Aimée Van de Wiele

Aimée Van de Wiele (8 March 1907 – 2 November 1991) She began her music studies at the Brussels Conservatory, where she studied with E. Bosquet and won the Laure van Cutsem prize for piano, as well as prizes for harmony, counterpoint, composition, and music theory. Wiele then moved to France to study harpsichord at the Paris Conservatory with Wanda Landowska and musicology with Andre Pirro. After Landowska’s death in 1959, Wiele began teaching at the Paris Conservatory, where she had several notable students, including Elisabeth Chojnacka and Marketta Valve. Wiele’s compositions include “Poem,” a piece for orchestra, as well as inventions for harpsichord, piano pieces, and transcriptions of various cantatas and sonatas for keyboard. However, she is best remembered today as a performer. Wiele gave solo recitals on harpsichord and performed with orchestras in Belgium, England, France, Italy, and the United States on harpsichord, piano, and organ. She was well known for her interpretations of Bach (particularly the Goldberg Variations) and Couperin, and especially praised for her performance of Poulenc’s Concerto Champetre. Poulenc had originally composed the piece for Landowska, who