Céleste Alkan
# Céleste Alkan

Céleste Alkan (born Céleste Morhange, after marriage Céleste Marix) (25 February 1812 – 25 December 1897), was a French musician, the sister of the pianist and composer Charles-Valentin Alkan and the music professor Napoléon Alkan.

## Life

She was born Céleste Morhange in Paris on 25 February 1812 to Jewish parents, Alkan Morhange and his wife Julie (née Abraham).

From 1819 until 1832 she was a student at the Paris Conservatoire under the name Céleste Alkan, where she studied solfége (gaining first prize in 1823), singing and basso continuo. In 1828 she was a class-mate at the Conservatoire of Cornélie Falcon, who became her friend. She left the Conservatoire in 1832 as a consequence of absence and illness.

On September 14, 1837 Céleste married a cousin, Mayer Marix, a dealer in musical instruments, and the inventor of a portable organ, the "harmoniflûte". Their daughter, Marie Marix, was a singer who participated in C.-V. Alkan's series of Petits concerts in Paris in the 1870s. Their second daughter, Albertine, was the mother of the artist Jacques Nam [fr].

Céleste Alkan is buried in Montmartre Cemetery in the same grave as her brother Charles-Valentin.

