Charles-Valentin Alkan (1813–88) was a French composer and pianist. Alongside his friends and colleagues Frédéric Chopin and Franz Liszt, he was among the leading virtuoso pianists in Paris. His career was marked by his occasional long withdrawals for personal reasons from public performance, and 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 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 and Concerto for Solo Piano, considered among his masterpieces, of great musical and technical complexity. 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. After his death (which according to a persistent myth was caused by a falling bookcase), his music was neglected, but since the late 1960s many pianists have recorded it and brought it back into the repertoire.

Read more: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles-Valentin_Alkan

_______________________________ Today's selected anniversaries:

1853:

Russian warships led by Pavel Nakhimov destroyed an Ottoman fleet of frigates at the Battle of Sinop, precipitating the Crimean War. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crimean_War

1872:

The first-ever international football match took place at Hamilton Crescent, Glasgow, between Scotland and England. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1872_Scotland_vs_England_football_match

1939:

The Winter War broke out as the Soviet Red Army invaded Finland (Finnish troops pictured) and quickly advanced to the Mannerheim Line, an action judged as illegal by the League of Nations. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Winter_War

1993:

U.S. President Bill Clinton signed the Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Act into law, requiring purchasers of handguns to pass a background check. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brady_Handgun_Violence_Prevention_Act

1999:

Protests by anti-globalization activists against the World Trade Organization Ministerial Conference in Seattle forced the cancellation of its opening ceremonies. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1999_Seattle_WTO_protests

_____________________________ Wiktionary's word of the day:

exterminate: 1. To kill all of a population, usually deliberate and especially applied to pests. 2. (figuratively) To bring a definite end to; to finish completely. https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/exterminate

___________________________ Wikiquote quote of the day:

Although men are accused of not knowing their own weakness, yet perhaps as few know their own strength. It is in men as in soils, where sometimes there is a vein of gold, which the owner knows not of.   --Jonathan Swift https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Jonathan_Swift