Leopold Godowsky (Leopold Godowski) (February 13, 1870 – November 21, 1938), was a famed Polish-American pianist, composer, and teacher. He has been described as "a pianist for pianists".
Godowsky was born to Jewish parents in Żośle, near Wilno, in what was then Russian territory but is now part of Lithuania. He considered himself of Polish heritage. He became a naturalised American. He is therefore now considered to be "Polish-American."
As a ch...
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Leopold Godowsky (Leopold Godowski) (February 13, 1870 – November 21, 1938), was a famed Polish-American pianist, composer, and teacher. He has been described as "a pianist for pianists".
Godowsky was born to Jewish parents in Żośle, near Wilno, in what was then Russian territory but is now part of Lithuania. He considered himself of Polish heritage. He became a naturalised American. He is therefore now considered to be "Polish-American."
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.
His career as a concert pianist, which eventually took him to every inhabited 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...
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