Elena Alexandrovna Beckmann-Shcherbina

Yelena Bekman-Shcherbina ( Russian Елена Александровна Бекман-Щербина * December 31, 1881 ^{. Jul} / 12 January 1882 ^greg. In Moscow ; † 30th November 1951 ibid) was a Russian pianist.

Life

Jelena Beckmann-Shcherbina was born in the Kamenzew family. Her mother died a few days after Jelena's birth and the child was raised by her aunt Elisabeth Shcherbina, whose family name she later adopted out of gratitude. In February 1903 she married Leonid Beckmann.

At the age of six she began her piano lessons, first with Valentina Sograf-Plaksina , then with Nikolai Swerew . She attended the Moscow Conservatory , where she became a student of Paul Pabst and, after his death, of Vasily Safonov . She finished her studies in 1899 with a gold medal. As a diploma thesis she performed the whole Well-Tempered Clavier .

Her concert appearance with works by Jean Sibelius brought her a great success. In 1909 she played the piano works of Maurice Ravel for the first time in Russia .

In the 1900s, in collaboration with her husband, she composed a cycle of children's songs that did not appear in print until 1947 and 1949.

From 1912 to 1918 she ran her own piano school in Moscow. From 1921 to 1930 she taught at the Moscow Conservatory. 1942–1943 she was resettled to Kazan .

On November 26, 1950, she performed in the columned hall of the House of Trade Unions with an anniversary concert on the 50th anniversary of her artistic activity.

source

• biography