Gustav Leonhardt (1928-2012)

Posted at 9:32 AM on January 17, 2012 by Daniel Gilliam (1 Comments)

One of the leading voices in the early music movement has died. Dutch Harpsichordist Gustav Leonhardt passed away yesterday at the age of 84. In 1955, Leonhardt formed the Leonhardt Consort to perform the music of Bach. His students included Bob van Asperen, Christopher Hogwood, Philippe Herreweghe and Richard Egarr. Leonhardt recorded over 70 discs on all the major classical labels. A full obituary can be found here.

He performed steadily until about one month ago. Here's a video from December 12, 2011

Comments (1)

I heard him play an all-Bach recital when I was a freshman at Eastman many many moons ago. It was one of the highlights of that year (during the, er, Carter Administration), and it made a deep and lasting impression.

I found it amazing that a man who could appear on stage as motionless as a corpse could generate SO much emotion, taste, and chops. One of the greats.

Posted by John Birge | January 17, 2012 11:29 AM