On January 14, an envelope with a commemorative stamp dedicated to the 100th Birth Anniversary of Veniamin Basner, a composer, a People's Artist of the RSFSR, was put into postal circulation



Veniamin Basner (1925-1996) was a Soviet and Russian composer, the author of music for more than 100 films. He was an Honored Art Worker of the RSFSR (1974), a People's Artist of the RSFSR (1982), a Winner of the Vasilyev Brothers State Prize of the RSFSR (1980) for music for the Blockade film (1974, 1977).

Basner was born on January 1, 1925, in Yaroslavl. He studied violin at children's music school No. 1. After graduating from the Yaroslavl Music College in 1942, V. Basner was invited to the Yaroslavl Philharmonic as a soloist, but a year later, he was drafted into the army, where he served in the military orchestra as an orchestrator and also repaired musical instruments.

In 1949, Veniamin Basner graduated from the Rimsky-Korsakov Leningrad State Conservatory on a class of violin and composition and began performing as a soloist and orchestral musician. In 1955, Basner became a member of the Leningrad branch of the Composers Union of the USSR and headed its youth-engagement commission. In the following years, the composer worked hard; the greatest fame was brought to him by his operettas, war songs and cinema music, including Where Does the Motherland Begin? (from the The Shield and The Sword film), On the Nameless Height, From Parting to Parting (from the Silence film), Birch Sap (from A Swell Guy film), All Night Long a Nightingale Whistled to Us (from The Days of the Turbins), A Song about a Red Puppy (from A Teacher of Singing), It Was Recently, It Was for a Long Time (from the Friends and Years film), For the Rest of My Life (from the eponymous TV-film). Besides, Veniamin Basner is the author of a number of articles in music magazines of the USSR.

The envelope and the commemorative stamp provide portraits of Veniamin Basner.

In addition to the issue of the envelope with a commemorative stamp, JSC Marka produced special cancels for Moscow, St. Petersburg and Yaroslavl.


Design Artist: V. Khablovsky.
Quantity: 500 thousand envelopes.

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