Ralph Leonard Kirkpatrick was an American harpsichordist and musicologist, widely known for his chronological catalog of Domenico Scarlatti's keyboard sonatas as well as for his performances and recordings.
17 Facts About Ralph Kirkpatrick
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Ralph Kirkpatrick continued his piano studies in Cambridge while studying art history at Harvard University.
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Ralph Kirkpatrick became interested in the harpsichord at Harvard and gave his first harpsichord recital there in 1930.
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Ralph Kirkpatrick studied with Nadia Boulanger and harpsichord revival pioneer Wanda Landowska in Paris, with Arnold Dolmetsch in Haslemere, Heinz Tiessen in Berlin, and Gunther Ramin in Leipzig.
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Ralph Kirkpatrick published a critical edition of 60 sonatas by Scarlatti in 1953.
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Ralph Kirkpatrick was invited to inaugurate the Ernest Bloch Visiting Professorship at the University of California, Berkeley in 1964 where he gave a series of lectures and performances on Bach's The Well-Tempered Clavier.
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Ralph Kirkpatrick performed widely throughout the United States and Europe from the 1930s to the early 1980s, in recital and with major orchestras.
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Ralph Kirkpatrick continued performing even after he became blind in 1976.
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Ralph Kirkpatrick resumed performing in 1977 with a semi-private recital at Versailles as well as a public recital at the Frick Collection in New York.
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Ralph Kirkpatrick gave one of his last recitals at the first Boston Early Music Festival in 1981.
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Ralph Kirkpatrick recalled playing a clavichord at a house concert in Hamburg, Germany.
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Ralph Kirkpatrick performed and recorded on the fortepiano and recorded several Mozart piano concertos on the modern piano.
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Ralph Kirkpatrick toured widely with the violinist Alexander Schneider and they recorded violin and harpsichord sonatas by Bach and Mozart.
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Ralph Kirkpatrick played modern music, including Quincy Porter's Concerto for Harpsichord and Orchestra, Darius Milhaud's Sonata for Violin and Harpsichord, the Double Concerto for Harpsichord, Piano with Two Chamber Orchestras by Elliott Carter, and the Set of Four for Harpsichord by Henry Cowell.
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Ralph Kirkpatrick performed and recorded the Manuel de Falla Harpsichord Concerto and played the piano in a recording of the Stravinsky Septet.
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Ralph Kirkpatrick died in Guilford, Connecticut at the age of 72.
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Ralph Kirkpatrick was an elected member of both the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the American Philosophical Society.