Wanda (Aleksandra) Landowska ( 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.
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