Jelena Fabianovna Gnessina

Portrait of Gnessina on her tombstone in Moscow's Novodevichy Cemetery

The Gnessin sisters, Jelena second from left (1904)

Jelena Fabianowna Gnessina ( Russian Елена Фабиановна Гнесина ; born May 18 ^jul. / Thirtieth May 1874 ^greg. In Rostov-on-Don , died 4. June 1967 in Moscow ), the second of the five Gnessin sisters, was a Russian pianist , high school teacher , Composer and sister of the Russian composer Michail Gnessin .

Life

Jelena's father was the state commissioned Rabbi Fabian Ossipowitsch Gnessin. Her mother Bella Issajewna Fletsinger-Gnessina studied with Stanisław Moniuszko and was a singer and pianist. Jelena's music education began in Rostov-on-Don. Then she studied at the Moscow Conservatory in Vasily Safonov's piano class , graduating in 1893. She also studied composition with Anton Arensky , Ferruccio Busoni and Sergei Taneyev .

In February 1895, Jelena and her sisters Yevgenia and Marija (with the support of the patron Alexander Pavlovich Kawerin) founded a private music school in Moscow , which after the October Revolution, thanks to the support of Anatoly Lunacharsky, became the Second Moscow State Music School (1919), in 1925 the name of the Gnessin -Sisters and in 1944 became the Gnessin Institute .

Jelena was the director, artistic director and professor of her school. She led the piano class and determined the teaching method. Her students included the pianist Lev Oborin , the composer Aram Khachaturian and the conductor Yevgeny Svetlanov . She wrote a piano alphabet and other textbooks. She also composed études and children's pieces for piano. Her brother Mikhail, her sisters Yevgenia, Marija, Jelisaveta and Olga and Alexander Grechaninov also taught there .

At the beginning of the German-Soviet war , Jelena's youngest sisters Jelisaveta and Olga were evacuated to Sverdlovsk , while most of the students were sent to Jelatma near Ryazan . Jelena continued to run her school with greatly reduced staff, until in October 1941 classes in all Moscow schools were suspended and Jelena was evacuated to Kazan . She also taught there, but at the end of January 1942 she returned to her school in Moscow, where the remaining teachers had resumed teaching in November 1941 at their own risk. Despite the very limited circumstances caused by the war, the school was able to move into a new, larger building and steadily expand its range of courses.

Jelena taught until 1958, when she was only able to move on crutches or in a wheelchair due to illness. However, she continued to advise the Gnessin Institute until her death.

Jelena was buried in Moscow's Novodevichy Cemetery. In 1970 her apartment was converted into her museum. Her monument stands in front of the concert hall building.

Honors

Merited Artist of the RSFSR (1925)
Merited Artist of the RSFSR (1935)
Order of Lenin (1945, 1954)
Order of the Red Banner of Labor

literature

Marina Lobanova: Gnesina, Elena Fabianovna. In: Ludwig Finscher (Hrsg.): The music in past and present . Second edition, personal section, volume 7 (Franco - Gretry). Bärenreiter / Metzler, Kassel et al. 2002, ISBN 3-7618-1117-9 , Sp. 1165–1167 ( online edition , subscription required for full access)

Individual evidence

↑ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e article Gnessina, Gnessin, Gnesina, Gnesin, Schwestern (accessed on July 11, 2017) in the Lexicon of European Female Instrumentalists of the 18th and 19th Centuries (Sophie Drinker Institute).

↑ ^a ^b Article Gnessina, Jelena Fabianowna in the Great Soviet Encyclopedia (BSE) , 3rd edition 1969–1978 (Russian)

↑ ^a ^b ^c Anna Genova: Three Sisters of the Great Gnessinka (accessed July 11, 2017).

↑ ^a ^b ГНЕСИНЫ (accessed July 11, 2017).

↑ Article Jelena Gnessina ( Memento of the original from August 30, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (accessed on July 11, 2017) at MUGI (Music and Gender on the Internet). @1@ 2

↑ Еврейский мемориал: Семья Гнесиных (accessed July 11, 2017).

↑ Мемориальный музей-квартира Ел.Ф. Гнесиной (accessed July 11, 2017).

personal data
SURNAME	Gnessina, Jelena Fabianovna
ALTERNATIVE NAMES	Гнесина, Елена Фабиановна (Russian); Gnesina, Elena Fabianovna
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	Russian composer and pianist
DATE OF BIRTH	May 30, 1874
PLACE OF BIRTH	Rostov on Don
DATE OF DEATH	4th June 1967
Place of death	Moscow

[soph-1] ↑ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e article Gnessina, Gnessin, Gnesina, Gnesin, Schwestern (accessed on July 11, 2017) in the Lexicon of European Female Instrumentalists of the 18th and 19th Centuries (Sophie Drinker Institute).

[gro1-2] Article Gnessina, Jelena Fabianowna in the Great Soviet Encyclopedia (BSE) , 3rd edition 1969–1978 (Russian)

[gen1-3] Anna Genova: Three Sisters of the Great Gnessinka (accessed July 11, 2017).

[kul-4] ГНЕСИНЫ (accessed July 11, 2017).

[5] Article Jelena Gnessina ( Memento of the original from August 30, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (accessed on July 11, 2017) at MUGI (Music and Gender on the Internet). @1@ 2

[6] Еврейский мемориал: Семья Гнесиных (accessed July 11, 2017).

[7] Мемориальный музей-квартира Ел.Ф. Гнесиной (accessed July 11, 2017).