Gustav Leonhardt | |
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 Leonhardt at theMAfestival Brugge | |
| Born | (1928-05-30)30 May 1928 's-Graveland, Netherlands |
| Died | 16 January 2012(2012-01-16) (aged 83) Amsterdam, Netherlands |
| Occupations |
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| Organizations | Leonhardt-Consort |
Gustav Maria Leonhardt (30 May 1928 – 16 January 2012)[1] was a Dutch keyboardist, conductor, musicologist, teacher and editor. He was a leading figure in the historically informed performance movement to perform music onperiod instruments.
Leonhardt professionally played many instruments, including theharpsichord,pipe organ,claviorganum (a combination of harpsichord and organ),clavichord,fortepiano, and piano. He also conducted orchestras and choruses.
Gustav Leonhardt was born in's-Graveland, nearHilversum, and studied organ and harpsichord from 1947 to 1950 with Eduard Müller at theSchola Cantorum Basiliensis inBasel. In 1950, he made his debut as a harpsichordist inVienna, where he studied musicology. He was professor of harpsichord at theAcademy of Music from 1952 to 1955 and at theAmsterdam Conservatory from 1954. He was also a church organist.
Leonhardt performed and conducted a variety of solo, chamber, orchestral, operatic, and choral music from theRenaissance,Baroque andClassical periods. The many composers whose music he recorded as a harpsichordist, organist, clavichordist, fortepianist, chamber musician or conductor includedJohann Sebastian Bach,Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach,Wilhelm Friedemann Bach,Heinrich Biber,John Blow,Georg Böhm,William Byrd,André Campra,François Couperin,Louis Couperin,John Dowland,Jacques Duphly,Antoine Forqueray,Girolamo Frescobaldi,Johann Jakob Froberger,Orlando Gibbons,André Grétry,George Frideric Handel,Jacques-Martin Hotteterre,Jean-Baptiste Lully,Claudio Monteverdi,Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart,Georg Muffat,Johann Pachelbel,Henry Purcell,Jean-Philippe Rameau,Christian Ritter,Johann Rosenmüller,Domenico Scarlatti,Agostino Steffani,Jan Pieterszoon Sweelinck,Georg Philipp Telemann,Francisco Valls,Antonio Vivaldi, andMatthias Weckmann.
Central to Leonhardt's career wasJohann Sebastian Bach. Leonhardt first recorded music of the composer in the early 1950s, with recordings in 1953 of theGoldberg Variations andThe Art of Fugue. The latter embodies the thesis he had published the previous year arguing that the work was intended for the keyboard, a conclusion now widely accepted. The recordings helped establish his reputation as a distinguished harpsichordist and Bach interpreter. In 1954 he led theLeonhardt Baroque Ensemble with the EnglishcountertenorAlfred Deller in a pioneering recording of two Bachcantatas. The ensemble included his wifeMarie Leonhardt [de],Eduard Melkus (violins),Alice Harnoncourt-Hoffelner (violin, viola),Nikolaus Harnoncourt (cello), and Michel Piguet (oboe).
In 1971, Leonhardt and Harnoncourt undertook the project of recording thecomplete Bach cantatas; the two conductors divided up the cantatas and recorded their assigned cantatas with their own ensembles. The project, the first cycle on period instruments, ended up taking nineteen years, from 1971 to 1990. In addition, Leonhardt recorded Bach'sSt Matthew Passion,Mass in B minor,Magnificat, and the completesecular cantatas, as well as theharpsichord concertos,Brandenburg Concertos, and most of his chamber and keyboard music; he recorded Bach'sGoldberg Variations (three times), Partitas (twice),The Art of Fugue (twice),The Well-Tempered Clavier,French Suites,English Suites (twice),Inventions and Sinfonias, and many other individual works for the harpsichord, clavichord, or organ. To the surprise of some of his associates,[2] Leonhardt accepted the role of Johann Sebastian Bach (played in a wig) inThe Chronicle of Anna Magdalena Bach, a 1968 film byJean-Marie Straub and Danièle Huillet.
Between 1974 and 1990, Leonhardt served as editor of the primary scholarly collection of the works of Jan Pieterszoon Sweelinck, which is noted as SwWV or L.
The keyboardist, conductor and scholarJohn Butt said, "...there's absolutely no doubting the enormous influence [Leonhardt] held over multiple generations of music making in the Baroque field";[3] in this discussion, Butt spoke of how much he learned from Leonhardt when preparing a chorus for him in the early 1990s. More generally, Leonhardt significantly influenced the technique and style of many harpsichordists through his teaching, editions, and recordings; his students and collaborators included harpsichordists and keyboard players such asRobert Hill,Bob van Asperen,John Butt,[3] Lucy Carolan, Lisa Crawford,Alan Curtis, Menno van Delft,Richard Egarr,John Fesperman, John Gibbons,Pierre Hantaï,Frederick Renz,Elaine Thornburgh,Ketil Haugsand,Siebe Henstra,Philippe Herreweghe,Christopher Hogwood,Ton Koopman, Karyl Louwenaar,[4] Charlotte Mattax,[5]Davitt Moroney,Jacques Ogg,Martin Pearlman (music director ofBoston Baroque), Edward Parmentier,Christophe Rousset,Louise Spizizen,Andreas Staier,Skip Sempé,Domenico Morgante, Peter Waldner,Francesco Cera,Jeannette Sorrell (music director ofApollo's Fire, The Cleveland Baroque Orchestra),Colin Tilney,Glen Wilson,[6] andChris Mary Francine Whittle.
Butt argues that Leonhardt's influence is not necessarily a simple, direct matter, but that some of his students consciously or unconsciously tried to play differently than he did. In comparing recordings of Bach'sGoldberg Variations, Butt asserts that a "classic case" of theanxiety of influence is at work in the Goldberg recording byTon Koopman, in which "what is immediately evident is the incessant ornamentation added to virtually every measure, often regardless of whether there is already obvious ornamentation in the notation.... my immediate reaction is often that this performance's principal message is 'Not Leonhardt'."[7] Similarly, he says that "Bob van Asperen takes [Leonhardt's] rhythmic subtlety to a new extreme and perhaps presents the most rhythmically nuanced account of the work [The Goldberg Variations], one that will be ideal to some and mannered to others."[7] By contrast, Butt argues, the youngerChristophe Rousset plays theGoldberg Variations in a "meat-and-potatoes" manner with "a steady rhythm, even articulation, and a matter-of-fact presentation with little extra ornamentation," demonstrating that "certainly Rousset does not seem to count among the 'radical reactivists' [to Leonhardt] such as Koopman and van Asperen."[7]
Leonhardt served as a member of the jury for the triennial International Harpsichord Concours of theMusica Antiqua Bruges. He was the only jury member who had participated in all sixteen juries from 1965 to 2010.
Among the awards given to him were the Medal of Honour for the Arts and Sciences from the Netherlands, presented to him byQueen Beatrix in 2009, and the 1980 Erasmus Prize, which he shared with Nicolaus Harnoncourt; it honored their recording of the complete Bach cantatas. (Leonhardt donated the money he received from the Erasmus Prize to Oudezijds 100,[8] an ecumenical Christian charity operating "in the red-light district [of] Amsterdam" that "addresses the issues of drug-addicts, prostitutes, refugees, and the homeless.").[9] Leonhardt was doctor honoris causa of the universities of Dallas, Amsterdam, Harvard, Metz and Padua. In 2007, he was made Commander of theOrdre des Arts et des Lettres in France, and in 2008, Commander of theOrder of the Crown in Belgium.
Leonhardt gave his last public performance on 12 December 2011 at theThéâtre des Bouffes du Nord in Paris. Thereafter, he announced his retirement due to illness and cancelled all of his 2012 engagements.[10] He died of cancer in Amsterdam on Monday, 16 January 2012, aged 83.
Twoasteroids were named after him:9903 Leonhardt and12637 Gustavleonhardt.
Leonhardt lived in acanal house on theHerengracht dating from about 1617, theHuis Bartolotti, and was a collector of decorative arts, paintings, and engravings. In 2014, his collection was auctioned bySotheby's.[11] His instruments were sold to a few former students, includingSkip Sempé andPierre Hantaï.
| External audio | |
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 Gustav Leonhardt performs music fromBach'sNotenbüchlein für Anna Magdalena BachHere on Archive.org |
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