Born July 5, 1877, in Warsaw; died Aug. 16, 1959, in Lakeville, Conn., USA. Polish harpsichordist, pianist, teacher, and musicologist.

Landowska studied in Poland with A. Michałowski (piano) and in Berlin with M. Moszkowski and G. Urban (composition). She moved to Paris in 1900, where she performed as a pianist and from 1903, as a harpsichordist. In 1906 she began touring Europe, including Russia in 1907, 1909, and 1913. She also gave lectures. She taught harpsichord in Berlin, Basel, and Paris and founded a school for the study of old music in Saint-Leu-la-Forêt, near Paris. She settled in the USA in 1941.

Landowska became world famous with her numerous concert tours and recordings. She was responsible for the revival of the harpsichord and harpsichord music on the contemporary concert stage. De Falla (1926) and Poulenc (1929) wrote harpsichord concerti for her. Landowska composed orchestral and piano pieces, choral songs, and cadenzas to concerti by Haydn and Mozart. She published a number of studies on J. S. Bach and on harpsichord music, including Music of the Past (1909).