Susanne Shapiro (born Horn) died peacefully in her home on July 7, 2022, surrounded by family. Susanne was born on March 17, 1926 in Krefeld, Germany. At twelve, due to persecution of Jews in Germany, she was sent to the Stoatly Rough School in Haselmere, Surrey, England, where she lived during WWII. While a student there, Girl Guide (and then Princess) Elizabeth visited the campus, and in 2017 Susanne wrote a birthday greeting to Her Majesty to share her memory. She received a warm reply from now Queen Elizabeth’s Lady in Waiting. After high school, Susanne studied music at the Royal Academy of Music in London.
While she was away at school, Susanne’s father, Hermann died in an internment camp. In 1945, she emigrated to New York, NY, USA aboard the SS Franconia where she was met by her mother, Gertrude Horn, who preceded her there. Her grandparents, Max and Margaret Rosenberg, who survived concentration camp, joined them in New York where they all lived on Riverside Drive.
After arriving in the U.S., she studied at The Juilliard School, where she was awarded a degree in music. She also learned shorthand and worked as a secretary. In the late 1940’s, she married Andreas Esberg, a marriage that brought two children, yet ended in divorce. In 1961, she married Mathew Shapiro, who had four children, creating a new blended family with six children. This large family was quite an undertaking for Susanne (and Mat), and its evolution over the years and decades would bring her much joy and also many tears.
Susanne, Mat and kids moved to Los Angeles in 1969. Initially, she pined for her old life in New York (actually threatening not to stay) but grew accustomed to, and built, a good life surrounded by her professional involvements, colleagues and friends. She came to love her life in Los Angeles and lost her interest to return east.
Susanne was a lifelong musician, beginning on piano and then transitioning to harpsichord, virginal and forte piano, preferring baroque music and its delicate sound and interpretation. She performed at venues including Lincoln Center Town Hall, Carnegie Hall, Kennedy Center and the Hollywood Bowl and accompanied the Los Angeles Philharmonic. She also performed many chamber music concerts, including with the group Quadro Los Angeles. She was a devoted music scholar and teacher of private students and at several colleges, including Pomona College, Indiana University Bloomington, Cal State Northridge and UC Riverside music departments.
She made numerous recordings including works of Haydn, Georg Frederic Handel and Antonio Soler. Selections can be heard on Spotify and Apple Music. Her early recording of Joseph Haydn’s “Esterhazy Sonatas” drew critical praise and set a high standard for approaching this composer’s music using an historically informed approach and instrument. In the 60’s she worked with early music pioneer and Dutch harpsichordist Gustav Leonhardt who is considered the founding father of the prevailing and present-day approach to the harpsichord. Close relations with the American organist, harpsichordist and conductor Anthony Newman encouraged her continued advocacy of the harpsichord in Southern California. Her close collaborations with William Neil Roberts and Anthony Brazier of the Los Angeles Harpsichord Center saw her taking a central role introducing internationally esteemed artists to LA audiences, in particular, the British harpsichordist and conductor, Trevor Pinnock. A tireless advocate for young players, she directly nurtured many professional players from Los Angeles, among them Ian Pritchard, the director of Tessarae and a teacher at the Colburn Music School.
At 52 years of age, Susanne earned a BA in Psychology from Mount Saint Mary’s College, with an interest in Transactional Analysis.
After being introduced to handwriting analysis in the early 1980’s by friend and psychiatrist Fred Bloch, she went on to study and practice graphology seriously for the remainder of her life. She frequently spoke on that subject and became a qualified expert witness. She authored a paper on the importance of cursive handwriting and was a member of the Campaign for Cursive (in schools). Susanne interpreted the handwritten work of poet Emily Dickinson and spoke on the subject. Susanne went on to possess and translate from German the graphology works of Fred Bloch and Willy Schoenfeld which they created in WWII concentration camp in Germany. Susanne discussed this work in a series of filmed interviews. She was active in professional groups, including serving as vice president of the American Handwriting Analysis Foundation, Southern California chapter.
Susanne was entrepreneurial throughout her life, including conceptualizing, designing and selling t-shirts of composers during their tricentennial celebration and later founding The Write Truth, a graphology consulting business. She adapted well to changes in technology into her 80s and 90s, and had YouTube, Twitter and Facebook accounts and conducted meetings and lessons over Zoom. Her YouTube video on graphology (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o0YGklrAFLI) is still instructive.
She loved to write haiku poems – often inspired by people, birthdays and important experiences. Everyone will remember how she carefully selected her words, whether to express traits she was seeing in a handwriting sample or to describe a nuance or pun. She loved word games (Boggle, Scrabble and later, Word With Friends) and to find misspellings on billboards. She was very active in the Writer’s Circle at Park La Brea.
Susanne always had loads of friends. She loved to host house concerts and to entertain and organize parties – often for her own birthday. She had a good sense of humor. A good joke or comical situation could reduce her to stitches and tears of laughter. She also had a compassionate side. She made frequent visits to a group home for adults with special needs, where her friend Lena’s brother lived.
She is predeceased by her husband Mathew Shapiro and two sons, and survived by four children, nine grandchildren, and fourteen great grandchildren (with one more on the way). Her family is grateful to her devoted caregiver, Gina.
Susanne remained active, independent and sharp until the final weeks of her life, including practicing and teaching harpsichord and taking on new graphology clients. She loved her apartment at Park La Brea with its view of the Hollywood sign (except for the management and the elevators). She enjoyed spending time with her LA friends and family, and her beloved cat, Fauci. Susanne will be missed.