Wanda Landowska

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Polish harpsichordist, pianist, teacher, writes and composer born in Warsaw, July, 1879; died in Lakevill,e CT, August 16, 1959. She had her first piano lessons from J. Kleczynski and then studied at the Warsaw Conservatory under A. Michalowski. In 1896 she went to Berlin and studied composition under H. Urban for four years. In 1900 she moved to Paris and married Henry Lew, a writer and expert on Hebrew folklore. She devoted herself to the study of music of the past and the revival of the harpsichord.

 

She took part in concerts organized by the Schola Cantorum and although she was well established as a pianist, she decided o concentrate on the harpsichord. She gave conerts and did much to revive interest in old music. From 1913 to 1919 she gave classes in the harpsichord at the Berlin Royal School of Music and thereafter held master classes in Basle and Paris. In Saint-Leu-la-Foret she founded the Ecole de Musique Ancienne, where she kept her collection of old instruments and gave concerts and lessons. She had a library of more than 10.000 volumes but was forced to leave the school with the arrival of the Nazis in paris in 1940. She fled to the United States and continued her work there. The modern harpsichord was built by Pleyel to her specifications.

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            Works for band:

• Fanfare de la Liberation (military orch)