Harpsichord Playing in America “after” Landowska Larry Palmer

The Power of the Press: “A Living Legend” Nicholas Slonimsky (1894–1995), writ- ing about Wanda Land- owska for the French journal Disques in 1932, introduced his subject with a three-stanza poem. It begins:

Her fingers on the cembalo Type out the polyphonic lore Of Bach’s Inventions—and restore The true original edition Unobfuscated by tradition.1 Twelve years later, on the opposite side of the Atlantic, habitually cranky New York music critic Virgil Thomson (1896–1989), reviewed the Polish harp- sichordist’s Town Hall concert of 20 No- vember 1944 under the adulatory head- line “Definitive Renderings”:

Wanda Landowska’s recital Landowska on tour in Palm Beach, Florida, 1927 (collection of Larry Palmer, Momo Aldrich of last evening . . . was as stimulating as a bequest) needle shower. . . . She played everything better than anybody else ever does. One might almost say, were not such a com- doctoral program in at Stan- parison foolish, that she plays the harpsi- ford University. Sylvia Marlowe in South America (photo chord better than anybody else ever plays In concert halls, Madame’s final bril- credit: Conciertos Iriberri, Buenos Aires; collec- anything . . . liant students, Rafael Puyana (born tion of Larry Palmer) . . . [Her] playing of the harpsichord . . . re- 1931), a South American of blazing virtu- minded one all over again that there is noth- osity, and Texas-born Paul Wolfe (born when I experienced Kirkpatrick’s deeply- ing else in the world like it. There does not 1929), both built solo careers in the de- moving playing of Bach’s Goldberg Vari- exist in the world today, nor has there existed in my lifetime, another soloist of this or any cade following their teacher’s death. ations at the Rothko Chapel in Houston other instrument whose work is so depend- In 1961 Puyana played a concert at (Texas), I reported in The Diapason able, so authoritative, and so thoroughly satis- the Eastman School of Music in Roch- that “Kirkpatrick played magnificently factory. From all the points of view—histori- ester, New York, during my first year with a prodigious technical command of cal knowledge, style, taste, understanding, there as a doctoral student. Rafael, the the work as well as with spacious feeling and spontaneous musicality—her renderings scion of a wealthy family, toured the for the overall architecture . . .”7 of harpsichord repertory are, for our epoch, country with a Pleyel harpsichord (the At the very end of a more than five- definitive. Criticism is unavailing against 2 instrument of choice for Landowska’s decade career, and now totally blind, them, has been so, indeed, for thirty years. students) and a personal driver. His the aged master could allow his innate It seems that the divine Wanda had Eastman recital was a dashing and color- musical sensitivity to triumph. Despite accomplished her objective, half a cen- ful evocation of a Landowska program, his end-of-career tongue-in-cheek com- tury in the making, of restoring the including kaleidoscopic changes of reg- ments about preferring the piano, the harpsichord to a recognized place in the istration; a repertoire firmly grounded Yale professor was the most highly re- cultural consciousness of music lovers, in the major Bach works; but with at garded and recorded native harpsichord- both in Europe and in the western hemi- least one non-Landowska addition: his ist in the during the period sphere. Her personal style, based on an own harpsichord transcription of a Can- at his Dolmetsch- of Landowska’s American residency. innate rhythmic certainty, a turn-of-the- ción for piano by the Catalan composer Chickering harpsichord, 1939 (Ralph Kirk- Other noted American players of century impressionistic use of tonal color, Frederico Mompou. patrick Archives, Music Library, ) Kirkpatrick’s generation included Yella and, not incidentally, her careful perusal Paul Wolfe, not from a moneyed fam- Pessl (1906–1991) and Sylvia Mar- of historical source materials had made ily, set out to make his name through A Different Aesthetic: lowe (1908–1981). Marlowe’s first in- her name virtually synonymous with the recordings. I came to know him when Ralph Kirkpatrick strument was a true Landowska Pleyel, word harpsichord, at least in the collec- Nick Fritsch of Lyrichord Records de- Ralph Kirkpatrick (1911–1984), fund- by this time painted white, the better to tive consciousness of the public. cided to reissue a number of their 1950s ed by a post-graduate John Knowles be seen on the revolving stage of New vinyl issues on compact discs and asked Paine Traveling Fellowship from Harvard York City’s Rainbow Room, where Syl- True Believers: me to write an introductory article ex- University, set off for Europe in the fall via played jazz arrangements of classical Expatriated European and Native plaining harpsichord pedals. Wolfe’s of 1931 to hone his harpsichord playing favorites under the catchy rubric Lav- American Disciples instruments—a 1907 Pleyel of wooden skills. As described in his memoirs,5 the ender and New Lace. Deeply influenced Landowska’s acolytes dominated those construct and a large concert instru- pre-eminent American harpsichordist of by Landowska’s playing, encountered American venues where ment completed in 1958 by the young his generation had a difficult relationship while the New Yorker was studying with were played: Alice Ehlers (1887–1981), northeastern builders Frank Rutkowski with the priestess of St-Leu, eventually in , Marlowe’s Professor Landowska’s first student in and Richard Robinette—as well as pro- running off to for coaching and 1959 solo Bach recording for Decca 1913 Berlin, immigrated to the United grams that featured 17th-century works consolation with another Landowska stu- demonstrates how much Madame’s long States and taught for 26 years at the by Frescobaldi and the English virginal- dent, the more congenial Eta Harich- musical shadow dominated the Ameri- University of Southern California in Los ists, Spanish music, and all eight of the Schneider (1897–1986). Kirkpatrick’s can harpsichord scene. Angeles. Among Ehlers’s fascinating oral 1720 Handel Suites—presented both public playing, beginning with concerts Eventually Ms. Marlowe chose to play history recorded vignettes she noted facile young fingers and an expanding and recordings during the 1930s, sound- harpsichords built by the American mak- that Landowska did not talk much in repertory of early keyboard music to the ed distinctly unlike Landowska’s in its er John Challis, moving subsequently those early lessons, but she relied heav- American harpsichord scene. conscious avoidance of excessive regis- to those of Challis’s apprentice William ily on playing for her students. Later, in tration changes and its near-metronomic Dowd (with lid-paintings by her own Ehlers’s own teaching, at least one an- A Contrarian’s View of Landowska regularity. Teri Noel Towe’s description husband, the artist Leonid [Berman]). ecdote retold by her student Malcolm During the autumnal years of Land- of Kirkpatrick’s style, printed as a “dis- Non-night-club recital repertoire includ- Hamilton (1932–2003) showed that owska’s career, critics of her playing style claimer” in the compact disc reissue of ed 18th-century classics, soon augment- Ehlers was less than impressed at his de- were not legion. But one composer-crit- these early solo recordings for Musicraft ed extensively by commissions to promi- rivative details copied from Landowska’s ic who did not idolize the High Priestess Records, puts it this way: nent living composers. Thus, important style. When Hamilton added an unwrit- of the Harpsichord was neo-classicist works by Ned Rorem and , ten trill to the subject of a Bach fugue composer Robert Evett (1922–1975). Some listeners confuse Ralph Kirkpat- to cite only two, came into being through Ehlers stopped him to ask why. “I heard In a 1952 piece for The New Republic, rick’s tenacious and unswerving commit- Marlowe’s sponsorship. Together with ment to the composer’s intentions with a recording by ,” he Evett wrote: dullness and mistake his exquisite attention the impressive catalog of similar com- began. Madame Ehlers interrupted to detail and technical accuracy for dryness. missions from the Swiss harpsichord- brusquely, “Wanda Landowska was a Mme. Landowska has seduced the These detractors would do well to listen ist Antoinette Vischer (1909–1973), genius. You and I, Malcolm, we are not brighter part of the American public into again. There is a special beauty and unique Marlowe’s initiatives helped to provide 3 believing that she offers it an authentic geniuses—‘spaacially you!” reading of Bach and his predecessors. warmth to Kirkpatrick’s sometimes austere the harpsichord with an extensive, new Two more Landowska students hold- What this lady actually uses is a modern but always direct, ‘no nonsense’ perfor- twentieth-century musical voice. ing American academic posts were Ma- mances; his interpretations are always su- Influenced by Kirkpatrick during stu- Pleyel harpsichord, an instrument that she perbly conceived, often transcendent, and rie Zorn (b. 1907?), who promoted the employs as a sort of dispose-all. . . . 6 dent days at Yale, Fernando Valenti Landowskian style in her harpsichord After fifteen years of incredulous listen- occasionally hypnotic. . . . (1926–1990) switched from piano to teaching at Indiana University from 1958 ing, I am finally convinced that this woman For a balanced evaluation of Kirk- harpsichord, and also played important until 1976, and Putnam Aldrich (1904– kicks all the pedals in sight when she senses patrick the harpsichordist, one needs new works by Vincent Persichetti (that 1975), who married Wanda’s own person- danger ahead. When she sits down to play to sample some later examples from his composer’s First Harpsichord Sonata a Bach fugue, I go through all the torments al secretary Madeleine Momot in 1931 that a passenger experiences when he is extensive discography. A 1959 Deutsche composed in 1952) and Mel Powell (Rec- (with a somewhat-reconciled Landowska being driven over a treacherous mountain Grammophon Archiv recording of Bach itative and Toccata Percossa). However, as witness for the bride). Eventually “Put” road by an erratic driver, and when she fi- played on a Neupert instrument presents Valenti made his name primarily as the settled his young family in northern Cali- nally finishes the thing it is almost a plea- quite another aural document of a de- most exciting player of Domenico Scar- fornia, where he established a prestigious sure to relax into nausea.4 cidedly non-austere artist. And by 1973 latti’s sonatas and specifically as the first

JUNE, 2011 19 harpsichordist to record such a large number of them—359 individual works performed on his Challis harpsichord in a series of albums for Westminster Records. In 1951 he was appointed the first harpsichord professor at New York’s Juilliard School. Several didactic books, published late in Valenti’s career, are as colorful and insightful as his playing. Who could resist a chuckle at words such as these?

Many years ago I promised myself that I would never put in print anything that even vaguely resembled a ‘method’ for harpsi- chord playing and this is it.8 One of the best-known harpsichord- ists to study privately with Valenti was Berlin-born Igor Kipnis (1930–2002), son of the prominent bass opera singer . The family moved to the United States in 1938, where both Kipnises became familiar names in the Isolde Ahlgrimm, 1959 (collection of Larry arena. Igor was particu- Palmer) larly noted for his comprehensive and in- novative repertory, recorded extensively. His playing was thoroughly representa- tive of a more objective style of harpsi- Andrew Appel and his teacher Albert Fuller (Fire Island vacation) (courtesy of chord performance. Andrew Appel)

Winds (or Strings and Quills) of Change? One of the great services rendered by Kirkpatrick was his fervent advocacy for the historically inclined instruments of and . As the years went by, these musical machines emulated ever more closely those from earlier centuries, albeit with some decid- edly 20th-century materials, such as the Andrew Appel (photo by Lloyd Schloen, cour- plastics used for jacks and plectra. But tesy of Andrew Appel) with keyboards built to various baroque dimensions; sensitive, light actions; and registers deployed in a way that an 18th- century composer might have expected; together with the absence, for the most part, of the sixteen-foot register and pedals, these light and agile instruments gave the new generation of players sensi- tive tools for performing the music of the past. Emulating Hubbard and Dowd, a number of builders, in and other American venues, and throughout the world, joined the “surge to the past,” and thereby changed both the dynamic and the expected sounds of harpsichord re- vival instruments. Among Kirkpatrick’s allies in pro- moting these new “old” instruments Commencement day at Southern Methodist University, 1984; from left: Larry were two Fullers—his student Albert Palmer, Eleanor Tufts (professor of art history), Dr. Leonhardt, Alessandra Comini (1926–2007) and the not-related David (professor of art history) (born 1927), and harpsichordist/conduc- tors Miles Morgan and William Chris- tions in his master classes at the annual sichordist’s advocacy of “performance on tie. As the 1960s gave way to the 1970s, Haarlem Summer Organ Academies). period instruments,” as well as his “com- nearly every emerging teacher and player mitment to both stylistic authority and in the country seemed to be joining the Influential European artistic sensitivity in recreating music of pedal-less crowd. In 1966 I met Dr. Jo- Artist-Teachers the past.” seph Stephens and played the Hubbard Both of these superb artists made To this day, more than 25 years after and Dowd harpsichord in his Baltimore significant contributions to harpsichord the conferral of that honorary degree, Landowska at her St-Leu home, late (Maryland) home. Shortly thereafter I playing in the United States: Ahlgrimm Leonhardt still refers to me in commu- 1920s (photo by Momo Aldrich; collection of ordered my own first Dowd double. It (1914–1995) through her teaching in nications as his “Doktor-Vater.” Whereas Larry Palmer) was delivered at the beginning of January , Vienna, and during semes- Ahlgrimm referred to herself as a bio- 1969. As has happened for so many play- ter-long guest professorships at Oberlin logical phenomenon since she “got more ers in our small musical world, that sen- and Southern Methodist University, as children the older she became,” Leon- sitive instrument taught me as much as well as several American concert tours hardt’s humorous salutation presents me had the memorable hours spent studying organized by managers, but aided and with a similar phenomenon: the “son” as with two of the finest teachers imagin- attended by her grateful students. Until father to the “father.” At any rate, I am able: Isolde Ahlgrimm (at the Salzburg recently, Ahlgrimm’s place in the story of pleased to have Dr. Leonhardt as my Mozarteum), and the 20th-century harpsichord revival has most distinguished graduate! (during two memorable July participa- been little celebrated. With the publi- Ah yes, students—the new generators cation of Peter Watchorn’s major study of harpsichord playing in America. Too Isolde Ahlgrimm, Vienna and the Early many to list, but perhaps one graced with Music Revival,9 that deficiency in our multiple “A’s” may serve as representa- history has been rectified! tive—Andrew Appel, American, who Leonhardt (born 1928), surely the completed his doctoral studies with Juil- most recorded of post-Landowska harp- liard harpsichord professor Albert Fuller sichordists, has influenced virtually every in 1983, and now carries on that line harpsichordist from the second half of from his teacher, who had been a pupil the 20th-century forward. His students of Ralph Kirkpatrick, who was . . . and seem to be everywhere. Even the most here we could circle back to the begin- cursory of enumerations would include ning of this essay. May Andrew Appel many of the leading teachers in the U.S: represent the achievements of so many Oberlin’s first full-time professor of harp- of our fine young players: the late Scott sichord Lisa Crawford; Michigan’s Ed- Ross, the with-it Skip Sempé, the sensi- ward Parmentier; Boston’s John Gib- tive Michael Sponseller, the delightful bons; University of New York at Stony teaching colleague Barbara Baird— Brook’s Arthur Haas; Florida State’s Americans, all! Karyl Louwenaar; Illinois’ Charlotte Ultimately all of us are indebted to Mattax; and, particularly during the those European “explorers” who have 1970s and ’80s, my own large group of provided our inspiration and training: harpsichord major students at Southern French/English , Aus- Methodist University. In the spirit of the trian Isolde Ahlgrimm, Dutch Gustav Landowska in her Lakeville, Con- early music excitement of those decades, Leonhardt: all contributors to the variety necticut home, 1949 (photo by Else SMU conferred his first doctorate on Le- and richness of the harpsichord’s pres- Schunicke; collection of Larry Palmer, Momo onhardt in 1984, citing the Dutch harp- ence in our contemporary musical life. Aldrich bequest)

20 THE DIAPASON The final two: Palmer and Peter Adamson after a late afternoon of presenting!

Bridge Records [BCD 9005), conclud- 6. Teri Noel Towe, Notes for Pearl GEMM ing the musical examples in just under CD 9245: Great Virtuosi of the Harpsichord, II, 1996. four minutes! Fortunately for the word- 7. Palmer, Harpsichord in America, p. 147. weary, the next, and final, presentation 8. Fernando Valenti, The Harpsichord: A of the two-day seminar was given by Dialogue for Beginners (Hackensack, New British record collector extraordinaire Jersey: Jerona Music, 1982), Introduction. Peter Adamson, comprising a fasci- 9. Peter Watchorn, Isolde Ahlgrimm, Vi- nating sound and image survey of early enna and the (Aldershot, harpsichord recordings. ■ Ashgate, 2007). For an account of an earlier Ahlgrimm student’s introduction to the harp- sichord, see Larry Palmer, Letters from Salz- Notes burg: A Music Student in Europe 1958–1959 1. Nicholas Slonimsky, Writings on Music (Eau Claire Wisconsin: Skyline Press, 2006). (New York: Routledge, 2005): v. 4 “Slonim- skyana,” p. 161. The Diapason’s Harpsichord Editor since 2. Virgil Thomson, The Art of Judging Mu- 1969, Larry Palmer is author of the pioneer- sic (New York: Knopf, 1948), p. 61. Quoted ing book, Harpsichord in America: A Twen- in Larry Palmer, Harpsichord in America: A tieth-Century Revival, published by Indiana Twentieth-Century Revival (Bloomington: In- University Press in 1989 (paperback second diana University Press, 1989), p. 123. edition, 1993). Of six international advisors for 3. Palmer, Harpsichord in America, p. 78. the Berlin commemoration, two were Ameri- 4. Robert Evett, “The Romantic Bach,” cans: Teri Noel Towe (New York) and Palmer The New Republic, 28 July 1952, pp. 22–23; (Dallas). Poster and postcard images for the Landowska Symposium poster with anonymous caricature of the great harpsi- quoted in Palmer, op. cit., p. 125. exhibition featured an anonymous caricature chordist (collection of Larry Palmer) 5. Ralph Kirkpatrick, Early Years (New belonging to Palmer, the gift of Momo Aldrich, York: Peter Lang, 1985). first secretary to the iconic Landowska. last return of that wonderfully energetic opening theme. Taken from her 1936 re- cording for EMI [reissued in Great Re- cordings of the Century, CDH 7610082], it served as an aural measuring rod with which to compare the following record- ings, made “after” Landowska. Example Two presented the young Ralph Kirkpatrick playing his early 20th- century Dolmetsch-Chickering harp- sichord, captured in a 1939 recording for Musicraft, digitized on Pearl [Great Virtuosi of the Harpsichord, volume II, GEMM CD 9245]. Example Three: Kirkpatrick again, 20 years later, record- ed in a thrillingly theatrical performance played on a powerhouse Neupert instru- Landowska in her Lakeville, Con- ment for Archiv [198 032] (LP). necticut home, 1949 (photo by Else Example Four: Sylvia Marlowe, like Schunicke; collection of Larry Palmer, Momo Landowska, played on an instrument by Aldrich bequest) Pleyel, recorded in 1959 for Decca [DL 710012] (LP). And our Polish mother, Wanda Land- Example Five: Leading Bach authority owska: that vibrant musician who has Isolde Ahlgrimm, recorded 1975, play- brought us together for this celebration ing her 1972 David Rubio harpsichord, of her musical legacy. recorded by Philips [6580 142] (LP). Example Six: Gustav Leonhardt uti- Some Information about Added lized the sound of an actual 18th-century Aural Examples historic instrument for his 1976 record- This paper was presented at the Ber- ing on a 1728 harpsichord lin Musical Instrument Museum on No- by Christian Zell. Seon [Pro Arte PAL- vember 14, 2009, during a symposium 1025] (LP). in conjunction with the exhibition Die Example Seven: Andrew Appel Dame mit dem Cembalo [The Lady with played a 1966 harpsichord by Rutkowski the Harpsichord], in commemoration of and Robinette in his 1987 recording for the 50th anniversary of Wanda Landows- ka’s death. The topic was suggested by the museum’s curator Martin Elste, who HE ANAMAKER RGAN organized the event. To remain within THE WANAMAKER ORGAN an imposed time limit, I chose to include only seven short recorded examples, Listen to it worldwide each one a performance of the same fi- nal 25 measures from the third (Presto) over the Internet! movement of J. S. Bach’s Italian Concer- to (BWV 971)—with an individual dura- Hourlong streamcasts tion of between 30 and 40 seconds. are featured at 5pm ET The first example demonstrated one of the most unforgettable of all my musi- the first Sunday of cal experiences: Landowska’s unexpect- ed slight agogic hesitation between top each month at wrti.org and bottom notes of the climactic down- ward octave leap in measure 199, the

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