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Perry was nominated for a Nickelodeon Kids ' Choice Award in 2014 under the category of Favorite Animated Animal Sidekick .
= = In other media = =
In addition to the main television series , Perry has appeared in several pieces of Phineas and Ferb merchandise . To date , he has appeared in all Phineas and Ferb novelizations , published by Disney Press . The character has been adapted into a 20 inch plush toy , released by The Walt Disney Company . The plush has a button on its hand that allows it to emit Perry 's signature chattering noise . Certain t @-@ shirts based on the series released by both Disney and the online retail website Zazzle also display Perry and the phrase " Hey , where 's Perry ? " which most characters like Phineas , Isabella , Stacy , Irving , Ferb , and Lawrence utter when Perry goes to Major Monogram in his secret lair in almost every episode . There also is a T @-@ Shirt with Perry 's face . Perry appears in the Nintendo DS video game based on the series , simply titled Phineas and Ferb , where a mini @-@ game involves Perry stopping Doofenshmirtz 's latest evil scheme . As of 1 April 2014 , Perry is also a playable character in the video game Disney Infinity .
= Amylostereum =
Amylostereum is the single genus in the fungal family Amylostereaceae . The genus currently comprises four saprotrophic and parasitic species , which live off living or dead wood . The Amylostereaceae cause white rot in the wood by disintegrating the tissue component lignin . They produce crust @-@ like , partially wavy fruit bodies on the surface of infested trees , which are similar to those produced by Stereum species .
There are four described species in the Amylostereaceae : A. chailletii ( the type ) , A. areolatum , A. ferreum and A. laevigatum . The species were initially considered part of Stereum until mycologist Jacques Boidin found atypical microscopic differences between them . Forty years after his extensive researches from 1958 , Boidin reclassified Amylostereum into its own family .
Three Amylostereum species are symbionts of wood wasps in the genera Sirex , Urocerus , and Xoanon , which infest conifers . The female wood wasps deposit their eggs together with fungal spores and mucus in trees , and the fungus is eaten by the wasp 's larva as food . The fungus propagates vegetatively through the formation of asexual spores in newly emerged females that are stored in special structures adapted for the transport of symbiotic fungi . The A. areolatum – Sirex woodwasp ( S. noctilio ) symbiont complex has been studied extensively because of its potential to cause substantial economic losses in the forestry industry , particularly in non @-@ native regions .
= = Taxonomy and history of research = =
Amylostereaceae species were for a long time classified in the genus Stereum , based primary on the layered structure of the fruit body and the similar physiological activity . Mycologist Jacques Boidin separated Amylosterum from Stereum in 1958 , justifying this decision by explaining that microscopic differences such as amyloid spores and encrusted cystidia were sufficiently distinct to warrant recognition as a new genus . Although the type species of the genus ( today called A. chailletii ) was initially named Trichocarpus ambiguus , the name Trichocarpus had already been used for a genus in the flowering plant family Malvaceae . Boidin thus chose the genus name Amylostereum , referring to the amyloid spores .
Based on DNA analysis , Boidin in 1998 moved Amylostereum into a new , monotypic family , the Amylostereaceae , which he attributed to the Hericiales order . Later studies , however , supported the initial classification in the Russulales .
= = = Classification = = =
The classification of the Amylostereaceae is not completely resolved . The next closest relatives might be – depending on the research – either Echinodontium tinctorium and most other species of the genus Echinodontium , or Artomyces pyxidatus . Most of the previous DNA analysis results suggest a narrow relation to Echinodontium , but several results of studies partially contradict this conclusion . Only the classification to the Russulales is regarded as correct . Some authors have suggested that Amylostereum should be placed in the family Echinodontiaceae .
The similarities between A. chailletii and A. areolatum have caused some confusion regarding their placement in the genus . As only the size of their fruit bodies differ from each other in appearance , researcher German Josef Krieglsteiner assumed that both are the same species in different age stages . Experiments with pure cultures of the fungi , however , showed that the mycelia of A. chailletii , A. laevigatum and A. ferreum were partially compatible to each other , but the mycelium of A. areolatum was incompatible to other species . Boidin believes that the common ancestor of all Amylostereum fungi used yellowwoods as a host . This genus of conifers was native in Europe until the Paleogene and Neogene Periods ( 66 million to 2 @.@ 6 million years ago ) , but became extinct there , so the Amylostereum fungi specialized on other conifers and differentiated into several species . Only A. ferreum specialized on yellowwoods in South America .
Compatibility tests as well as molecular analysis indicated that A. areolatum separated very early from other Amylostereum fungi . The other three species separated later from each other and are thus partially compatible to each other . A. ferreum and A. laevigatum produced in 59 % of all cases a common mycelium , A. ferreum and A. chailletii only in 44 % . There is an undescribed species in Amylostereum ; according to DNA analysis , it stands between A. laevigatum and A. ferreum . This is remarkable , as these fungi originated from Mycetangae ( storing organs of Platypodinae ) of a North American wood wasp , while A. laevigatum has never been seen as symbiont of wood wasps , neither in North American nor in Europe . The fungus possibly represents a separated species or a subtaxon of A. laevigatum . As A. areolatum and A. chailletii mainly reproduce asexually through the symbiosis of wood wasps , the genetic variability within these species is relatively low .
= = Description = =
= = = Macroscopic = = =
The Amylostereaceae produce crust @-@ like , dry and leathery @-@ corky fruit bodies on the bark of infested trees . The fruit bodies are 0 @.@ 5 – 1 @.@ 5 mm ( 0 @.@ 02 – 0 @.@ 06 in ) thick , irregularly shaped and are able to cover a large surface on the bark or otherwise can appear as small spots . They lie directly on the bark . The ochrous , grey or brownish fruit body ( hymenium ) has a smooth to warty surface texture and is turned outwards . It is bordered by a highly bent and wavy ( effuso @-@ reflex ) edge on all species except A. laevigatum , which has a churlish surface ( a tomentum ) and is usually dirty @-@ brown coloured . In some species , the tomentum stands clearly above and forms a kind of roof above the fruit body ; if it completely surrounds this roof , there might appear cuplike shapes .
= = = Microscopic = = =
The Amylostereaceae possess a dimitic trama , meaning that there are in its mycelia two kinds of hyphae . The first type is brownish skeletal hyphae , which provide stability to the fruit body . These hyphae run parallel to the bark and often have hairpin @-@ like turns , so that the loops form thick @-@ walled , cystidium @-@ like structures , the so @-@ called pseudocystidia . The second type is generative hyphae . They are translucent ( hyaline ) and serve to promote the growth of the fungus . Genuine cystidia arise in the hymenium and the layer directly below , the subhymenium . Both pseudocystidia and cystidia are encrusted , meaning that they feature crystal @-@ like structures on the top .
With the exception of A. laevigatum , all species have a thin separating layer , the cortex , between the hymenium and the tomentum . A cortex is also present on many Stereum fungi ( on a broader front ) and serves to bend up the fruit body . As this cortex is missing on A. laevigatum , its fruit body lies flat on the bark .
The basidia are 15 – 25 × 3 @.@ 5 – 5 @.@ 5 µm and have a slim , club @-@ like shape . Each basidium features four sterigmata , each of which bear one spore . The spores ' shape is slimly ellipsoidal or cylindrical . Their surface is smooth and their walls are thin . Although they are colourless and hyaline , the spores are amyloid , meaning they will turn bluish or purple when stained with Melzer 's reagent . This characteristic differs from other very similar species , and this gave the genus its name .
= = Distribution = =
The range of the Amylostereaceae originally comprised only Holarctic regions , including North America and Eurasia , and the Neotropics , with Central and South America . The introduction of A. areolatum and its symbionts , the Sirex woodwasps , saw the spread of the genus to all continents except Antarctica .
Amylostereum chailletiiz is common in the temperate regions of North America and Eurasia . A. laevigatum can be also found in temperate Eurasia , but it is unclear how broadly this species is distributed in North America . A. areolatum is originally native in North Africa and Eurasia ; it was however distributed through the 20th century in Australia , New Zealand , Southern Africa as well as in South and North America . Only A. ferreum is originally native in the tropics and is common in Brazil and the Caribbean .
= = Ecology = =
Amylostereaceae usually infest only dead or cut down conifer wood . Three species – A. areolatum , A. laevigatum and A. chailletii – may also establish a symbiosis with wood wasps ( Siricidae ) , which beside freshly logged trees also infest living trees and infect them with fungi . Symbioses have been recorded with several species : Sirex noctilio , S. juvencus , S. nitobei , S. cyaneus , S. edwarsii , S. nitidus , and , in Japan , Urocerus antennatus and Xoanon matsumurae . Wasps of the genera Sirex and Urocerus store oidia ( the hypha of fungi split up to spores ) in special abdominal organs . The wood wasps infect trees by splashing a phytotoxic secretion below the bark and at the same time injecting fungal spores into the hole . The secretion weakens the tree and temporarily diminishes its immune system , whereby the fungus can spread along the xylem . The infection with Amylostereaceae fulfill two functions for the wasps : it provides the larvae food , because the white rot softens the wood ; at the same time , the mycelia of the fungi serves as food for the larvae . After the larvae pupate , it absorbs the mycelia of the Amylostereaceae into its body to oviposit together with its eggs . The fungus benefits from the symbiosis as it spreads faster and more effectively than through airborne spores and furthermore does not need to develop fruit bodies . A. ferreum is the only Amylosterum species that has not been associated with any woodwasps .
= = = Host spectrum = = =
The host spectrum of the Amylostereaceae comprises several , partially very different genera of Coniferae . A. chailletii usually infests Pinaceae such as firs ( Abies ) and spruces ( Picea ) , but also cedars ( Cedrus ) and Douglas firs ( Pseudotsuga ) . A. areolatum has a similar host spectrum , which uses mainly firs , Japanese cedars ( Cryptomeria ) , larches ( Larix ) , spruces , pines ( Pinus ) and Douglas firs as hosts . While spruces dominate as hosts in the native habitat , this species is more common in pines on other locations . The host spectrum of A. laevigatum comprises Cupressaceae such as junipers ( Juniperus ) or cypresses ( Cupressus ) and the English yew ( Taxus baccata ) . A. ferreum is , however , only common on neotropic yellowwoods ( Podocarpus ) .
= = = Symptoms of infestation = = =
The Amylostereaceae are white rot pathogens . They disintegrate the lignin of the host wood , whereby the infested wood parts become less stable and take a fibrous structure . The wood bleaches as fungal enzymes break down and remove the brown @-@ pigmented lignin . The distribution in wood takes place mainly along the transport channels in the xylem . If the wood is crosscut , the red rot is vertically positioned , on which bleached , infested areas contrast with intact wood . Symptoms of infestion by the symbiotic partner — wood wasps — include circular exit holes in the crust and acute stress through dryness , common in hanging , falling or tanning needles .
= = Ecological and economical importance = =
In their native habitat , all Amylostereum species have a minor importance as forest pests . The infestation through wood wasps does not assume greater dimensions and is , compared with other pests , almost insignificant . The infection rates are even lower during sexual reproduction via fruit bodies , as the wasps do not play a part in the process . Furthermore , the Amylostereum fungi are alone often incapable of infesting healthy trees . They thus mostly act as saprobiontics . Pine monocultures in Australia , New Zealand , Africa and South America were shown to be susceptible to the Sirex woodwasp ( Sirex noctilio ) , which was introduced there and which is associated with A. areolatum . The wasp 's phytotoxic secretion , its larvae and the fungus combine very effectively with each other and contribute to forest decline rates of up to 80 % . This is mainly owing to the poor water and nutrient supply of the trees , which can poorly reconcile the drought stress caused by infestation . S. noctilio was detected in North America in the 2000s ( decade ) ; in Canada alone , the total economic loss to the forestry industry caused by the Sirex – Amylostereum symbiosis could be as high as $ 254 million per year for the next 20 years .
As a countermeasure , cultures of the nematode Deladenus siricidicola have been used as biological control to protect trees since the 1980s . This parasite feeds on the mycelia of A. areolatum and is therefore a food competitor of wood wasp larvae . Where S. noctilio larvae are present , the parasite infects and sterilizes the eggs of female wasps , causing them to be infertile . These infertile females lay infected eggs into new trees and thus spread the nematode . This control method has proven to be relatively successful to combat the Sirex – Amylostereum complex . In the Southern Hemisphere , where the technique has been widely employed , reductions of parasitism levels of 70 % – 100 % have been achieved .
= Charles @-@ Valentin Alkan =
Charles @-@ Valentin Alkan ( French : [ ʃaʁl valɑ ̃ tɛ ̃ alkɑ ̃ ] ; 30 November 1813 – 29 March 1888 ) was a French @-@ Jewish composer and virtuoso pianist . At the height of his fame in the 1830s and 1840s he was , alongside his friends and colleagues Frédéric Chopin and Franz Liszt , among the leading pianists in Paris , a city in which he spent virtually his entire life .
Alkan earned many awards at the Conservatoire de Paris , which he entered before he was six . His career in the salons and concert halls of Paris was marked by his occasional long withdrawals from public performance , for personal reasons . Although he had a wide circle of friends and acquaintances in the Parisian artistic world , including Eugène Delacroix and George Sand , from 1848 he began to adopt a reclusive life style , while continuing with his compositions – virtually all of which are for the keyboard . During this period he published , among other works , his collections of large @-@ scale studies in all the major keys ( Op. 35 ) and all the minor keys ( Op. 39 ) . The latter includes his Symphony for Solo Piano ( Op. 39 , nos . 4 – 7 ) and Concerto for Solo Piano ( Op. 39 , nos . 8 – 10 ) , which are often considered among his masterpieces and are of great musical and technical complexity . Alkan emerged from self @-@ imposed retirement in the 1870s to give a series of recitals that were attended by a new generation of French musicians .
Alkan 's attachment to his Jewish origins is displayed both in his life and his work . He was the first composer to incorporate Jewish melodies in art music . Fluent in Hebrew and Greek , he devoted much time to a complete new translation of the Bible into French . This work , like many of his musical compositions , is now lost . Alkan never married , but his presumed son Élie @-@ Miriam Delaborde was , like Alkan , a virtuoso performer on both the piano and the pedal piano , and edited a number of the elder composer 's works .
Following his death ( which according to persistent but unfounded legend was caused by a falling bookcase ) Alkan 's music became neglected , supported by only a few musicians including Ferruccio Busoni , Egon Petri and Kaikhosru Sorabji . From the late 1960s onwards , led by Raymond Lewenthal and Ronald Smith , many pianists have recorded his music and brought it back into the repertoire .
= = Life = =
= = = Family = = =
Alkan was born Charles @-@ Valentin Morhange on 30 November 1813 at 1 , Rue de Braque in Paris to Alkan Morhange ( 1780 – 1855 ) and Julie Morhange , née Abraham . Alkan Morhange was descended from a long @-@ established Jewish Ashkenazic community in the region of Metz ; the village of Morhange is located about 30 miles ( 48 km ) from the city of Metz . Charles @-@ Valentin was the second of six children – one elder sister and four younger brothers ; his birth certificate indicates that he was named after a neighbour who witnessed the birth .
Alkan Morhange supported the family as a musician and later as the proprietor of a private music school in le Marais , the Jewish quarter of Paris . At an early age , Charles @-@ Valentin and his siblings adopted their father 's first name as their last ( and were known by this during their studies at the Conservatoire de Paris and subsequent careers ) . His brother Napoléon ( 1826 – 1906 ) became professor of solfège at the Conservatoire , his brother Maxim ( 1818 – 1897 ) had a career writing light music for Parisian theatres , and his sister , Céleste ( 1812 – 1897 ) , was also a pianist . His brother Ernest ( 1816 – 1876 ) was a professional flautist , while the youngest brother Gustave ( 1827 – 1882 ) was to publish various dances for the piano .
= = = Prodigy ( 1819 – 1831 ) = = =
Alkan was a child prodigy . He entered the Conservatoire de Paris at an unusually early age , and studied both piano and organ . The records of his auditions survive in the Archives Nationales in Paris . At his solfège audition on 3 July 1819 , when he was just over 5 years 7 months , the examiners noted Alkan ( who is referred to even at this early date as " Alkan ( Valentin ) " , and whose age is given incorrectly as six @-@ and @-@ a @-@ half ) as " having a pretty little voice " . The profession of Alkan Morhange is given as " music @-@ paper ruler " . At Charles @-@ Valentin 's piano audition on 6 October 1820 , when he was nearly seven ( and where he is named as " Alkan ( Morhange ) Valentin " ) , the examiners comment " This child has amazing abilities . "
Alkan became a favourite of his teacher at the Conservatoire , Joseph Zimmermann , who also taught Georges Bizet , César Franck , Charles Gounod , and Ambroise Thomas . At the age of seven , Alkan won a first prize for solfège and in later years prizes in piano ( 1824 ) , harmony ( 1827 ) , and organ ( 1834 ) . At the age of seven @-@ and @-@ a @-@ half he gave his first public performance , appearing as a violinist and playing an air and variations by Pierre Rode . Alkan 's Opus 1 , a set of variations for piano based on a theme by Daniel Steibelt , dates from 1828 , when he was 14 years old . At about this time he also undertook teaching duties at his father 's school . Antoine Marmontel , one of Charles @-@ Valentin 's pupils there , who was later to become his bête noire , wrote of the school :
Young children , mostly Jewish , were given elementary musical instruction and also learnt the first rudiments of French grammar ... [ There ] I received a few lessons from the young Alkan , four years my senior ... I see once more ... that really parochial environment where the talent of Valentin Alkan was formed and where his hard @-@ working youth blossomed ... It was like a preparatory school , a juvenile annexe of the Conservatoire .
From about 1826 Alkan began to appear as a piano soloist in leading Parisian salons , including those of the Princesse de la Moskova ( widow of Marshal Ney ) , and the Duchesse de Montebello . He was probably introduced to these venues by his teacher Zimmermann . At the same time , Alkan Morhange arranged concerts featuring Charles @-@ Valentin at public venues in Paris , in association with leading musicians including the sopranos Giuditta Pasta and Henriette Sontag , the cellist Auguste Franchomme and the violinist Lambert Massart , with whom Alkan gave concerts in a rare visit out of France to Brussels in 1827 . In 1829 , at the age of 15 , Alkan was appointed joint professor of solfège – among his pupils in this class a few years later was his brother Napoléon . In this manner Alkan 's musical career was launched well before the July Revolution of 1830 , which initiated a period in which " keyboard virtuosity ... completely dominated professional music making " in the capital , attracting from all over Europe pianists who , as Heinrich Heine wrote , invaded " like a plague of locusts swarming to pick Paris clean " . Alkan nonetheless continued his studies and in 1831 enrolled in the organ classes of François Benoist , from whom he may have learnt to appreciate the music of Johann Sebastian Bach , of whom Benoist was then one of the few French advocates .
= = = Early fame ( 1831 – 1837 ) = = =
Throughout the early years of the July Monarchy , Alkan continued to teach and play at public concerts and in eminent social circles . He became a friend of many who were active in the world of the arts in Paris , including Franz Liszt ( who had been based there since 1827 ) , George Sand , and Victor Hugo . It is not clear exactly when he first met Frédéric Chopin , who arrived in Paris in September 1831 . In 1832 Alkan took the solo role in his first Concerto da camera for piano and strings at the Conservatoire . In the same year , aged 19 , he was elected to the influential Société Académique des Enfants d 'Apollon ( Society of the Children of Apollo ) , whose members included Luigi Cherubini , Fromental Halévy , the conductor François Habeneck , and Liszt , who had been elected in 1824 at the age of twelve . Between 1833 and 1836 Alkan participated at many of the Society 's concerts . Alkan twice competed unsuccessfully for the Prix de Rome , in 1832 and again in 1834 ; the cantatas which he wrote for the competition , Hermann et Ketty and L 'Entrée en loge , have remained unpublished and unperformed .
In 1834 Alkan began his friendship with the Spanish musician Santiago Masarnau , which was to result in an extended and often intimate correspondence which only came to light in 2009 . Like virtually all of Alkan 's correspondence , this exchange is now one @-@ sided ; all of his papers ( including his manuscripts and his extensive library ) were either destroyed by Alkan himself , as is clear from his will , or became lost after his death . Later in 1834 Alkan made a visit to England , where he gave recitals and where the second Concerto da camera was performed in Bath by its dedicatee Henry Ibbot Field ; it was published in London together with some solo piano pieces . A letter to Masarnau and a notice in a French journal that Alkan played in London with Moscheles and Cramer , indicate that he returned to England in 1835 . Later that year , Alkan , having found a place of retreat at Piscop outside Paris , completed his first truly original works for solo piano , the Twelve Caprices , published in 1837 as Opp . 12 , 13 , 15 and 16 . Op. 16 , the Trois scherzi de bravoure , is dedicated to Masarnau . In January 1836 , Liszt recommended Alkan for the post of Professor at the Geneva Conservatoire , which Alkan declined , and in 1837 he wrote an enthusiastic review of Alkan 's Op. 15 Caprices in the Revue et gazette musicale .
= = = At the Square d 'Orléans ( 1837 – 1848 ) = = =
From 1837 , Alkan lived in the Square d 'Orléans in Paris , which was inhabited by numerous celebrities of the time including Marie Taglioni , Alexandre Dumas , George Sand , and Chopin . Chopin and Alkan were personal friends and often discussed musical topics , including a work on musical theory that Chopin proposed to write . By 1838 , at 25 years old , Alkan had reached a peak of his career . He frequently gave recitals , his more mature works had begun to be published , and he often appeared in concerts with Liszt and Chopin . On 23 April 1837 Alkan took part in Liszt 's farewell concert in Paris , together with the 14 @-@ year @-@ old César Franck and the virtuoso Johann Peter Pixis . On 3 March 1838 , at a concert at the piano @-@ maker Pape , Alkan played with Chopin , Zimmerman , and Chopin 's pupil Adolphe Gutmann in a performance of Alkan 's transcription , now lost , of two movements of Beethoven 's Seventh Symphony for two pianos , eight hands .
At this point , for a period which coincided with the birth and childhood of his natural son , Élie @-@ Miriam Delaborde ( 1839 – 1913 ) , Alkan withdrew into private study and composition for six years , returning to the concert platform only in 1844 . Alkan neither asserted or denied his paternity of Delaborde , which , however , his contemporaries seemed to assume . Marmontel wrote cryptically in a biography of Delaborde that " [ his ] birth is a page from a novel in the life of a great artist " . Alkan gave early piano lessons to Delaborde , who was to follow his natural father as a keyboard virtuoso .
Alkan 's return to the concert platform in 1844 was greeted with enthusiasm by critics , who noted the " admirable perfection " of his technique , and lauded him as " a model of science and inspiration " , a " sensation " and an " explosion " . They also commented on the attending celebrities including Liszt , Chopin , Sand and Dumas . In the same year he published his piano étude Le chemin de fer , which critics , following Ronald Smith , believe to be the first representation in music of a steam engine . Between 1844 and 1848 Alkan produced a series of virtuoso pieces , the 25 Préludes Op. 31 for piano or organ , and the sonata Op. 33 Les quatre âges . Following an Alkan recital in 1848 , the composer Giacomo Meyerbeer was so impressed that he invited the pianist , whom he considered " a most remarkable artist " , to prepare the piano arrangement of the overture to his forthcoming opera , Le prophète . Meyerbeer heard and approved Alkan 's arrangement of the overture for four hands ( which Alkan played with his brother Napoléon ) in 1849 ; published in 1850 , it is the only record of the overture , which was scrapped during rehearsals at the Opéra .
= = = Retreat ( 1848 – 1872 ) = = =
In 1848 Alkan was bitterly disappointed when the head of the Conservatoire , Daniel Auber , replaced the retiring Zimmermann with the mediocre Marmontel as head of the Conservatoire piano department , a position which Alkan had eagerly anticipated , and for which he had strongly lobbied with the support of Sand , Dumas , and many other leading figures . A disgusted Alkan described the appointment in a letter to Sand as " the most incredible , the most shameful nomination " ; and Delacroix noted in his journal " By his confrontation with Auber , [ Alkan ] has been very put out and will doubtless continue to be so . " The upset arising from this incident may account for Alkan 's reluctance to perform in public in the ensuing period . His withdrawal was also influenced by the death of Chopin ; in 1850 he wrote to Masarnau " I have lost the strength to be of any economic or political use " , and lamented " the death of poor Chopin , another blow which I felt deeply . " Chopin , on his deathbed in 1849 , had indicated his respect for Alkan by bequeathing him his unfinished work on a piano method , intending him to complete it , and after Chopin 's death a number of his students transferred to Alkan . After giving two concerts in 1853 , Alkan withdrew , in spite of his fame and technical accomplishment , into virtual seclusion for some twenty years .
Little is known of this period of Alkan 's life , other than that apart from composing he was immersed in the study of the Bible and the Talmud . Throughout this period Alkan continued his correspondence with Ferdinand Hiller , whom he had probably met in Paris in the 1830s , and with Masarnau , from which some insights can be gained . It appears that Alkan completed a full translation into French , now lost , of both the Old Testament and the New Testament , from their original languages . In 1865 , he wrote to Hiller : " Having translated a good deal of the Apocrypha , I 'm now onto the second Gospel which I am translating from the Syriac ... In starting to translate the New Testament , I was suddenly struck by a singular idea – that you have to be Jewish to be able to do it . "
Despite his seclusion from society , this period saw the composition and publication of many of Alkan 's major piano works , including the Douze études dans tous les tons mineurs , Op. 39 ( 1857 ) , the Sonatine , Op. 61 ( 1861 ) , the 49 Esquisses , Op. 63 ( 1861 ) , and the five collections of Chants ( 1857 – 1872 ) , as well as the Sonate de concert for cello and piano , Op. 47 ( 1856 ) . These did not pass unremarked ; Hans von Bülow , for example , gave a laudatory review of the Op. 35 Études in the Neue Berliner Musikzeitung in 1857 , the year in which they were published in Berlin , commenting that " Alkan is unquestionably the most eminent representative of the modern piano school at Paris . The virtuoso 's disinclination to travel , and his firm reputation as a teacher , explain why , at present , so little attention has been given to his work in Germany . "
From the early 1850s Alkan began to turn his attention seriously to the pedal piano ( pédalier ) . Alkan gave his first public performances on the pédalier to great critical acclaim in 1852 . From 1859 onwards he began to publish pieces designated as " for organ or piano à pédalier " .