Gustav Leonhardt (born 's-Graveland, Netherlands, 30 May 1928, died Amsterdam, 16 January 2012) was a famous Dutch harpsichordist, organist and conductor who became well known for playing music from historical periods on period instruments. At the beginning of his career the harpsichord was not yet a popular instrument and music from the Renaissance and Baroque periods was usually played in the same way as music from later centuries. Gustav Leonhardt made his audiences aware of what music by Johann Sebastian Bach would have sounded like in Bach's day.