I don't like yams, either. But at least they're better than spinach!

Anyway - I just finished watching all videos. You did a nice job - I'm very impressed. And yes -I also learned a lot about Alkan. I hope you got a good grade! Just wondering - did he ever marry?

you don't like spinach??? spinach is awesome!! Mustard greens, otoh, eeewwwww!

Thanks I'm really glad you liked it!

As far as I know, no. I can't remember if I mentioned in the video that he had a son, I had to cut it a bit shorter as it was getting too long, but it is generally accepted that he had a son, Élie-Miriam Delaborde, who was probably the product of something between Alkan and one of his pupils who he taught. Delaborde played alot of his father's music and even edited some of it.

mustard greens, dandelion greens, spinach, same thing....yuck!



ok, thanks for the information.

But Alkan never did marry. Alkan treated Delaborde very well, but it was a touchy topic for him, as he was very much afraid of scandal. Very self conscious individual.

How did we get from Alkan to Thanksgiving side-dishes (at least in the U.S.). I guess that "Alkan" could be a brand name -- "I'll have some Alkan Candied Yams."

Actually, what we call "Yams" in the U.S. are not yams but orange sweet potatoes. Yam was a marketing gimmik in the long past to separate them from the whiter sweet potato. A true yam is, I believe, similar to the taro root.

Now for a message from our sponsor -- Alkan yams ....

Ah, perhaps that's why I don't find them sweet at all, while you guys do

I suspected that a yam was a little different from a sweet potatoe, but I didn't realize by how much! I just looked it up here:

http://homecooking.about.com/od/howtoco ... todiff.htm

Since I don't like sweet potatoes, I never cared about learning about them or about yams for that matter. Not sure I would like a 'real' yam or not.

@RSPIll - I see you also live in Illinois. Wonder if we know each other! And btw - I fixed your quotes.

( I can't think of any clever way to bring this back onto topic...)

We could always talk about Liszt!

Yeah - he knew Alkan. Also, Chopin - we hardly ever talk about him!

Indeed! How about a dicussion on how those 3 influenced each other? Or some other composers like Ravina who actually directly copied Alkan.

I don't know of Ravina, but did Alkan know about this? And you gave some nice examples in your videos of how Liszt 'borrowed' bits of Alkan's music, and Alkan 'borrowed' bits of Chopin's music. Don't you wish you could have been in the room with them to hear what each of these men said when they learned about these things? I wonder if they felt angry or if they were flattered? You know the saying, "imitation is the best form of flattery" or something like that...

Ravina is mentioned in my video. He directly copied the opening bars of the piano solo in Alkan's Concerto da camera No.1 in one of his etudes.

Hmm I myself would be flattered, but it would also perhaps influence how I thought of the others as composers, or perhaps even annoyed if i thought someone had stolen my ideas and composed a better piece.

Something I found after I made the video is the obvious similarities between Chopin's Butterfly Etude and Alkan's Etude Op.35 No. 12

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dFWVXrDD ... 7&index=11

and

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i27_BGnB1M0

Yes, that would be hard to take.

And you're right about the Butterfly Etude and Alkan's Etude sounding alike. Also, I wouldn't be surprised if there are more examples of Alkan using some of Chopin's music, because Chopin bequeathed his unfinished Method of teaching theory to Alkan. Not sure if this book contained music, or just text about theory, though.