US Broadcast: PBS, WNET Presenting Station, 1999

One of this century’s pioneering female artists, who enchanted Leo Tolstoy and astonished audiences, Wanda Landowska (1879-1959) became internationally celebrated through a combination of passion and ferocious perseverance. Defying convention in both her music and her life, Landowska altered the course of music history with her resurrection of the harpsichord and the music of the 17th and 18th centuries.

LANDOWSKA, UNCOMMON VISIONARY, a one-hour documentary, spans the arc of her life, from mischievous girl in Poland with “a mad desire to be famous” to rebellious student in Berlin involved in a scandalous love affair, to “old Jewess crazy about music” Landowska’s dramatic life-story is played out amidst the upheavals of 20th century history. Forced to flee Nazi-occupied France, she arrived in New York with her long-time companion, Denise Restout the day Pearl Harbor was bombed. At the age of 62, Landowska rebuilt her life and career in the United States, performing to wildly enthusiastic audiences and completing monumental recording projects.

The documentary resonates with Landowska’s music—vintage and re-mastered recordings of Bach, Scarlatti, Couperin, and others. We see and hear Landowska giving aggressive, dazzling performances of the music she adored, demonstrating why no one ever listened to a harpsichord in quite the same way after hearing her play.

Running time: 57 minutes