Early life Brodsky Lawrence was born in
Norfolk, Virginia, on July 1, 1909. Her parents, Simon and Rose (Segal) Brodsky, were Jewish immigrants from
Congress Poland. She attended
Norfolk Grammar School in her childhood, during which she began taking piano lessons with J.J. Miller. By age seven her pianistic skill drew the notice of the local press: In little Miss Brodsky ... Norfolk has a musical prodigy. The child, by remarkable renditions of difficult music ... surprised her friends and even her teacher. The little friends predict for her a brilliant future in the musical world. and performed at
Steinway Hall. She studied piano at Juilliard with
Josef and
Rosina Lhévinne. In 1930, Brodsky Lawrence traveled to Vienna for further piano studies, after which she performed recitals across Europe. performing repertoire that included classical music and arrangements of popular music of the era. Among the musicians they performed with were the
New York Philharmonic-Symphony Orchestra,
Fred Waring, and
Mark Warnow.
Solo career by
Dmitri Shostakovich in 1943.
CBS hired Brodsky Lawrence in 1938. On January 17, she played the first in a weekly series of recitals that were broadcast Monday afternoons. That same year she became the host of a new series of broadcast recitals that concentrated on modern and lesser-known compositions. She also played her own transcriptions of popular music, including "
Caravan" by
Juan Tizol and
Duke Ellington. Her programs for these broadcasts included music by Chasins,
Béla Bartók,
Zoltán Kodály,
Ernst von Dohnányi,
Alec Templeton, and
Stanley Bate. In addition to solo recitals, Brodsky Lawrence played as a chamber music partner, accompanist, and concerto soloist throughout the 1940s. She partnered with singers, including soprano
Eileen Farrell, as well as with chamber musicians such as the Dorian Quartet, among whose members were
Bernard Greenhouse, with whom she played a cycle of works by
Johannes Brahms. As a concerto soloist she performed with the
CBS Symphony Orchestra, conducted by
Herbert Menges and
Bernard Herrmann; with the latter she played
Dmitri Kabalevsky's
Piano Concerto No. 1, as well as premiered
Johnny Green's
Music for Elizabeth and
Richard Arnell's Piano Concerto No. 1. She also joined
Lyn Murray in performances of
light and popular music. During
World War II, Brodsky Lawrence played the Western premieres of works by two major Soviet composers. On September 29, 1943, she played the Western broadcast premiere of
Dmitri Shostakovich's
Piano Sonata No. 2, a score over which she had exclusive performing rights for a time. Her broadcast was preceded by a private performance that afternoon for invited critics and musicians. This was followed by the Western concert premiere of the work at
Carnegie Hall on October 16. Her performance was part of a concert of Soviet music held under the auspices of the
American Russian Institute, which sought to improve cultural relations between the United States and Soviet Union.
Donald Ogden Stewart was master of ceremonies; the audience included
Andrey Gromyko. On June 21, 1944, Brodsky Lawrence played the Western broadcast premiere of a waltz from
Sergei Prokofiev's opera
War and Peace, the first time any of its music was heard in the United States. This was followed on July 7, 1945, by the broadcast premiere of his
Piano Sonata No. 8. On February 24, 1944, Brodsky Lawrence married Theodore Lawrence, an engineer for the
BBC. During the 1950s, Brodsky Lawrence played on television with
Percy Faith and Triggs; she had revived her piano duo with the latter in 1959, appearing in August on an episode of
Camera Three entitled "Fête for Four Hands".
Crisis, shift, and renewal prompted her to make a radical career change. 's music. On January 11, 1964, Theodore Lawrence died at
St. Clare's Hospital in Manhattan from injuries incurred in an automobile accident earlier that day. She explained in a 1971 interview: My life took a sharp turn [after my husband's death]. Maybe it was because I wanted to get away from my old life, my old memories. I turned to music publishing and editing. She quit a brief stint as music editor in order to compile the complete works of
Louis Moreau Gottschalk. These were published by Arno Press in a five-volume set in 1970, the first time a complete works edition had been compiled for an American composer. At the time of its publication, most scores of ragtime music were commercially unavailable. In January 1971, Brodsky Lawrence told critic
Harold C. Schonberg: You have no idea of the interest in Joplin. Once word began getting around that I was preparing an edition, material started coming in. People even sent in first editions. I got one from, will you believe it, Vienna. Her publication is credited for being a major catalyst in the revival of Joplin's music. and Brodsky Lawrence was dissatisfied with it.
Macmillan published her book
Music for Patriots, Politicians, and Presidents: Harmonies and Discords of the First Hundred Years in 1976; an overview of musical culture in the United States during its first century of existence. It was awarded an
ASCAP Deems Taylor Award that same year. Her final project was
Strong on Music, a three-volume work based on the diaries of
George Templeton Strong surveying musical life in New York City during the 19th century. The third volume was nearly complete when Brodsky Lawrence died. The remaining portions of Strong's diaries that had yet to be published became the basis of the
Music in Gotham Project database, which covers the period 1863–1875.
Death Brodsky Lawrence died in Manhattan on September 18, 1996. ==Bibliography==