Rosalyn Tureck

Rosalyn Tureck (December 14, 1914 - July 17, 2003) was an American pianist and harpsichordist who was particularly associated with the music of Johann Sebastian Bach. She was born in Chicago, Illinois.

Tureck did not play only Bach, but had a wide-ranging repertoire which included works by composers including Ludwig van Beethoven, Johannes Brahms, and Frédéric Chopin, as well as more modern composers such as David Diamond, Luigi Dallapiccola, and William Schuman. Diamond's "Piano Sonata No. 1" was inspired by Tureck's playing.

Tureck studied at the Juilliard School of music, where one of her teachers was Leon Theremin. She made her debut at Carnegie Hall playing the theremin, an electronic instrument.

For a while she followed Wanda Landowska in playing Bach's keyboard music on a harpsichord, but later returned to playing the piano. She was an honorary fellow of St Hilda's College, Oxford.

She died in New York in 2003 at age 89. Her scores and recordings were given to the [http://www.nypl.org/musicdiv Music Division] and the [http://www.nypl.org/research/lpa/rha/rha.html Rodgers & Hammerstein Archives of Recorded Sound] , both divisions of [http://www.nypl.org/research/lpa/lpa.html The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts] .

In a CBC radio special on Glenn Gould [http://www.sonyclassical.com/artists/gould/bio.html Reference Influence On Glenn Gould] [http://www.connectedglobe.com/tbrf/tureck6.html On Tureck's Influence On Gould] , the host told Tureck that Gould cited her as his "only" influence. She responded by saying she knew that she was an influence, and that it was very kind of him to say so.

External links

* [http://www.tureckbach.com/ Tureck Bach Research Institute]
* [http://www.connectedglobe.com/tbrf/tureck6.html On Tureck and Gould]
* [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z3TqT-PvM2c Recording of Tureck Playing Bach]

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