Mamusia: Paul Wolfe Remembers Craig Smith

A native of Hico, Texas, Paul Wolfe received a master’s degree in from the University of Texas-Austin in 1950. He subsequently continued his studies with Webster Aitken at Carnegie Insti- tute of Technology in Pittsburgh, where he also was a faculty member. From 1955 to 1959, he studied , fi rst with Denise Restout and then Wanda Landowska in Lakeville, Connecticut. During the late 1950s, Wolfe recorded a number of discs for the label Experi- ence Anonyme. The repertoire included music by Frescobaldi, Handel, and Eng- lish from the Tudor era to the Restoration. The recordings were reissued in 1998 on two double Lyr- ichord CD sets, under the general title When They Had Pedals. In 1960 Wolfe moved to Rome, from which base he enjoyed a distinguished ca- reer as a touring through- Paul Wolfe, sly smile out Europe for 13 years. He continued to perform in the U.S. upon his return. He A: I didn’t agree with that then. Her was later director of admissions for the fi ngering, as I’ve said, just didn’t work for Manhattan School of Music and director me. Who it did work for, and the student of the preparatory school at Mannes Col- I think sounded most like her, was Ra- lege, both in New York. Wolfe, 82, now fael Puyana. He was a real virtuoso. He lives in Santa Fe, New Mexico. was Colombian. He lives in now. I heard him playing Giovanni Picchi Paul Wolfe will never forget the fi rst and he sounded exactly like her. When compliment Wanda Landowska paid I went, he was the only other student I him, nor her fi rst reprimand. It was June know of she had. 12, 1955, and the 26-year-old Texan had Wanda Landowska, 1923, at Pleyel factory But . . . people used to come see her all just auditioned to become a pupil of the the time for coaching. She coached a lot venerable Polish harpsichordist. The come to a decision. I said, “I would like impossible for me because she had such of the German harpsichord ladies. (José) scene was the big, sprawling house in to study harpsichord.” He said, “Uh-huh, tiny hands. Iturbi used to come a lot. Once Clifford Lakeville, Connecticut, where Landows- I thought you would. All right. You can I did try to play them that way. She Curzon came. She said to me, “Clifford ka dwelt during the fi nal years of her life go two places. You can go to Yale and looked at me, at my hands, and said, came. He played a Mozart for with her secretary, Denise Restout, and study with or you can “What are you doing?” I said, “Well, I’m me. I taught it to him, you know. A long her longtime companion and housekeep- study with Landowska.” He said he could trying to use your fi ngering.” She said, time ago.” Then she stopped and smiled. er, Elsa Schunicke. arrange either one. I said, “Landowska.” “No. More than that. You’re trying to im- “He still uses the same fi ngering.” “Yes, my fi rst lesson there was on my And he said, “I hoped you’d say that.” itate me. Look at my hand. Mine is little. birthday,” Wolfe recalled. “The lesson was Yours is big. It will never work. And if it Q: She was in her late seventies then. really an audition: I played varied piano Q: Do you remember your fi rst lesson did work, you wouldn’t sound like me.” Was her technique still solid? repertoire for Denise, who was Landows- with Landowska herself, not Denise God knows that was true. A: She could put her hand on the ka’s assistant, and willing slave, and pupil, Restout? One day in a lesson with Denise, I keyboard cold and do the most amazing and an excellent harpsichordist. A: It took place with her sitting in her was playing something. She sent word things, trills and scales and arpeggios. It “As I was going out, Denise said, chair by the harpsichord. She always down after the lesson—she called Elsa was incredible. She just knew she had a ‘Wait.’ I learned later she went sat in the chair unless she was demon- upstairs to where she had been sitting on God-given facility. Well, she worked, too. through a back door to the room where strating, which she didn’t like to do. She the landing, where they had contrived Landowska was sitting. It was her study. started me with the (Bach) Two-Part a sort of sitting room—to tell me that I Q: Did it ever fail her? That house—it had sliding doors like a Inventions. After that fi rst lesson she had used the wrong fi ngering in such and A: It slowed down toward the end. To- lot of old houses, connecting the rooms. said, “Now you take my copy and copy such a measure. And sure enough, she ward the end, after she recorded that Mo- Denise slid open a door, and there was the fi ngering.” And there was a ngeringfi was right. zart disc on the piano, she recorded the Landowska, holding her right hand up for every note of every Invention. Ha! It C-minor Partita and I don’t remember to her cheek, like this, sitting in a chair was the damnedest fi ngering. I was like Q: How did you feel about that kind of what else. But the partita was . . . it was in the center of the doorway. that (clumping fi ngers together). It was tight control? old. You could tell that she was failing. “She was recovering from her fi rst heart attack then. She had a blanket over CALIFORNIA LUTHERAN UNIVERSITY her all the way up to her nose. She ex- tended her hand, just her little fi nger, and said, ‘Oh, I’m so glad you’ve come to me. Now you begin with Denise and ORVIL AND GLORIA FRANZEN when I’m well, I will teach you.’ “Then she said something else. ‘You 2012-2013 ORGAN PROGRAM SERIES are very musical, my dear.’ And I said, ‘Thank you.’ She fl ashed back, ‘You can’t thank me. I had nothing to do with it. And don’t thank yourself. Thank God!’ Friday, October 26, 2012, 7 p.m. “I was with her four years after that. I paid $50 a lesson whether it was (with) Shelly Moorman-Stahlman in concert. her or Denise. After a certain point, I didn’t pay for lessons. She just gave them Friday, February 8, 2013, 7 p.m. to me. She didn’t charge me, and that’s Kyle Johnson in faculty recital. something. She did like money. My last lesson was a few weeks before she died.” Friday, March 8, 2013, 7 p.m. Q: How did you come to study with Eric Kinsley and Kyle Johnson playing organ duets Landowska? and works for two organs. Shelly Moorman- Kyle Johnson Kyle Johnson and A: I was teaching at what was then Stahlman Eric Kinsley called Carnegie Tech in Pittsburgh. Web- ster Aitken (friend of artist Paul Cadmus, and a noted Schubert and Beethoven All events are free and the public is invited. specialist) was my teacher there. One day he said to me, “When are you going For more information contact CLU’s Office of to decide?” I said, “Decide what?” He Campus Ministry at (805) 493-3228. said, “Whether you’re going to play the harpsichord or the piano.” We had never discussed it! So I said I didn’t know. He said, “Well, you go think about it, and All events on the 1991 Steiner-Reck II-39 in Samuelson Chapel. you come to my house a week from today for tea with a decision.” So I went to his house and we sat down and had tea. He asked me if I had ."+034*/03("/"/%$)63$).64*$t888$"--65)&3"/&%6

OCTOBER, 2012 23 Lakeville house Landowska at Lakeville (undated)

Q: You said she gave you a little piece fi rst off. What was it? 1926 St. Leu: Boris de Schlaezer, Sacha Shiffrin, W. L., unknown, Georges Auric A: I don’t think I ever played that piece in public. It was Couperin. I can’t Nobody knew exactly how old she was A: She didn’t, really. She had fi nger remember which one it was. It was not until after she died. That she guarded. exercises that you did away from the an important piece. It was very melodi- Her birthday was the fi fth of July. So was keyboard, which I found very hard. She ous and simple. But, it was hard! Elsa’s. Every fi fth she played for Elsa on fi nally stopped them. They cramped me. the harpsichord, Put another nickel in/In It made your fi ngers independent, if your Q: Hard, how? the nickelodeon. All I want is loving you/ fi ngers weren’t completely independent A: Hard to make it work on the harp- And music, music, music! by the time you got to her. sichord, and she knew it. I played it over and over the whole time I studied with Q: Her concert persona was famous. Q. What about manual and registration her. Not every lesson, but over the years Maybe even a little made fun of. changes? for four years. When I left, I was still A: I remember a concert, before I be- A: She loved to work on that. It was playing that piece. came her student. It was Halloween in the inspiration of the moment. She said, About that time I began to record and 1950 at the Brooklyn Academy of Mu- “There are no rules for registration.” She the fi rst thing I did was pieces from a col- sic, where she played the (Bach) Italian loved to use the 16-foot stop up an oc- lection called The Mulliner Book. She Concerto. She wandered out onto the tave and crawl around between the two worked with me on those. We did a big set stage communing with Bach, staring up keyboards, and have the accompaniment of variations by Thomas Tomkins. I loved Paul, early to mid 1960s, ‘High above into the ceiling. She wandered toward going on the upper, and the melody with it and so did she. Called “Fortune, My some lake in Switzerland. If we look the harpsichord. She sat down and her her thumbs on the lower. Foe.” She knew all the repertoire cold. wrinkled, remember we had driven two dress covered her feet and she didn’t She said to me in the middle of one whole days.’ move, didn’t move. She was setting up Q: It sounds like she played a lot like an lesson, “Oh, why must you always go off the pedals then, of course. Then with organist. to record or play? Just come to study.” we are very close. No more Madame no hesitation she looked down and her A: I guess she did. I never said that, She said that to me, the day I moved to Landowska. From today, Mamusia.” left hand leaped on the bass like a hawk though. If I had even thought it, she Lakeville to work with her—because her She continued, “In my life I have loved stooping, and her right hand followed. would have killed me. health was so fragile, you had to be sort two people: my brother Paul, and Elsa. BOOM, da dut da daa, daaa. The audi- of on hand. Now you must live up to them.” She then ence was transfi xed. Q: Was Landowska Romantic in her ap- I remember I went for a last lesson kissed her index fi nger and pressed it to proach? before I recorded once. I was going into my cheek. I can’t remember anything Q: What were her hands like? A: Not Romantic exactly; she wanted New York that day. I played for her and about the rest of that day. A: Like this. They were claws. You richness. But one day, I made a big kind she said, “You’re nervous.” I said, “Yes, I can see that in the [few fragmentary] of ritard nuance in the middle of some- am.” She said, “I’m not, so you have no Q: It sounds like you were almost a son fi lms made of her playing, at the house thing, and she stopped me. She said, reason to be.” of the house. in Lakeville. “You learn to play in time fi rst, then you A: After lessons we would go have ga- can do that.” She used rallentando in her Q: Did you ever penetrate beyond the teaux, a snack, in the kitchen. Sandwich- Q: Did she use technical exercises on the own playing but never with students. I main rooms in the house? es and cake and stuff Elsa made, and tea. harpsichord, like the Brahms or Rach- guess she thought we were bad enough A: I got up as far as the landing, where She loved tea and always had three cups. maninoff or Czerny for the piano? without that kind of encouragement. she had that kind of sitting room. It was Two empty and one fi lled. She would a big landing. There was a little, little, pour hot tea in one cup, then pour some room with a single bed, and a window, off of that in an empty cup, then pour some the landing. That’s where she slept. Once into the other cup, and go back and forth. I came to a lesson and she was banged I have no idea why. up. She laughed and said, “Oh, my dear, Whenever I left, there was always you know, my big nose is always going something waiting for me in the car. Elsa fi rst.” She had gotten up in the night and must have sneaked out of the kitchen tripped on the rug by her bed, and fallen and sneaked it to me. Something she had down, right on her nose. baked, or even programs from Landows- ka’s earlier years concertizing. Q: You quickly became close to her, you said. How was that? Q: What about her personal appearance? A: After several months of study—I A: She liked red, I know that. She later realized I had proven myself—there wore bright red lipstick. Her concert was a little ceremony. I was bidden up- dress was dark red, made for her by Elsa. stairs to the hall landing, that improvised Elsa made all her things, including the sitting room, to see Landowska. Very robes she wore around the house. She clearly alone. I was somewhat alarmed. usually wore her hair up and knotted as But she quickly put me at ease. you see in the pictures, but sometimes “Now, my dear, it is time for you to call it would start slipping off to one side or me Mamusia,” she said. “In Polish, that the other. means Little Mother. It is very important She was very fl irtatious. She loved that you call me that because it means to fl irt with men. And women. In those years, one wore ties. The very fi rst time I went to a lesson I wore a tie. She loved Reserve your ad in to get round in front of me and play with the knot. She would look up and say THE DIAPASON in a winsome voice, “I always have to 2013 Resource Directory. straighten men’s ties, don’t I, Elsa?” She was just fi ve feet tall, if that. Contact Jerome Butera: 847/391-1045 Would you like the option of an all-digital version of THE DIAPA- [email protected] SON? For informaton, contact Jerome Butera: 847/391-1045; Deadline: November 1 [email protected]

24 THE DIAPASON Paul’s fi nal concert, Frick Collection, NY

A: Well, when Glenn Gould did the Goldberg [Variations] in 1955 I was Landowska at harpsichord, Elsa (left) studying with her and Columbia sent her and Denise the records. I said, “Mamusia, what did Landowska and her birthday cake July you think?” She said, “He’s a monkey!” 5, 1954 with Ralph, her engineer “Well, what did you say to Columbia?” “I wrote them a very nice, brief letter and and she did all those secretarial things. said ‘Thank you very much for the discs’. She was very smart and well-educated. Of course, she recorded for RCA. When the Nazis invaded and Landowska Also, she used to talk to me about Paul Wolfe, Brussels program, 1968 knew she had to leave France, there was Ralph Kirkpatrick. She would say, “Why a big decision, who would go with her does he hate me so?” I told her, “I’ll tell drove all this way with me. He is a harp- to America, Denise or Elsa. They de- you in one word. Talent.” sichordist and a pupil of Ralph Kirkpat- cided Denise would be more useful to rick’s. Would you mind if he came in?” Landowska, so Denise went. I think Elsa Q: Do you remember when Landowska She said no, so we went in. spent the war in Andorra. died? Landowska was lying in the living room They landed in New York on Pearl A: Yes. I had taken my last lesson a on a bier. She was all in white, in one of Harbor Day and were on Ellis Island. few months before. I was staying with the gowns Elsa made. There were a few Waiting and waiting. Every now and friends in the South for the summer. fl owers around, but not many. And De- then someone would call out, “Wanda I was at breakfast when (harpsichord- nise and Elsa were the only people there, Lou! Wanda Lou!” She and Denise just ist) Albert (Fuller) came in and said, plus Albert and me. And we stayed a bit, huddled in a corner and wondered who “Wolfi e, Landowska has died.” I called and then we left. ■ in the hell Wanda Lou was. Finally it got the house and got through. Denise said, fi gured out. “My dear, don’t think of coming all that Craig Smith, treasurer and publicist of the way.” But I said, “I must.” Albert said, Albuquerque American Guild of Organists Q: When did you start your own concert “I’ll go with you.” chapter, is a writer and editor specializing in Note from Denise to Paul with photo of career? We drove and drove and drove. Hours music and arts issues and personalities. He Landowska was music critic and staff writer for The Santa A: She died in 1959 and my record- and hours. Finally we got to Lakeville Fe New Mexican for 20 years before taking ings were well known by then. I made and parked. Denise came out and said, up freelance writing. He holds an MM degree Beverly Merrill owned the record my harpsichord debut concert in Town “Who is that with you in the car?” I said, in voice performance from the University of company Experience Anonyme, for Hall in 1960 and that’s when I went to “It is a friend of mine, Albert Fuller, who Missouri-Kansas City. which I recorded. I said to Beverly Italy, because of that good review. The once, “Why don’t you come up and manager of the Spoleto Festival invited meet Landowska, and we’ll have dinner, me to play—there wasn’t one in Charles- and then you can drive back to New ton (SC) then. That was the third year of York.” She came. It was summer. We sat the festival. on the front porch. She and Landowska A manager from Milan heard me play sat in the glider and Landowska could and contacted me at the end of the fes- not keep her hands off Beverly. tival. He said, “Are you going back to America?” I said, “Yes.” He said, “Do you Q: Landowska was married early on, and have any concerts?” I said, “No.” And he her husband died, according to Denise’s said, “Stay. I will arrange them.” I toured memoirs of her. for 13 years. I was based in Rome most A: Landowska was married to Henri of the time. I would put the harpsichord Lew, pronounced Lev. They were both in the station wagon and off we’d go. It . They were both in when stuck out of the back. You can see that in the First World War broke out. Before the photos from the time. that they had been in Paris. As foreign- ers, they were confi ned to Berlin for the Q: Where did you tour? whole of the war. She taught at the Hoch- A: The Netherlands, Switzerland, all schule. She always credited Lew with over Italy. I began in Sicily. No, I never getting her interested in the harpsichord played in . London? Yes, I did. because she played so much Bach. Andrew Porter got me with some manag- Somewhere in the midst of all that er, who was OK. Andrew said, “For God’s she decided Mr. Lew needed a mistress. sake, don’t play in Wigmore [Hall]. Go to They had married when she was young. this manager and let him get you some- And she found Elsa. She found her and where different.” I ended up playing in chose her to be the mistress. St. George’s, Hanover Square, Handel’s church. It had wonderful acoustics. Then Q: How could she arrange that? I played in Oxford. A: She could arrange anything! She was very beautiful, Elsa was. She also Q: What about this instrument sitting was engaged then and her fi ancé shot here? her in the face, and they couldn’t remove A: This was made for me in 1968. An- the bullet. One side of her face was para- other earlier one I took to Spoleto, and lyzed; you can see it in the photographs. I sold it to a man named Jerome Hill. According to a tale of Putnam Aldrich, Those instruments, and this one, were an early student, after the end of the war, made for me by a company called Rut- Lew went to the train station and bought kowski