Scope and Content Note
Materials from the Wanda Landowska and Denise Restout Papers span a period from the 1843 through the early 2000s. The bulk of these date from the early 1900s through the late 1990s. The collection includes manuscript and printed music, correspondence, writings, subject files, photographs, programs, and other materials chiefly related to Landowska's career as a perfomer, scholar, teacher, and promoter of early keyboard music. Denise Restout has often been called a "disciple" of Landowska, and for good reason. In her roles as pupil, secretary, and caretaker, she invested considerable time and effort documenting Landowska's teachings and preserving her legacy. Nevertheless, some part of Landowska's past may very well never be recovered. The Nazi seizure of Landowska's music library and instrument collection in 1940 has profoundly influenced the shape of the collection as it now exists at the Library of Congress. Although much of Landowska's early correspondence, writings, and photographs have survived, most of the music represents items obtained post-1941. Researchers are strongly encouraged to consult the inventories to ascertain the contents of Landowska's music library at various points in her career.
The materials in the Music Series consist largely of annotated, printed scores. Interspersed among these are manuscript scores, orchestral parts, sketches, transcriptions and cadenzas, notes, and other assorted materials. Included as well are nine Landowska sketchbooks from 1893-1896 and her manuscripts for Liberation Fanfare, Five Polish Folksongs, and other compositions. Many of the scores in this collection contain fingerings by Restout that were copied directly from Landowska's own materials or formulated in strict accordance to her teachings. The two keyboardists also penned in remarkably similar hands, which creates ambiguity as to whose annotations are actually present in any given score. As such, annotations and fingerings that are directly attributable to Landowska, Restout, or other individuals are identified wherever possible.
The most heavily annotated copies of J. S. Bach's keyboard works were originally contained in seven red folders, all consisting of pages removed from the Bach Klavierwerke published by Steingraber in the 1880s. As the works are extensively annotated by Landowska, it was decided to retain these works in their original state, rather than divide the individual works, and these comprise Box 8 through Box 10, folder 3. Other collections of Bach's works, which are believed to be annotated by Denise Restout or others, are found in Box 11. Box 56 includes photocopies of various Bach keyboard works, as well as handwritten analyses by Landowska or Restout. Boxes 62-63 contain photocopies of various J. S. Bach scores with fingerings by Landowska. As with the Bach materials, a large number of Scarlatti's harpsichord sonatas and Mozart keyboard concerti were originally contained in large bound folders created by Landowska. These folders have been preserved in their original state, with the exception of those which contain only miscellaneous orchestral parts.
Personal letters and business papers to and from students, family members, composers and performers, artists, agents, musicologists, fans, and friends form the bulk of Landowska and Restout's correspondence in the Correspondence Series. Notable personalities represented by substantial correspondence include Doda Conrad, Manuel de Falla, Arthur Hoérée, Georges Pioch, Francis Poulenc, and Rafael Puyana. In addition to Restout, persons with intimate knowledge of Landowska's activities at Saint-Leu, New York, and Lakeville include Momo Aldrich, Dianita Mathot, Ethel Preston, and Elsa Schunicke. All of these individuals assisted Landowska in various ways by transcribing notes, performing secretarial duties, looking after personal property, or acting as caretakers for Landowska in her final years at Lakeville.
As a scholar-performer, Landowska penned a considerable body of writing on music and other topics over the course of her career. These materials in the Writings and Research Materials Series are organized in the collection as follows: published writings; datebooks and journals; teaching materials; other writings and research materials; and writings by others. In addition to Musique Ancienne, her signature monograph, Landowska wrote frequently about performance practice, the works of Bach and Mozart, and musical traditions in various countries. Her files contain drafts of articles and essays, notebooks, annotated clippings, bibliographic citations, and offprints of interest. Restout captured many of Landowska's most poignant thoughts in Landowska on Music, but was ultimately unable to complete her biography of the harpsichordist after nearly forty years of sporadic work. Her preparatory materials for this volume consist of translations of notes and life musings, journal excerpts, clippings, and other miscellaneous items gathered for this purpose.
As a teacher, Landowska achieved notoriety through her summer courses and masterclasses held at the Ecole de Musique Ancienne. Her teachings and performance critiques are preserved in a run of copious notes taken by her assistants between 1927 and 1929. These are augmented by lesson ledgers, planning notes, programs and promotional materials, and Restout's own class notes from her studies with Landowska. Other writings of interest in the collection include journals by Landowska pupils and assistants Momo Aldrich, Dianita Mathot, and Gerda Liebman, as well as Ethel Preston's reflections on Landowska's teaching in "Trois eles avec Wanda Landowska á Saint-Leu-la-Forêt."
The majority of business papers are in the Files Series containing subject files that reflect many of Landowska and Restout's activities after their immigration to the United States in 1941. They contain contracts, correspondence, legal documents, inventories, publicity materials, and other items pertaining to recordings, publishing, projects, social events, and research. Of particular importance are Restout's "Estate" files related to the restitution of materials ransacked from Landowska's music library and instrument collection at Saint-Leu in 1940. Supporting documents are found among the "Inventories" folder, as well as in correspondence, photographs, and files throughout the collection. Also of note are a series of performance files (1942-1955), documents related to Music Ancienne and Landowska on Music, discographies, and business papers for R.C.A. Victor, Landowska's primary recording label.
The voluminous amount of items in the Photographs Series are largely centered around Landowska's activities at Saint-Leu during the 1920s and 1930s. Restout, Elsa Schunicke, and Ethel Preston are credited with the more candid photographs from this period. Images are organized in four categories: Landowska alone; Landowska with others; Denise Restout; and other people and subjects. Dignitaries include Pablo Casals, Aaron Copland, Manuel de Falla, Ruggero Gerlin, Arthur Honegger, José Iturbi, Yehudi Menuhin, Darius Milhaud, Ignace Paderewski, Francis Poulenc, Rafael Puyana, Auguste Rodin, Leopold Stokowski, and Leo Tolstoy. Other notable subjects include Landowska's historic instrument and artwork collections, images of her hands in performance, and the Saint-Leu grounds and concert hall.
Personal documents and other items largely related to the families of Landowska and Restout are organized in the Biographical Materials Series. These include address books, immigration and probate papers, biographies, and content related to (but not physically found with) Restout's materials for the Landowska biography. The remaining Programs, Financial Documents and Miscellany Series consist of programs and promotional materials, financial documents, and miscellaneous items. Among these are expense ledgers, tax returns, iconography of Landowska and musical figures, teaching fliers, posters, and realia.