What is Charles-Valentin Alkan?
[[File:Charles-Henri-Valentin Morhange dit Alkan.jpg|right|thumb|Charles-Valentin Alkan]] '''Charles-Valentin Alkan''' (30 November 1813 - 29 March 1888) was a [[French people|French]]-[[Jewish]] [[composer]] and [[piano|pianist]]. His real name was Morhange. He was a [[virtuoso]] [[piano|pianist]] who wrote a lot of piano music. Most of the pieces he wrote are extremely difficult to play. [[Franz Liszt]], [[Ferrucio Busoni|Busoni]] and other people of his day thought he was a great composer. Despite this, most people have only discovered in recent years how good his music is. His piano music is mostly [[tonality|tonal]], but it changes [[key (music)|key]] in unusual ways. The story was told by many people that he died when a bookcase collapsed on top of him, but that story is proved not to be true. From the 1860s to 1873 he did not show in public very much, and composed some of his works. Alkan was a close friend of [[Frédéric Chopin]] and [[Franz Liszt]]. ==Other websites== *{{commonscat-inline|Charles-Valentin Alkan|Charles-Valentin Alkan}} {{bio-stub}} {{DEFAULTSORT:Alkan, Charles-Valentin}} [[Category:19th-century French composers]] [[Category:Romantic composers]] [[Category:French pianists]] [[Category:1813 births]] [[Category:1883 deaths]] [[Category:Burials at Montmartre Cemetery, Paris]]