Classical4:0612 Etudes In All The Minor Keys, Op.3912 Etudes In All The Minor Keys, Op.39
Charles-Valentin Alkan
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Browse piano sheets by Charles-Valentin Alkan on Zen Virtual Piano. Alkan was born Charles-Valentin Morhange on 30 November 1813 at 1 Rue de Braque in Paris, to Alkan Morhange and Julie Morhange, née Abraham. He was a child prodigy who entered the Conservatoire de Paris at an unusually early age, and at seven and a half he gave his first public performance as a violinist, playing an air and variations by Pierre Rode. At 15, in 1829, he became joint professor of solfège, and a few years later his brother Napoléon was among the pupils in that class. A boy playing violin in public at seven and a half and teaching solfège at fifteen can be read as a musician treated as an adult long before he was one. Alkan became a favourite of his teacher at the Conservatoire, Joseph Zimmerman. He twice competed unsuccessfully for the Prix de Rome, in 1832 and again in 1834. In the early years of the July Monarchy Alkan kept teaching and performed both at public concerts and in eminent social circles. A prodigy who lost the Prix de Rome twice yet kept teaching and performing can be read as a career built on playing rather than on prizes. From the early 1850s Alkan began to turn his attention seriously to the pedal piano (pédalier). Even in his seclusion from society, this period brought the composition and publication of many of Alkan’s major piano works, among them the Douze Études dans tous les tons mineurs, Op. 39. Published in 1857, the set is idiomatic of Alkan’s unique style of piano composition, consisting of large, almost orchestral-sounding chords and fast-paced scale configurations. Études built from orchestral-sized chords can be read as a pianist writing for the whole instrument at once. Because the Petits Concerts were so successful, they became an annual event until 1880 or possibly later, with occasional gaps when Alkan’s health got in the way. He was assisted in these concerts by his siblings, and by other musicians including Camille Saint-Saëns. Concerts that became annual and drew in family and colleagues can be read as a small, loyal circle around a private musician.
Browse piano sheets by Charles-Valentin Alkan on Zen Virtual Piano.
Alkan was born Charles-Valentin Morhange on 30 November 1813 at 1 Rue de Braque in Paris, to Alkan Morhange and Julie Morhange, née Abraham. He was a child prodigy who entered the Conservatoire de Paris at an unusually early age, and at seven and a half he gave his first public performance as a violinist, playing an air and variations by Pierre Rode. At 15, in 1829, he became joint professor of solfège, and a few years later his brother Napoléon was among the pupils in that class. A boy playing violin in public at seven and a half and teaching solfège at fifteen can be read as a musician treated as an adult long before he was one.
Alkan became a favourite of his teacher at the Conservatoire, Joseph Zimmerman. He twice competed unsuccessfully for the Prix de Rome, in 1832 and again in 1834. In the early years of the July Monarchy Alkan kept teaching and performed both at public concerts and in eminent social circles. A prodigy who lost the Prix de Rome twice yet kept teaching and performing can be read as a career built on playing rather than on prizes.
From the early 1850s Alkan began to turn his attention seriously to the pedal piano (pédalier). Even in his seclusion from society, this period brought the composition and publication of many of Alkan’s major piano works, among them the Douze Études dans tous les tons mineurs, Op. 39. Published in 1857, the set is idiomatic of Alkan’s unique style of piano composition, consisting of large, almost orchestral-sounding chords and fast-paced scale configurations. Études built from orchestral-sized chords can be read as a pianist writing for the whole instrument at once.
Because the Petits Concerts were so successful, they became an annual event until 1880 or possibly later, with occasional gaps when Alkan’s health got in the way. He was assisted in these concerts by his siblings, and by other musicians including Camille Saint-Saëns. Concerts that became annual and drew in family and colleagues can be read as a small, loyal circle around a private musician.
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On 30 November 1813 in Paris, as Charles-Valentin Morhange.
A set of études, Op. 39, published in 1857, idiomatic of Alkan’s style with large, almost orchestral-sounding chords and fast-paced scale configurations.
Concerts that became an annual event, with occasional interruptions caused by Alkan’s health, until 1880 or possibly beyond; his siblings and other musicians, including Camille Saint-Saëns, assisted.