text stringlengths 8 3.87k |
|---|
123.7469482421875 120 WikiText2 |
23550 = = Ecological and economical importance = = |
519.5841674804688 8 WikiText2 |
23551 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 wa... |
42.436946868896484 225 WikiText2 |
23552 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... |
53.29517364501953 126 WikiText2 |
23553 = Charles @-@ Valentin Alkan = |
1890.6685791015625 8 WikiText2 |
23554 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 pianist... |
36.79429626464844 82 WikiText2 |
23555 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 Parisi... |
37.65359878540039 213 WikiText2 |
23556 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 compositio... |
45.0709342956543 107 WikiText2 |
23557 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 ,... |
104.7138900756836 68 WikiText2 |
23558 = = Life = = |
482.776611328125 5 WikiText2 |
23559 = = = Family = = = |
200.63702392578125 7 WikiText2 |
23560 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... |
40.6784782409668 111 WikiText2 |
23561 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 Conser... |
38.88193130493164 151 WikiText2 |
23562 = = = Prodigy ( 1819 – 1831 ) = = = |
82.31320190429688 12 WikiText2 |
23563 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 (... |
52.97428512573242 172 WikiText2 |
23564 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 ) . ... |
43.742122650146484 176 WikiText2 |
23565 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 form... |
135.31407165527344 81 WikiText2 |
23566 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 concer... |
58.93752670288086 251 WikiText2 |
23567 = = = Early fame ( 1831 – 1837 ) = = = |
113.97337341308594 13 WikiText2 |
23568 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 ... |
42.13074493408203 216 WikiText2 |
23569 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 manuscrip... |
55.99510192871094 261 WikiText2 |
23570 = = = At the Square d 'Orléans ( 1837 – 1848 ) = = = |
174.7137451171875 16 WikiText2 |
23571 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 pr... |
39.70412826538086 194 WikiText2 |
23572 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... |
62.11134338378906 120 WikiText2 |
23573 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 , C... |
48.913421630859375 226 WikiText2 |
23574 = = = Retreat ( 1848 – 1872 ) = = = |
113.3852310180664 12 WikiText2 |
23575 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 ... |
43.039329528808594 257 WikiText2 |
23576 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 ... |
34.19496536254883 157 WikiText2 |
23577 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 – ... |
33.97509765625 184 WikiText2 |
23578 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 " . |
66.40577697753906 54 WikiText2 |
23579 = = = Reappearance ( 1873 – 1888 ) = = = |
149.64779663085938 12 WikiText2 |
23580 It is not clear why , in 1873 , Alkan decided to emerge from his self @-@ imposed obscurity to give a series of six Petits Concerts at the Érard piano showrooms . It may have been associated with the developing career of Delaborde , who , returning to Paris in 1867 , soon became a concert fixture , including in ... |
59.05181884765625 188 WikiText2 |
23581 Those encountering Alkan at this phase included the young Vincent d 'Indy , who recalled Alkan 's " skinny , hooked fingers " playing Bach on an Érard pedal piano : " I listened , riveted to the spot by the expressive , crystal @-@ clear playing . " Alkan later played Beethoven 's Op. 110 sonata , of which d 'In... |
127.59986877441406 149 WikiText2 |
23582 The biographer of Chopin , Frederick Niecks , sought Alkan for his recollections in 1880 but was sternly denied access by Alkan 's concierge – " To my ... enquiry when he could be found at home , the reply was a ... decisive ' Never ' . " However , a few days later he found Alkan at Érard 's , and Niecks writes ... |
81.38487243652344 83 WikiText2 |
23583 = = = Death = = = |
162.89071655273438 7 WikiText2 |
23584 According to his death certificate , Alkan died in Paris on 29 March 1888 at the age of 74 . Alkan was buried on 1 April ( Easter Sunday ) in the Jewish section of Montmartre Cemetery , Paris , not far from the tomb of his contemporary Fromental Halévy ; his sister Céleste was later buried in the same tomb . |
42.2353401184082 62 WikiText2 |
23585 For many years it was believed that Alkan met his death when a bookcase toppled over and fell on him as he reached for a volume of the Talmud from a high shelf . This tale , which was circulated by the pianist Isidor Philipp , is dismissed by Hugh Macdonald , who reports the discovery of a contemporary letter by... |
58.920806884765625 160 WikiText2 |
23586 = = Personality = = |
880.6574096679688 5 WikiText2 |
23587 Alkan was described by Marmontel ( who refers to " a regrettable misunderstanding at a moment of our careers in 1848 " ) , as follows : |
191.75250244140625 27 WikiText2 |
23588 " We will not give the portrait of Valentin Alkan from the rear , as in some photographs we have seen . His intelligent and original physiognomy deserves to be taken in profile or head @-@ on . The head is strong ; the deep forehead is that of a thinker ; the mouth large and smiling , the nose regular ; the year... |
139.6934356689453 109 WikiText2 |
23589 Alkan was not always remote or aloof . Chopin describes , in a letter to friend , visiting the theatre with Alkan in 1847 to see the comedian Arnal : " [ Arnal ] tells the audience how he was desperate to pee in a train , but couldn 't get to a toilet before they stopped at Orléans . There wasn 't a single vulga... |
87.13662719726562 120 WikiText2 |
23590 Alkan 's aversion to socialising and publicity , especially following 1850 , appeared to be self @-@ willed . Liszt is reported to have commented to the Danish pianist Frits Hartvigson that " Alkan possessed the finest technique he had ever known , but preferred the life of a recluse . " Stephanie McCallum has s... |
81.19638061523438 74 WikiText2 |
23591 Alkan 's later correspondence contains many despairing comments . In a letter of about 1861 he wrote to Hiller : " I 'm becoming daily more and more misanthropic and misogynous ... nothing worthwhile , good or useful to do ... no one to devote myself to . My situation makes me horridly sad and wretched . Even mu... |
89.09809875488281 133 WikiText2 |
23592 Jack Gibbons writes of Alkan 's personality : " Alkan was an intelligent , lively , humorous and warm person ( all characteristics which feature strongly in his music ) whose only crime seems to have been having a vivid imagination , and whose occasional eccentricities ( mild when compared with the behaviour of ... |
66.53703308105469 118 WikiText2 |
23593 = = Judaism = = |
1113.277587890625 5 WikiText2 |
23594 Alkan grew up in a religiously observant Jewish household . His grandfather Marix Morhange had been a printer of the Talmud in Metz , and was probably a melamed ( Hebrew teacher ) in the Jewish congregation at Paris . Alkan 's widespread reputation as a student of the Old Testament and religion , and the high qu... |
40.06931686401367 193 WikiText2 |
23595 Alkan 's Op. 31 set of Préludes includes a number of pieces based on Jewish subjects , including some titled Prière ( Prayer ) , one preceded by a quote from the Song of Songs , and another titled Ancienne mélodie de la synagogue ( Old synagogue melody ) . The collection is believed to be " the first publication... |
76.98049926757812 199 WikiText2 |
23596 The inventory of Alkan 's apartment made after his death indicates over 75 volumes in Hebrew or related to Judaism , left to his brother Napoléon ( as well as 36 volumes of music manuscript ) . These are all lost . Bequests in his will to the Conservatoire to found prizes for composition of cantatas on Old Testa... |
160.03945922851562 88 WikiText2 |
23597 = = Music = = |
675.265380859375 5 WikiText2 |
23598 = = = Influences = = = |
152.41775512695312 7 WikiText2 |
23599 Brigitte François @-@ Sappey points out the frequency with which Alkan has been compared to Berlioz , both by his contemporaries and later . She mentions that Hans von Bülow called him " the Berlioz of the piano " , while Schumann , in criticising the Op. 15 Romances , claimed that Alkan merely " imitated Berlio... |
Subsets and Splits
No community queries yet
The top public SQL queries from the community will appear here once available.