born July 5, 1879, Warsaw, Pol., Russian Empire
died Aug. 16, 1959, Lakeville, Conn., U.S.
Polish-born U.S. harpsichordist and pianist.
After establishing herself as a pianist and devoting much energy to musicological research, she had a harpsichord made for her by Pleyel in Paris. She first performed on this instrument at the Breslau Bach Festival in 1912, thus beginning the 20th-century revival of the instrument and sparking a new international interest in authentic performance practice. Her many recordings include the first recording of Johann Sebastian Bach 's Goldberg Variations , and she commissioned works such as Manuel de Falla 's Harpsichord Concerto and Francis Poulenc 's Concert champêtre . As a Jew she was forced to flee the Nazis, and after 1940 she lived and taught in the U.S.