for Harp (principal) - composer Alkan, Charles-Valentin SHEET MUSIC