New EMOTICON!!!!!!!!!!

[dnephi]

Lol it's the devil!

[dnephi]

Oh come on.  It should be used whenever someone says something really bad...

[henrah]

What piece is it from?

[Kassaa]

What piece is it from?

untitledml6.png

Strange name huh, I have no idea who the composer is.

[dnephi]

What piece is it from?

Oh lol.  From 20 Ans., Quasi Faust, Movement II from Alkan's Grande Sonate "Les Quatres Ages."  You should learn it, truly.

[henrah]

Is it more difficult that Rach's prelude Op.23 No.5 in Gminor? If so, then perhaps not. I mean, I've heard some pretty crazy Alkan! Is this movement quite slow in comparison?

[cziffra]

Is it more difficult that Rach's prelude Op.23 No.5 in Gminor? If so, then perhaps not. I mean, I've heard some pretty crazy Alkan! Is this movement quite slow in comparison?

haha,  no where near slow

[pianistimo]

how do we know you didn't draw it in.  well, it does lead to an augmented fourth in the bass.  it's like a sign right before the devil's chord comes in.  a sort of preparation - like the last gong.  alkan was like that, wasn't he.  too bad the bookcases fell in on him.
*notice the triple forte is on the same previous note.  notation in this piece is everything.  it's the sinister deceit of how it looks on the page.  it would tend to make one play it differently and with a differnt sound.

[ahinton]

how do we know you didn't draw it in.  well, it does lead to an augmented fourth in the bass.  it's like a sign right before the devil's chord comes in.  a sort of preparation - like the last gong.  alkan was like that, wasn't he.  too bad the bookcases fell in on him.

You don't seriously still believe that utter and unproveable garbage, do you?!

I don't think that even Hitler believed that yarn - otherwise he'd surely have had all good white tall blue-eyed Aryans (i.e. Norwegians, but we'll draw a politically correct non-Arabic veil over that) press-ganged into making bookcases by the (six) million...

Best,

Alistair

[henrah]

So Alkan didn't die from a bookcase falling on top of him?

[debussy symbolism]

Greetings.

Most probably not, according to what I have read. He was actually quite ill at that time, so conclusions can be drawn from that. I am not certain, but positive in my recollection of the material I have read concerning Alkan's life. Would like to read more though. Love to learn.

[ahinton]

So Alkan didn't die from a bookcase falling on top of him?

Got it in one!

There has never been any evidence that this story is anything other than the a myth of the kind that once endeavoured to persuade certain readers of past editions of Baker's Biographical Dictionary of Musicians that Sorabji lived "in a castle he owned in Scotland"...

Best,

Alistair

[henrah]

   Sorabji didn't live in a castle he owned in Scotland!?!? 


probably getting bored of this aren't you?

[dnephi]

Lol it's the devil!

[henrah]

Shame on you dnephi, shame!

[dnephi]

Shame on you dnephi, shame!

https://img99.imageshack.us/img99/8076/untitledml6.png

[henrah]

For shame!

[nortti]

It's a spider.

[mikey6]

Sorabji lived "in a castle he owned in Scotland"...

Wow! How can someone afford to buy a castle? was he descended from royalty?

[jakev2.0]

I used to be the Webmaster of a now defunct Website called The Alkan Site. One of the more worthwile pages on my site addressed the controversy behind Alkan's death. I emailed a conductor by the name of Mark Starr who kindly provided a detailed answer to the question. The following is the excerpt from my page:

The mystery of Alkan's death was resolved definitively about a decade ago by the French Societé Alkan. A French musicologist (possibly Brigitte Sappey) discovered a long detailed letter by one of Alkan's female piano students, who arrived at Alkan's teaching studio for her lesson just hours after Alkan had expired. In the letter she elaborates that Alkan did indeed fall and injure himself while he was trying to retrieve something on a shelf. He had climbed up on a hall coat-and-hat stand - a typical, large fixture in many 19th Century French homes. Alkan lost his balance and fell - and books did fall on top of him (the student's letter makes no mention of the Talmud). However, it was the fall and not the books that severely injured him.

Alkan did not die right away. A doctor was sent for, arrived, and began treating Alkan's injuries. But as the final portrait of Alkan makes clear, by 1888 he was a very frail, old man. He eventually succumbed to his injuries and died several hours later.

The gothic detail of Alkan having been crushed by his copy of the Talmud appears to be a colorful invention of one of the pianists in Alkan's small circle of friends, probably Isidor Philip. In poor health in his final years, Alkan already knew his days were numbered. In the few months preceding his death, he got all his affairs in order -- including the making of an incredibly detailed will. He also had his manuscripts bound in leather (these invaluable documents have disappeared, never yet to surface.)

The amusing detail about the Talmud is apocryphal. Instead of complaining about the fabrication of this detail, it is better to be grateful to whoever made it up. Limited as Alkan's fame has been in the past, this is the one factoid that has spread his renown among the general public and even among musicians. The more interest in Alkan, and the more people that remember his name (and listen to his music), the better. - Mark Starr

[debussy symbolism]

That's interesting. I have read that Alkan's health has been frail during that time, and that he was actually sick. Sucks how a fall can injure you.

[henrah]

Sucks that we don't have his leather bounded manuscripts!

[ahinton]

Wow! How can someone afford to buy a castle? was he descended from royalty?

It's a myth! - one of an entire series of them, in fact, that were once put about concerning Sorabji; I'd thought that this would have been obvious from the context of what I've written...

Best,

Alistair

[henrah]

Why don't we start our own myth about a composer?

How about: Dreyschok once tried to murder Liszt, but Liszt convinced him not to and they both decided never to speak of it again.....until now!!!

[ahinton]

Why don't we start our own myth about a composer?

Perhaps because there have been more than enough of them already! I speak as one who has had to expend a fair amount of time and energy endeavouring to explode the various Sorabjian ones for a good many years, after their having caught on and somehow been allowed to establish and develop themselves over a good many years before this!...

Best,

Alistair

[henrah]

Mind indulging us in some of these Sorabjian rumours?

[mephisto]

Just ask Sarabji, he is still alive!

[pianistimo]

jakev2.0,  that was interesting.  thanks.  sometimes if you only read one book on a composer - you're missing out on the inside scoop.  and, of course, sources matter (as ahinton says).  well, anyways - emoticon looks like the sun to me.  was it only alkan that used that.  did it come from the talmud?  just wondering.  he HAD a talmud.  it's just that it didn't fall on him , right?  the sun was supposed to symbolize death and rebirth.

alkan impresses me as one who would be interested in cabbala (jewish mystery sort of stuff) as he was born a jew.  he and  his brothers used their father's first name as their last name (alkan).  his real name was charles-valentin morhange - born in paris.

www.newcriterion.com/archive/11/may93/alkan.htm 

[mikey6]

It's a myth! - one of an entire series of them, in fact, that were once put about concerning Sorabji; I'd thought that this would have been obvious from the context of what I've written...

Best,

Alistair

I was in fact joking. Perhaps after my post would have made that point.

[ahinton]

I was in fact joking. Perhaps after my post would have made that point.

Yes, I know that. The fact that someone then asked for some of these myths to be indulged nevertheless suggests (to me, at least) that there remains some interest in them, sadly. Not to worry...

Best,

Alistair

[tompilk]

Just ask Sarabji, he is still alive!

lol, playing with Elvis Presley in Carnegie Hall next week... 

[ahinton]

lol, playing with Elvis Presley in Carnegie Hall next week... 

Not on Saturday 11th, I hope; that'd be a clash of dates that I could well do without!

Best,

Alistair