Name Winifred Christie Died February 8, 1965 | Role Pianist | |
1928 winifred christie on bechstein moor duplex grand piano j s bach toccata and fugue
Winifred Christie (26 February 1882 – 8 February 1965) was a British pianist and composer best known as an advocate of the Moor-Duplex piano. She was born in Stirling, Scotland.
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The Moor-Duplex piano
Winifred Christie spent a significant portion of her career promoting the Moor-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 Moor. The Moor-Duplex aided in the playing of octaves, tenths, and even chromatic glissandos. The piano makers Steinway, Bechstein, and Bosendorfer all put the mechanism into their instruments. Christie performed on the instrument frequently in Europe and the United States and published (in collaboration with Moor) a manual of technical exercises for the instrument.
Recordings
Christie also recorded selectively for the Aeolian Vocalion and Winner recording labels.
World Premiere Performances
In concert, Christie premiered Edgar Bainton’s Concerto-Fantasia and, in New York, on February 23, 1916, the piano version of Charles Tomlinson Griffes' "The White Peacock" at New York's Punch and Judy Theatre.
In 1946, Christie founded and endowed the Westminster Central Music Library in London, England with a gift of ₤10,000 as a memorial to her late husband.
She died, aged 82, in London, England.