Charles-Valentin Alkan (November 30 1813–March 29 1888) was a French composer and one of the greatest virtuoso pianists of his day. His attachment to his Jewish origins is displayed both in his life and his work. He entered the Paris Conservatoire at the age of six, earning many awards, and as an adult became a famous virtuoso and teacher. Although early in his life he was socially active and good friends with prominent musicians and artists including Eugène Delacroix, Franz Liszt and Frédéric Chopin, he gradually withdrew from the concert platform after 1848, and he lived a reclusive life in Paris until his death.
Alkan was born Charles-Valentin Morhange on November 30, 1813 in Paris, rue des Blancs-Manteaux, to Alkan Morhange (1780–1855) and Julie Morhange née Abraham. He was the second of six children, one elder sister and four younger brothers, and his father supported the family as the proprietor of a private music school in Le Marais, the Jewish quarter of Paris. Alkan did not marry; but, at an early age, he and his siblings adopted their father's first name as their last (and were known by this during their studies at the Paris Conservatoire.
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. He was a favorite of his teacher, 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 prizes in piano, harmony, and organ, and Luigi Cherubini, director of the Conservatoire, described his technique and ability as extraordinary. At the age of seven-and-a-half he gave his first public performance, appearing as a violinist; his first public performance as a pianist took place at the age of twelve when he performed several of his own compositions in a concert in a private home. His opus 1 dates from 1828, when he was 14 years old.
In his twenties, he taught and played concerts in elegant social circles, and was a friend of Franz Liszt, George Sand, Victor Hugo and, later, Anton Rubinstein. By 1838, at just 25 years old, Alkan had reached the peak of his career. He often performed with Chopin, and was famed as a virtuoso rivaling Liszt, Sigismond Thalberg, and Friedrich Kalkbrenner. Liszt once stated that Alkan had the finest piano technique of anyone he knew. At this time, (which coincides with the birth and childhood of his presumed son, Elie-Miriam Delaborde), he withdrew into private study and composition for six years, returning to the concert platform in 1844. In the 1840s, he lived next to Frédéric Chopin, and after Chopin died in 1849, many of his students transferred to Alkan.
In 1848 he faced a major disappointment when he was passed over for the position of head of the piano department in the Conservatoire upon Zimmerman's retirement; Alkan expected, and lobbied strongly for, the appointment, but Daniel Auber, the head of the Conservatoire, replaced Zimmerman with Antoine Marmontel, a pupil of Alkan. Deep disappointment arising from this incident may account for his reluctance to perform in public thereafter. He was appointed organist at the Paris Temple in 1851, but resigned the post almost immediately, and apart from two concerts given in 1853, he withdrew, in spite of his early fame and technical accomplishment, into virtual seclusion for some twenty-five years.
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021 Alkan Etude Op39 No12