Elena Gnesina (1874-1967) was a pianist, the founder and the eternal head of a complex of educational institutions named after the Gnesins, an Honored Artist of the RSFSR (1925), and an Honored Art Worker of the RSFSR (1935), a professor (1943).
Elena Gnesina was born on May 18 (30) of 1874 in Rostov-on-Don. She graduated from gymnasium, then from the Moscow Conservatoire in piano class under Vasily Safonov. In February 1895, with her sisters Evgenia and Maria, she established a music school, which later became the Gnesin Music School and the Gnesin Russian Academy of Music. She was the director, the artistic director and the professor of the school and, since 1944, of the Gnesin State Music and Pedagogical Institute. She is the author of The Piano Alphabet and other educational and methodological literature.
Elena Gnesina developed the best traditions of the Russian piano school. Among her famous pupils there were pianist L. Oborin, composer A. Khachaturian, conductor E. Svetlanov, and conductor G. Rozhdestvensky.
Gnesina received numerous state awards, including two Orders of Lenin (1945, 1954), two Orders of the Red Banner of Labor (1937, 1964) and medals.
The commemorative stamp features a portrait of Elena Gnesina against the music-sheet of her piece; the main illustration shows a monument to E. Gnesina and the buildings of the Gnesin Russian Academy of Music and the Gnesin Music School.
| Denomination |
Paper |
Printing method |
Format of the envelope |
Edition |
| Letter “A” |
High Whiteness Modified (HWM) |
Offset |
110 × 220 mm |
0,5 million copies |