Charles Valentin Alkan
Le Festin d’Ésope op. 39 no. 12
Online-tutorial available at Henle Masterclass
Charles Valentin Alkan’s cycle of variations Le Festin d’Ésope derives from his monumental series of etudes op. 39, the 12 Études dans tous les Tons Mineurs, and forms the culmination of that work. Now G. Henle Publishers presents, for the first time in an Urtext edition, what is by far the most well-known piano composition by this French pianist and composer notorious for the extreme virtuosity of his works. Because no autograph manuscripts survive, the first edition from 1857 is the sole source. The premier Alkan scholar Wolfgang Rathert gives details about the life and œuvre of the composer in his preface, while fingerings are provided by the Italian keyboard virtuoso Vincenzo Maltempo, who has recorded numerous works by Alkan. By popular demand, this composer may also now finally assume his place in the Henle Urtext catalogue!
About the Authors
Norbert Gertsch (Editor)
Dr. Norbert Gertsch, born in 1967 in Rheinkamp/Moers, studied piano solo at the Mozarteum in Salzburg and read musicology and philosophy at the Paris Lodron University in Salzburg and the Ruperto Carola University Heidelberg on a scholarship from the “Studienstiftung des Deutschen Volkes”. In 1996 he wrote his doctoral thesis on Ludwig van Beethoven’s Missa solemnis (as part of the New Complete Edition) under Ludwig Finscher.
In the following year, he began to work at G. Henle Publishers, initially as an editor for electronic publishing. After working on a two-year project (1999–2000) sponsored by the German Research Foundation (DFG) preparing a new Beethoven Catalogue of Works, he became a scholarly editor at G. Henle Publishers. In 2003 he became Editor-in-Chief, in 2009 Deputy Managing Director and Head of Publishing. As of 1 January 2024, the Executive Board of the Günter Henle Foundation has appointed Dr. Norbert Gertsch, as the new managing director, succeeding Dr. Wolf-Dieter Seiffert.
Gertsch has published many Urtext editions for G. Henle Publishers, including volumes for a new edition of Beethoven’s Piano Sonatas together with Murray Perahia.
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