Zuzana Růžičková (1927-2017)

September 27, 2017 12:46 PM

The Czech harpsichordist Zuzana Růžičková has died aged 90. Růžičková survived a childhood bout of tuberculosis; terrible years in Terezin, Auschwitz and Bergen-Belsen; and, as a Jew who refused to join the Communist Party, persecution by the authorities in post-war Czechoslovakia. Despite all this, she established an international career playing the harpsichord, becoming the first person to record the complete keyboard works of J. S. Bach on that instrument.

Růžičková was recently the subject of a documentary film: Zuzana: Music Is Life (trailer).

Some examples of her playing: J. S. Bach's English Suite No.5 in E minor (BWV 810); a selection of sonatas by Domenico Scarlatti; and some Piéces de Clavecin by François Couperin (YouTube).

posted by misteraitch (12 comments total)

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posted by clew at 12:50 PM on September 27, 2017

Sad news, but a long life well lived.

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posted by Perodicticus potto at 1:06 PM on September 27, 2017

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posted by LobsterMitten at 1:21 PM on September 27, 2017

Oh, man. One of my piano teachers was a Jewish woman of the same generation, who avoided the camps by the skin of her teeth. She'd tell me Růžičková's story and her own, and I don't think it had the toughen-up effect she was hoping for. It just made my hands shaky and the music blurry.

But later, in the history course I took on Bach and Handel, it was such a joy to flip back and forth between Růžičková and Gould on the same pieces.
posted by The Underpants Monster at 1:39 PM on September 27, 2017 [4 favorites]

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posted by jim in austin at 2:04 PM on September 27, 2017

♪
posted by Smart Dalek at 2:39 PM on September 27, 2017 [1 favorite]

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posted by Slithy_Tove at 2:44 PM on September 27, 2017

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posted by shibori at 10:01 PM on September 27, 2017

I was introduced to her recordings in college. That's still what Bach sounds like in my head.

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posted by hydropsyche at 5:08 AM on September 28, 2017 [1 favorite]

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posted by james33 at 6:14 AM on September 28, 2017

• Amazing talent.

(While reading about Zuzana, I stumbled across this crazy performance of Eliane Rodrigues working around a broken damper system)
posted by bz at 9:13 AM on September 28, 2017 [1 favorite]

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posted by homunculus at 9:57 AM on September 28, 2017