Part of a liturgical set, this work by Alkan displays his unique ability to blend sacred solemnity with sophisticated, highly chromatic pianistic writing. The piece is notable for its intricate inner-voice motion.
The student must navigate the complex layering of voices to prevent the melody from being buried by the accompaniment.
Benedictus (Op.54) is rated Henle level 7 of 9 — late advanced repertoire, roughly ABRSM grade 8 and above. In the RCM system it corresponds to about level 9.
You should be comfortable at Henle level 7 — meaning you can already play level 6–7 pieces cleanly. Learning it one level early is possible as a stretch piece, but more than that usually leads to months of frustration.
A typical performance of Benedictus (Op.54) lasts about 6 minutes.
Benedictus (Op.54) is available as free public-domain sheet music on IMSLP — the score is linked directly from this page.