The Esquisses Op. 63 is a set of 49 short piano pieces written by French composer Charles-Valentin Alkan

Charles-Valentin Alkan

Charles-Valentin Alkan was a French composer and one of the greatest virtuoso pianists of his day. His attachment to his Jewish origins is displayed both in his life and his work. He entered the Paris Conservatoire at the age of six, earning many awards, and as an adult became a famous virtuoso...

 and published in 1861. The Esquisses is divided into four books, each book running through all the major and minor keys once. The set ends with an unnumbered Laus Deo in C major.

Unlike many other of Alkan's pieces, such as the Op. 33 Grand Sonate and the Op. 39 set of etudes in all the minor keys, these 49 pieces do not focus mainly on virtuosity and transcendentalism and instead contain more of Alkan's sentimental and evocative writing. Alkan's innovation is also vividly present in the pieces. The 45th piece, Les Diablotins, features wrenched cluster chords and the 48th piece, En Songe, is a dreamy and quiet piece all except for the very final chord, which is a sudden F major chord with the dynamic ff. The 39th piece, Héraclite

Heraclitus

Heraclitus of Ephesus was a pre-Socratic Greek philosopher, a native of the Greek city Ephesus, Ionia, on the coast of Asia Minor. He was of distinguished parentage. Little is known about his early life and education, but he regarded himself as self-taught and a pioneer of wisdom...

 et Démocrite

Democritus

Democritus was an Ancient Greek philosopher born in Abdera, Thrace, Greece. He was an influential pre-Socratic philosopher and pupil of Leucippus, who formulated an atomic theory for the cosmos....

, features two sharply contrasting themes for the respective philosophers, and at some passages Alkan overlaps the themes to create a solemn and sad theme in the left hand and a bouncy and joyous theme in the right.

The Esquisses

Book 1

1. La Vision in C major

2. Le Staccatissimo in F minor

3. Le Legatissimo in D major

4. Les Cloches in G major

5. Les Initiés in E major (features a quote from Aristophanes' The Frogs instead of a title in some editions)

6. Fuguette in A minor

7. Le Frisson in F-sharp major

8. Pseudo-Naïveté in B minor

9. Confidence in A-flat major

10. Increpatio in C-sharp minor

11. Les Soupirs in B-flat major

12. Barcarollette in E-flat minor

Book 2

13. Ressouvenir in C minor

14. Duettino in F major

15. Tutti de Concerto dans le genre ancien in D minor

16. Fantasie in G major

17. Petit prélude à trois in E minor

18. Liedchen in A major

19. Grâces in F-sharp minor

20. Petit marche villageoise in B major

21. Morituri te salutant in G-sharp minor

22. Innocenzia in D-flat major

23. L'homme aux sabots in B-flat minor

24. Contredanse in E flat major

Book 3

25. La poursuite in C major

26. Petit air, Genre ancien in G minor

27. Rigaudon in D major

28. Inflexibilité (also known as Rigidité) in A minor

29. Délire in E major

30. Petit air dolent in B minor

31. Début de quatuor in F-sharp major

32. Minuetto in C-sharp minor

33. "Fais dodo" in A-flat major

34. Odi profanum vulgus et arceo, Favete linguis in E-flat minor

35. Musique militaire in B-flat major

36. Toccatina in F minor

Book 4

37. Scherzettino in C minor

38. "Le ciel vous soit toujours prospére" (also known as Les bons souhaits) in G major

39. Héraclite et Démocrite in D minor

40. "Attendez-moi sous l'orme" in A major

41. Les enharmoniques in E minor

42. Petit air à 5 voix in B major

43. Notturino—Innamorato in F-sharp minor

44. Transports in C-sharp major

45. Les diablotins in G-sharp minor

46. Les premiere billet doux in E-flat major

47. Scherzetto in B-flat minor

48. En songe in F major

Extra

Laus Deo in C major

External links

Free scores at the IMSLP music score archive: http://imslp.org/wiki/Esquisses%2C_Op.63_%28Alkan%2C_Charles-Valentin%29

Answers.com: http://www.answers.com/topic/motifs-48-esquisses-sketches-for-piano-in-4-books-op-63