Landowska, Wanda (vän`dä ländôf`skä), 1879–1959, Polish-French harpsichordist and pianist, studied at the Warsaw Conservatory. She taught piano (1900–1912) at the Schola Cantorum, Paris, and harpsichord (1912–19) at the Berlin Hochschule. She established her École de Musique ancienne in Paris in 1925. In 1940, she came to the United States, settling in Lakeville, Conn., where she taught and made recordings. Largely responsible for the revival of interest in the harpsichord and its music, she was the teacher of many noted contemporary harpsichordists. Manuel de Falla Falla, Manuel de (mänwĕl` dā fä`lyä), 1876–1946, Spanish composer; pupil of Felipe Pedrell.
..... Click the link for more information. and Francis Poulenc Poulenc, Francis (fräNsēs` p
..... Click the link for more information. wrote (1926 and 1929) the first 20th-century harpsichord concertos for her.

Bibliography

See her Landowska on Music (1969); documentary film, Landowska: Uncommon Visionary (1999), dir. by B. Attie.

Landowska, Wanda (Louise)

(born July 5, 1879, Warsaw, Pol., Russian Empire—died Aug. 16, 1959, Lakeville, Conn., U.S.) Polish-born U.S. harpsichordist and pianist. After establishing herself as a pianist and devoting much energy to musicological research, she had a harpsichord made for her by Pleyel in Paris. She first performed on this instrument at the Breslau Bach Festival in 1912, thus beginning the 20th-century revival of the instrument and sparking a new international interest in authentic performance practice. Her many recordings include the first recording of Johann Sebastian Bach's Goldberg Variations, and she commissioned works such as Manuel de Falla's Harpsichord Concerto and Francis Poulenc's Concert champêtre. As a Jew she was forced to flee the Nazis, and after 1940 she lived and taught in the U.S.

Landowska, Wanda (Aleksandra) (1877–1959) harpsichordist, music teacher; born in Warsaw, Poland. After studying at the Warsaw Conservatory, she became a prominent concert pianist in Europe until about 1910 when she decided to devote her career to playing the harpsichord. She taught in Berlin and then in Paris, promoting older music, particularly that of Bach, and commissioning new works for the harpsichord. Although she made her first concert tour in the U.S.A. in 1923, she did not move there permanently until 1940, coming first to New York City and then to Connecticut (1949). Teaching, playing, recording, writing, and proselytizing extensively—and often imperiously—she is regarded as a leader in the 20th century's revival of the harpsichord.