Leopold Godowsky
Leopold Godowsky was born in Soshly, near Vilna, Poland, on February 13, 1870. A prodigy pianist, he attended the Berlin High School for Music, after which he made his American debut in Boston in 1884. Additional study took place in Paris with Saint-Saëns. Godowsky then launched his career as a mature concert pianist with performances throughout the world of music. He achieved international renown not only as a virtuoso but also as a teacher of the piano, at the Chicago Conservatory and the Vienna Academy. His concert career ended in 1930 when he was stricken by a slight paralysis of the hand. As a composer, Godowsky was most famous for his suites for the piano, the most famous being Triakontameron, Java, and Renaissance. He also produced a library of remarkable transcriptions for the piano. He died in New York City on November 21, 1938.
Though Godowsky was a sophisticated composer of highly complex piano works, he did succeed in producing at least one number that became an international “hit.” It was the Alt Wien (Old Vienna), a sentimental, nostalgic piece of music on whose title page appears the following quotation: “Whose yesterdays look backwards with a smile through tears.” Alt Wien is the eleventh number in Triakontameron (1920), a suite in six volumes described by the composer as “thirty moods and scenes in triple measure.” The immense popularity of Alt Wien is proved by its many and varied transcriptions: for salon orchestra; band; violin and piano (by Heifetz); three-part woman’s chorus; dance orchestra; marimba and piano; and even a popular song adapted by David Saperton to lyrics by Stella Ungar.