Leopold Godowsky (Leopold Godowski) (February 13, 1870–November 21, 1938) was a famed pianist, composer, and teacher. He has been described as the "Pianist of Pianists". February 13 is the 44th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... 1870 was a common year starting on Saturday (see link for calendar). ... November 21 is the 325th day of the year (326th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar. ... 1938 (MCMXXXVIII) was a common year starting on Saturday (link will take you to calendar). ...

He became a naturalised American, but was born to Polish parents in Sozły, near Wilno, in what was then Russian territory but is now part of Lithuania. He considered himself of Polish heritage. Vilnius Old Town Vilnius (sometimes Vilna; Polish Wilno, Belarusian Вільня, Russian Вильнюс, see also Cities alternative names) is the capital city of Lithuania. ...

Photograph of Leopold Godowsky

As a child, he received some lessons in basic piano playing and music theory; at age fourteen, he entered the Königliche Hochschule für Musik in Berlin, where he studied under Ernst Rudorff, but left after three months. Otherwise, he was self-taught. public domain, Library of Congress, Prints & Photographs Division, Carl Van Vechten collection. ... public domain, Library of Congress, Prints & Photographs Division, Carl Van Vechten collection. ...

His career as a concert pianist, which eventually would take him to every continent except Australia, began at age ten. In 1886, after a tour of North America, he returned to Europe, intending to study with Franz Liszt in Weimar. Upon learning of Liszt's death shortly after his return, he traveled instead to Paris, where he was befriended by the composer and pianist Camille Saint-Saëns, who enabled him to make the acquaintance of many leading French musicians. Saint-Saëns even proposed to adopt Godowsky if he would take his surname, an offer which Godowsky declined, much to the older man's displeasure. 1886 (MDCCCLXXXVI) is a common year starting on Friday (click on link to calendar) // Events January 18 - Modern field hockey is born with the formation of The Hockey Association in England. ... Franz Liszt (Hungarian: Liszt Ferenc) (October 22, 1811 – July 31, 1886) was a Hungarian virtuoso pianist and composer. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ... The Eiffel Tower, the international symbol of the city, with the skyscrapers of La Défense business district 3 miles behind. ... Charles Camille Saint-Saëns (IPA: ) (9 October 1835–16 December 1921) was a French composer and performer, best known for his orchestral work The Carnival of the Animals. ...

Godowsky's pedagogical activity began in 1890 at the New York College of Music. While in New York, he married Frieda Saxe and became an American citizen. In 1894 he moved to the Broad Street Conservatory in Philadelphia, and again in 1895 to the Chicago Conservatory, where he headed the piano department. A successful European concert tour in 1900 landed him once again in Berlin, where he divided his time between performing and teaching. From 1909 to 1914 he taught master classes at the Vienna Academy of Music. The outbreak of World War I drove him back to New York, where his home was frequented by many distinguished performers and celebrities of that day. Sergei Rachmaninoff, a particular friend, dedicated his Polka de W. R. to him. 1890 (MDCCCXC) was a common year starting on Wednesday (see link for calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Friday of the Julian calendar). ... Midtown Manhattan, looking north from the Empire State Building, 2005 New York City (officially named the City of New York) is the most populous city in the state of New York and the entire United States. ... 1894 (MDCCCXCIV) was a common year starting on Monday (see link for calendar). ... Nickname: City of Brotherly Love, Philly, the Quaker City Motto: Philadelphia maneto (Let brotherly love continue) Official website: http://www. ... 1895 (MDCCCXCV) was a common year starting on Tuesday (see link for calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Thursday of the 12-day-slower Julian calendar). ... 1900 (MCM) was an exceptional common year starting on Monday. ... 1909 (MCMIX) was a common year starting on Friday (see link for calendar). ... 1914 (MCMXIV) was a common year starting on Thursday. ... Combatants Allies: Serbia, Russia, France, Romania, Belgium, British Empire, United States, Italy, and others Central Powers: Germany, Austria-Hungary, Bulgaria, Ottoman Empire Casualties Military dead:5 million Civilian dead:3 million Total dead:8 million Military dead:4 million Civilian dead:3 million Total dead:7 million The First World... Sergei Vasilievich Rachmaninoff (Russian: , Sergej Vasilevič Rahmaninov, April 1, 1873 (N.S.) or March 20, 1873 (O.S.) – March 28, 1943) was a Russian-American composer, pianist, and conductor. ...

After the war, Godowsky resumed touring, but a stroke he suffered June 17, 1930, during a recording session in London, put an end to his public performances, and made it impossible for him to recoup the considerable financial loss he had suffered in the Stock Market Crash of 1929. The suicide of his younger son in 1932 and the death of his wife in 1933, combined with his despair over the deteriorating political situation in Europe (his plans for a "World Synod of Music and Musicians" and an "International Master Institute of Music" came to nothing) cast an even deeper shadow over his last years, and he stopped composing. He died of stomach cancer in New York on November 21, 1938. June 17 is the 168th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (169th in leap years), with 197 days remaining. ... 1930 (MCMXXX) is a common year starting on Wednesday. ... This article is about the British city. ... The 1929 stock market crash devastated economies worldwide The Wall Street Crash refers to the stock market crash that occurred on October 29, 1929, when share prices on the New York Stock Exchange collapsed, leading eventually to the Great Depression. ... 1932 (MCMXXXII) was a leap year starting on Friday (the link will take you to a full 1932 calendar). ... 1933 (MCMXXXIII) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will take you to calendar). ... November 21 is the 325th day of the year (326th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar. ... 1938 (MCMXXXVIII) was a common year starting on Saturday (link will take you to calendar). ...

As a composer, Godowsky has been best known for his paraphrases of piano pieces by other composers, which he enhanced with ingenious contrapuntal devices and rich chromatic harmonies. His most famous work in this genre is the 53 Studies on Chopin's Etudes, in which he varies the already challenging originals by: introducing countermelodies; transferring the technically difficult passages from the right hand to the left; transcribing the entire etude for left hand solo; or interweaving two etudes, with the left hand playing one and the right hand the other (as impossible as this seems). These are so taxing even for virtuosi that only four have ventured to record the entire set: Geoffrey Douglas Madge, Carlo Grante, Marc-André Hamelin, and Joyce Hatto. He also transcribed for the piano a number of sonatas and partitas for solo violin and solo cello by Johann Sebastian Bach, while highly embellishing them by the addition of complementary voices in contrapuntal manner. Carlo Grante has recorded many of these. Frédéric François Chopin as portrayed by Eugène Delacroix in 1838. ... An etude (from the French word étude meaning study) is a short musical composition designed to provide practice in a particular technical skill in the performance of a solo instrument. ... Geoffrey Douglas Madge is a classical pianist. ... Marc-André Hamelin (born September 5, 1961) is a French-Canadian classical pianist and composer. ... British pianist, born 1928. ... The violin is a bowed stringed musical instrument that has four strings tuned a perfect fifth apart, the lowest being the G just below middle C. It is the smallest and highest-tuned member of the violin family of string instruments, which also includes the viola and cello. ... A cello The cello (the c is pronounced /ʧ/ as the ch in church) or cello, short for violoncello, is a stringed instrument and a member of the violin family. ... Johann Sebastian Bach (21 March 1685 O.S. – 28 July 1750 N.S.) was a prolific German composer and organist whose sacred and secular works for choir, orchestra and solo instruments drew together almost all of the strands of the baroque style and brought it to its ultimate maturity. ...

The Piano Sonata, the Passacaglia, and Triakontameron are amongst other works of his that have become more well-known of recent times. The Passacaglia is based on a theme from Franz Schubert's Unfinished Symphony. It has acquired an undeserved reputation for difficulty. Even Vladimir Horowitz gave up on it, stating that it would require not 2 but 6 hands to perform. Horowitz was not a fan of Godowsky's work in general, and the reality is that, as difficult as the piece is, there are more challenging works in the general concert repertoire. The Passacaglia has been recorded by Carlo Grante and Marc-André Hamelin, Rian de Waal, and Konstantin Scherbakov, among others. In music a passacaglia (French: passacaille, Spanish: pasacalle) is a musical form and the corresponding court dance. ... Franz Schubert. ... Vladimir Samoylovych Horowitz (Russian: Владимир Самойлович Горовиц, Ukrainian: Володимир Самійлович Горовиць) (OS 18 September, NS October 1, 1903 – November 5, 1989) was a classical pianist of Jewish origin. ... Marc-André Hamelin (born September 5, 1961) is a French-Canadian classical pianist and composer. ...

External links

• http://www.godowsky.com/
• http://www.leopoldgodowsky.com/
• http://www.esm.rochester.edu/sibley/specialc/findaids/display.php?id=84