Harpsichord News

Centenarian early keyboardist Virginia Duffey Pleasants died peacefully at her apartment in Philadelphia on November 26, 2011, seven months after celebrating her 100th birthday (see “Harpsichord News,” The Diapason, May 2011, p. 12).

Born in Urbana, Ohio on May 9, 1911, Virginia attended Wittenberg University and completed her baccalaureate degree with a major in piano performance at the Cincinnati College of Music (now the College-Conservatory of Music of the University of Cincinnati). Following further piano study in New York City and a first prize in the MacDowell Chamber Music Competition, she married Henry Pleasants, music critic of the Philadelphia Evening Bulletin. After the conclusion of the Second World War, she joined her husband in Europe. Following more than two decades of assignments on the European continent, the couple moved to London in 1967, where Henry served as music critic for the International Herald Tribune and wrote a number of important books focused on the art of singing. Mrs. Pleasants taught early keyboards at Cambridge University for twenty years as an adjunct lecturer and was frequently heard as a recitalist on fortepiano, clavichord, and harpsichord. Four years after her husband’s death, Virginia returned to the United States in 2004. She continued to perform at her retirement home, Cathedral Village in North Philadelphia, and gave a memorable lecture-recital on the keyboard compositions of the Philadelphia composer Alexander Reinagle as part of the 2007 annual conference of the Southeastern Historical Keyboard Society, held at the University of North Texas, Denton.

Comments and news items are always welcome. Address them to Dr. Larry Palmer, Division of Music, Southern Methodist University, Dallas, TX 75275. E-mails to <[email protected]>.