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Winifred Christie (26 February 1882 – 8 February 1965) was a British pianist and composer best known as an advocate of the Moór-Duplex piano. She was born in
Winifred Christie spent a significant portion of her career promoting the Moór-Duplex piano, a double keyboard with a coupler between the two manuals (an octave apart), invented by Christie’s husband, Hungarian pianist, inventor, and composer
Westminster Central Music Library
in
Winifred Christie (26 February 1882 – 8 February 1965) was a British pianist and composer best known as an advocate of the Moór-Duplex piano. She was born in Stirling
Stirling (; sco, Stirlin; gd, Sruighlea ) is a city in central Scotland, northeast of Glasgow and north-west of Edinburgh. The market town, surrounded by rich farmland, grew up connecting the royal citadel, the medieval old town with its me ...
, Scotland
Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...
.
The Moór-Duplex piano
Winifred Christie spent a significant portion of her career promoting the Moór-Duplex piano, a double keyboard with a coupler between the two manuals (an octave apart), invented by Christie’s husband, Hungarian pianist, inventor, and composer Emanuel Moór
Emanuel may refer to:
* Emanuel (name), a given name and surname (see there for a list of people with this name)
* Emanuel School, Australia, Sydney, Australia
* Emanuel School, Battersea, London, England
* Emanuel (band), a five-piece rock ban ...
. The Moór-Duplex aided in the playing of octaves, tenths, and even chromatic glissandos. The piano makers Steinway
Steinway & Sons, also known as Steinway (), is a German-American piano company, founded in 1853 in Manhattan by German piano builder Heinrich Engelhard Steinweg (later known as Henry E. Steinway). The company's growth led to the opening of a ...
, Bechstein, and Bösendorfer
Bösendorfer (L. Bösendorfer Klavierfabrik GmbH) is an Austrian piano manufacturer and, since 2008, a wholly owned subsidiary of Yamaha Corporation. Bösendorfer is unusual in that it produces 97- and 92-key models in addition to instrument ...
all put the mechanism into their instruments. Christie performed on the instrument frequently in Europe and the United States and published (in collaboration with Moór) a manual of technical exercises for the instrument.
Recordings
Christie also recorded selectively for the Aeolian Vocalion and Winner recording labels.World Première Performances
In concert, Christie premieredEdgar Bainton
Edgar Leslie Bainton (14 February 18808 December 1956) was a British-born, latterly Australian-resident composer. He is remembered today mainly for his liturgical anthem ''And I saw a new heaven'', a popular work in the repertoire of Anglican ch ...
’s Concerto-Fantasia and, in New York, on February 23, 1916, the piano version of Charles Tomlinson Griffes
Charles Tomlinson Griffes ( ; September 17, 1884 – April 8, 1920) was an American composer for piano, chamber ensembles and voice. His initial works are influenced by German Romanticism, but after he relinquished the German style, his late ...
' "The White Peacock" at New York's Punch and Judy Theatre.
In 1946, Christie founded and endowed thWestminster Central Music Library
in
London, England
London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a major s ...
with a gift of £10,000 as a memorial to her late husband.
There is a scholarship fund in her name, at the Royal Academy of Music in London, given to keyboard students who perform particularly well at audition.
She died, aged 82, in London, England
London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a major s ...
.
References
Further reading
''The Emmanuel Moor New Duplex-Coupler Pianoforte'', article by F. Gilbert Webb from ''The Proceedings of the Musical Association'', 48th Sess., (1921 - 1922), pp. 91–97, Oxford University Press on behalf of the Royal Musical Association. {{DEFAULTSORT:Christie, Winifred 1882 births 1965 deaths British classical pianists British women pianists 20th-century British pianists 20th-century women pianists