Marlowe (real name, Sapira), Sylvia
Marlowe (real name, Sapira), Sylvia
arlowe (real name, Sapira), Sylvia, American harpsichordist and teacher; b. N.Y., Sept. 26,1908; d. there, Dec. 11, 1981. She studied piano, then went to Paris to take courses with Boulanger at the École Normale de Musique. She later became a student of Landowska in harpsichord. In 1953 she joined the faculty of the Mannes School of Music in N.Y. In 1957 she founded the Harpsichord Music Soc, which commissioned works by Elliott Carter, Ned Rorem, Vittorio Rieti, Henri Sauguet, and others. Although her primary devotion was to the Baroque style of composition, she adventurously espoused the cause of popular American music. She was a member of the pop group called Chamber Music Soc. of Lower Basin Street and even performed in nightclubs, ostentatiously proclaiming her belief in music as an art in flux.
—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire