Gustav Leonhardt

An influential pioneer of Early Music, keyboard player, conductor and arranger Gustav Leonhardt's productive career was dedicated to presenting 17th and 18th century music on period instruments, helping to make his native Holland the world capital of Baroque music performance. Born in s-Graveland, Wijdemeren in the north of Holland, he was himself a fine exponent on piano, harpsichord and organ, after studying at the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis in Basel. He made his debut as a harpsichordist in Vienna in 1950, where he studied musicology, and went on to become a professor of harpsichord at the Vienna Academy of Music and Amsterdam Conservatory. He went on to play and conduct chamber, orchestral and operatic music from different periods although he was best known for his J.S. Bach recordings, which began in 1953 with the 'Goldberg Variations' and 'The Art of Fugue'. Leading the Leonhardt Baroque Ensemble, he continued to specialise in Bach, becoming acknowledged as the greatest Bach interpreter of his generation, and in 1971 collaborated with cellist/conductor Nikolaus Harnoncourt in recording the complete Bach cantatas. He even portrayed Bach in a movie, 'The Chronicle of Anna Magdalena Bach'. His influence ran deep as he continued to perform, playing his last concert in Paris in 2011, passing away just over a month later at the age of 83. Two asteroids have been named after him, 9903 Leonhardt and Gustavleonhardt.

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