A Treasury of Harpsichord Music

This programme is the recreation of the landmark 1957 “A Treasury of Harpsichord Music” recording of Wanda Landowska.

As a ten year old child prodigy, Wanda Landowska visited the 1889 World Exhibition in Paris where she likely saw her first harpsichord. The leading French piano builders Erard and Pleyel specially built harpsichords for an event that marked the 100th year anniversary of the storming of the Bastille. It is perhaps at this moment that her very early interest in the music of J.S. Bach, and the discovery of the instrument for which he wrote his music, came together to take her on a decisive and trailblazing path: reviving the harpsichord and its repertoire of unknown treasures.

Landowska is clear in her writings and interviews that she needed to fight tirelessly for the acceptance of the instrument, and the quality of its repertoire. Although it seems impossible to imagine today, she was up against the early 20th century view that music, like science, progressed, and its quality improved throughout each era. She questioned established thought, and proved that the qualitative nature of music—and art—has nothing to do with progress. What she achieved was remarkable, and her influence on the worldwide renaissance of interest in Early Music is staggering. As a teacher and musicologist she advised her students and famed collaborators on the pertinent stylistic knowledge necessary to access this repertoire that was totally unknown at the time. As a player, she was perhaps the most widely celebrated soloist of the first half of the 20th century, entrancing devoted audiences through her fearless, decisive, and electrifying musical personality.

Johann Sebastian Bach 1685-1759
Prélude, Fugue et Allegro in E flat major, BWV 998
Fantasia in C minor, BWV 906

Domenico Scarlatti 1865-1757
Sonata K.87
Sonata K.96

Jacques Champion de Chambonnières 1602?-1672
Sarabande in D minor

Jean-Philippe Rameau 1683-1764
La Dauphine

François Couperin Le Grand 1668-1733
Les Barricades Mystérieuses
L’Arlequine

Henry Purcell 1658-1695
Ground in C minor

Anonymous from the Virginal Book of Elizabeth Rogers
The Nightingale

George Frederick Handel 1685-1759
Air and Doubles in E major The Harmonious Blacksmith

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart 1756-1791
Rondo in D major K.485
Rondo alla Turca
Menuet in D major K.355

Johann Sebastian Bach / Antonio Vivaldi
Concerto in D major
Larghetto, Allegro