Wanda Landowska Collection [collection]

Title

Wanda Landowska Collection [collection]

Date Created

Span: 1880-2004

Date Created

Bulk: 1920-1959

Form

collection

Physical Description

72 ft.

Physical Description

110 boxes

Language

German, French, Polish

Abstract

Wanda Landowska (1879-1959) was a Polish keyboard player, a champion of 17th- and 18th-century music, and one of the leading figures in the 20th-century revival of interest in the harpsichord. She received piano lessons as a young child; early on, she developed enthusiasm for music of the Baroque period, and particularly the keyboard music of J. S. Bach, that would define her career. While still in her early twenties, she gave performances of Bach's keyboard concertos, on the piano, which was the usual practice at the time. However, she soon became convinced that the only appropriate instrument for these works was the harpsichord. In1903 she gave her first public performance on the harpsichord, an instrument then regarded as feeble-sounding by most of the concert-going public. She had a large two-manual harpsichord built to her specifications by the French firm Playel which she played in concert for the first time in 1912. She made her first concert tour of the United States in 1923, bringing her four Pleyel harpsichords with her. Although she emphasized early music in her concerts, she played some modern works as well. Harpsichord concertos were written for her by Manuel de Falla and Francis Poulenc. In 1925 she settled near Paris, founding the Ecole de Musique Ancienne, which attracted students from around the world. When the Germans approached Paris in 1940, Landowska abandoned her school and fled to the United States. She settled in Lakeville, Connecticut, where, at age 70 she made her now famous recordings of Bach's Goldberg Variations. Her extensive writings indicate not only the thoroughness and seriousness of her approach to harpsichord performance, but also provide many insights into her technique.

Subjects

Harpsichord Music

Landowska, Wanda

Bach, Johann Sebastian

Chopin, Frédéric

Falla, Manuel de

Poulenc, Francis

Restout, Denise

Contents note

Manuscript and printed music, much of it heavily annotated by Landowska; correspondence, diaries and other writings; photographs, sound recordings, programs, posters, miscellaneous papers; books. Instruments in the collection include two of Landowska’s historic Pleyel harpsichords, one Challis clavichord, and a Steinway baby grand.

Preferred citation note

Wanda Landowska Collection, Music Division, Library of Congress

Repository

Music Division, Library of Congress