Category: France

The website Classical Music, part of BBC Music Magazine, presents an article titled: “Charles-Valentin Alkan: the hermit who composed devilishly difficult piano works,” about French composer and musician Charles-Valentin Alkan ( 1813-1888). From the article:

“Very unusually among the virtuoso composer-pianists of the 19th century, Charles-Valentin Alkan spent much of his life as an apparent recluse. He shunned the concert platform in favour of keeping his own company, reading, studying and creating some of the most spectacularly demanding piano music ever written.”

Alkan’s reclusiveness was partly based on personality, partly on bouts of depression. As a composer, he was admired by Chopin andLiszt, and for a while Alkan even performed publicly to acclaim. But when not appointed for a desired position at the Paris Conservatory, Alkan disappeared for another twenty years. Even as a recluse, however, he was always composing, and he left dozens of interesting works after his death. The article offers links to audio files ofAlkan’s work.

URL: https://www.classical-music.com/features/composers/charles-valentin-alkan

The Guardian profiles Alexander Grothenieck (1928-2014). Article title: “He was in mystic delirium – was this hermit mathematician a forgotten genius whose ideas cound transform AI – or a lonely madman?” Byline: “In isolation, Alexander Grothendieck seemed to have lost touch with reality, but some say his metaphysical theories could contain wonders.”

“Born in 1928, he arrived in France from Germany as a refugee in 1939, and went on to revolutionise postwar mathematics as Einstein had physics a generation earlier. Moving beyond distinct disciplines such as geometry, algebra and topology, he worked in pursuit of a deeper, universal language to unify them all. At the heart of his work was a new conception of space, liberating it from the Euclidean tyranny of fixed points and bringing it into the 20th-century universe of relativity and probability. The flood of concepts and tools he introduced in the 1950s and 60s awed his peers.”

Then, in 1970, he quit his prestigious univesity position to drift amopng minor posts until 1990, when he disappeared into solitude altogether, living near a Pyranees village, without radio or telephone, seeing no one, scribbling thusands of pages of manuscripts about philosophy, mathematics, the secrets of plants, and speculations the universe. The notes have been assembled into a book: Harvests and Sowings.

URL: https://www.theguardian.com/science/article/2024/aug/31/alexander-grothendieck-huawei-ai-artificial-intelligence

Actu.fr presents an interview titled: ” L’ancien haut fonctionnaire a vécu une année en ermite dans les bois.” English translation follows: “The former senior official spent a year as a hermit in the woods.” Byline: “In 2014, Christian Ferault, then aged 70 and living in Lignières-Orgères, lived 366 days alone in a forest. Ten years later, he recounts this unique experience.”

The beginning of the article: “He was cut off from the world for a year. In 2014, Christian Ferault , then aged 70, lived 366 dys a a hermit in the woods . A unique project, imagined in a quest for “freedom” and “solitude”, to “better discover the nature” that he loves so much.
The former senior civil servant, now a resident and municipal councillor of Ligniers-Orgeres (Mayenne), between Pré-en-Pail and Carrouges, recounts this extraordinary experience: preparation, how the days went, doubts… He also wrote a book, Ermite en forêt mayennaise , to share this unique ordeal.”

URL: https://actu.fr/pays-de-la-loire/lignieres-orgeres_53133/lancien-haut-fonctionnaire-a-vecu-une-annee-en-ermite-dans-les-bois_61208104.html

An unusual article from the website Classical Music, presented by the BBC Music magazine, titled “Charles-Valentin Alkan: the hermit who composed devilishly difficult piano works.” Here the term hermit refers to the contrast between Alkan’s considerable number of compositions, positively noted by Liszt, Chopin, George Sand,and Alexandre Dumas, and his apparently skilled performances to his behavior. He acquainted the label of hermit and recluse due to his regular refusal to bask in the success of his work, to shun public performances and appearances, and to his sensitivities and reactions to events arpund him.

Notes the article: “Alkan’s need for stay-at-home solitude may have related to some kind of depressive, obsessive-compulsive disorder, but the evidence we have is unclear. In company, his manner seems to have been generally straightforward and likeable: there was a warm friendship with Chopin, who shared something of Alkan’s resistance to public appearances, himself preferring to play in semi-private salons.”

Includes links to YouTube of Alkan’s music performed.

URL: https://www.classical-music.com/features/composers/charles-valentin-alkan

La Vioix du Nord offers a n article about a hermit titled “Ma rencontre avec Ludwig, qui a choisi une vie d’ermite.” The article profiles German-born sculptor Ludwig, who is 80 years old, and has lived in rural Flanders for a decade. Ludwig is a hermit. The jornalist who discovered Ludwig reflects on the simplicity and possessions of the hermit. He reflects, too, on Ludqig’s life in the cold and rainy days in Flanders after departing from the hermit’s home. Article in French.

URL: https://www.lavoixdunord.fr/1414422/article/2024-01-01/mon-reportage-marquant-de-2023-ma-rencontre-avec-ludwig-qui-choisi-une-vie-d