Yella Pessl

Yella Pessl (originally Gabriella Elsa Pessl;[1] January 5, 1906 – December 9, 1991[2]) was an Austrian-born harpsichordist, pianist and organist, resident in the USA from 1931.

Life

She was born in Vienna in 1906; she studied there at the State Academy of Music, and later performed in Europe.[3]

In 1931 she moved to the USA, and was resident in New York.[1] She toured extensively, giving solo recitals and playing with orchestras. In 1938 she accompanied the Trapp Family Singers, whom she had known in Vienna, at their debut in New York at the Town Hall.[3]

Yella Pessl was an editor of music for the harpsichord, and wrote about music for the instrument. From 1938 she was a member of staff at Columbia University.[1] She founded the Bach Circle, a group specializing in lesser-known works of J. S. Bach and his contemporaries.[3]

Her husband was Dr. Harry Sobotka, a biochemist; he died in 1970. Yella Pessl died in 1991, aged 85, at her home in Northampton, Massachusetts.[3]

References
  1. Percy A. Scholes. "Pessl, Yella" in The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Music. OUP, 1964.
  2. "Yella Pessl (Harpsichord)" Bach Cantatas Website. Retrieved February 27, 2019.
  3. "Yella Pessl, 85, Dies; Concert Keyboardist". The New York Times, December 10, 1991.
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