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'Memories of Wanda Landowska' at the Bach House in Eisenach

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'Memories of Wanda Landowska' at the Bach House in Eisenach Review: Remembering the Heroine of the Harpsichord | 'Memories of ... http://online.wsj.com/article/SB100014240527487044360045762971... Dow Jones Reprints: This copy is for your personal, non-commercial use only. To order presentation-ready copies for distribution to your colleagues, clients or customers, use the Order Reprints tool at the bottom of any article or visit www.djreprints.com See a sample reprint in PDF format. Order a reprint of this article now REVIEWS MAY 6, 2011 Remembering the Heroine of the Harpsichord By A. J. GOLDMANN EISENACH, Germany—When Polish harpsichordist Wanda Landowska (1879-1959) met the cellist Pablo Casals, she famously told him, "You play Bach your way and I'll play Bach his way." While her dogmatic assertion might seem a little quaint today, a new exhibition at the Bach House, (the composer's birthplace) makes clear just how influential Landowska has been in the way we think about and appreciate Bach's music. Her name might not exactly ring bells these days outside musical and scholarly circles, but Landowska was a tireless advocate for an instrument that, at the time, was considered an inferior predecessor to the piano, as well as a pioneer of what is now called authentic performance practice. The exhibition "Memories of Wanda Landowska" marks the 100th anniversary of a "musical battle" between the piano and the harpsichord held November 1911 in Eisenach. The harpsichord won. Roger Viollet/TopFoto Landowska at her Pleyel harpsichord in Saint- Leu-la-Forêt in 1933. Spread over two rooms in the Bach House, numerous objects, photos and musical examples are used to explain the life and work of this musical pioneer. They show her featured alongside famous artists or reposing in the tranquility of her "Temple de la Musique Ancienne" in Saint-Leu-la-Forêt, near Paris, where she lived from 1925 until driven out by the Nazis because of her Jewish origins. Some of Landowska's belongings lend a shrine-like aspect, including the shoes that she wore while playing concerts (she wore long dresses that kept her pedal work a secret). The exhibition's centerpiece is an original 1927 harpsichord by Pleyel, the French make favored by Landowska, that is demonstrated every hour. At nearby listening stations, you can hear her playing Bach's Goldberg Variations and Well-Tempered Clavier. For the uninitiated, these virtuosic renditions will come as a revelation. They reveal Landowska's conviction that Bach should not be played with stiff reverence. As she wrote, "In their day, these works were accused of being too passionate. If we are incapable of evoking the same feelings, then our tradition is wrong." Until Nov. 13 www.english.bachhaus.de Copyright 2011 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved This copy is for your personal, non-commercial use only. Distribution and use of this material are governed by our Subscriber Agreement and by copyright law. For non-personal use or to order multiple copies, please contact Dow Jones Reprints at 1-800-843-0008 or visit www.djreprints.com 1 von 1 06.05.2011 18:40.
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