Elena Aleksandrovna Bekman-Shcherbina (; née Kamentseva; 12 January 1882 – 30 September 1951) was a Soviet and Russian

pianist A pianist ( , ) is an individual musician who plays the piano. Since most forms of Western music can make use of the piano, pianists have a wide repertoire and a wide variety of styles to choose from, among them traditional classical music, ja ...

, composer and teacher.

Origins

Born Elena Aleksandrovna Kamentseva, she was adopted by her mother's sister after the death of her mother. In gratitude, she took her adoptive mother's surname, Shcherbina.

Musical career

In 1888, at just six years old, Elena started music lessons with Valentina Zograf. Later that year she was trained by

Nikolai Zverev Nikolai Sergeyevich Zverev (russian: Николай Серге́евич Зве́рев, sometimes transliterated Nikolai Zveref; ) was a Russian pianist and teacher known for his pupils Alexander Siloti, Sergei Rachmaninoff, Alexander Scriab ...

privately and thereafter at the Moscow Conservatory. In 1893, it was

Pavel Pabst Paul Pabst (Russian: Pavel Pabst) (15 May 1854 – 9 June 1897) was a pianist, composer, and Professor of Piano at Moscow Conservatory. Life and career Pabst was born Christian Georg Paul Pabst in 1854, into a family of musicians in the cap ...

who tutored Elena, and four years later,

Vasily Safonov Vasily Ilyich Safonov (russian: Васи́лий Ильи́ч Сафо́нов, link=no, ; 6 February 185227 February 1918), also known as Wassily Safonoff, was a Russian pianist, teacher, conductor and composer. Biography Vasily Safonov, or S ...

Achievements

In 1899, Elena received a

gold medal A gold medal is a medal awarded for highest achievement in a non-military field. Its name derives from the use of at least a fraction of gold in form of plating or alloying in its manufacture. Since the eighteenth century, gold medals have bee ...

from the

Moscow Conservatory The Moscow Conservatory, also officially Moscow State Tchaikovsky Conservatory (russian: Московская государственная консерватория им. П. И. Чайковского, link=no) is a musical educational inst ...

. A year later, she appeared with the Schubert Trio in B flat major at the

Russian Musical Society The Russian Musical Society (RMS) (russian: Русское музыкальное общество) was the first music school in Russia open to the general public. It was launched in 1859 by the Grand Duchess Elena Pavlovna and Anton Rubinstei ...

concert. In 1902, she began performing with Abram Jampolskij, Gregor Piatigorskij and with the

Beethoven Quartet The Beethoven Quartet (russian: Струнный квартет имени Бетховена, ''Strunnyĭ kvartet imeni Betkhovena'') was a string quartet founded between 1922 and 1923 by graduates of the Moscow Conservatory: violinists Dmitri Tsy ...

, in addition to appearances as a soloist. From 1912 to 1921 Elena performed works by

Alexander Scriabin Alexander Nikolayevich Scriabin (; russian: Александр Николаевич Скрябин ; – ) was a Russian composer and virtuoso pianist. Before 1903, Scriabin was greatly influenced by the music of Frédéric Chopin and composed ...

Claude Debussy (Achille) Claude Debussy (; 22 August 1862 – 25 March 1918) was a French composer. He is sometimes seen as the first Impressionist composer, although he vigorously rejected the term. He was among the most influential composers of the ...

Maurice Ravel Joseph Maurice Ravel (7 March 1875 – 28 December 1937) was a French composer, pianist and conductor. He is often associated with Impressionism along with his elder contemporary Claude Debussy, although both composers rejected the term. In ...

and

Isaac Albéniz Isaac Manuel Francisco Albéniz y Pascual (; 29 May 1860 – 18 May 1909) was a Spanish virtuoso pianist, composer, and conductor. He is one of the foremost composers of the Post-Romantic era who also had a significant influence on his conte ...

, the first pianist in Moscow to do so. She began to give solo performances that were broadcast on the radio in 1924. She performed for soldiers and at music schools and gave concerts at the Philharmonic Hall. Recordings of her performances were published by Aprelevskij zavod. She wrote and published piano pieces for children. Her memoir ''Moi wospominanija'' was first published in 1962.

Acclaim

According to musicologist Aleksandr D. Alekseyev, “her artistic nature makes it impossible for her to want to show off, to parade her technique instead of art. Her playing is clear, natural, aiming towards embracing the form �� She is especially brilliant at pieces of light and lyrical character, composed in transparent, watercolour tones.”

Music teacher

Elena gave private piano lessons in 1894. From 1908 she taught at The Gnesins School of Music. For six years from 1912, she had her own piano school. She then taught at

’s music school, and finally she returned to The Gnesins School of Music, for two-and-a-half decades. Between 1921 and 1930 she gave a seminar on contemporary French music at the Moscow Conservatory. She then lectured at the Central Extramural Institute of Music.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Beckman-Scherbina, Elena 1882 births 1951 deaths Moscow Conservatory alumni Moscow Conservatory academic personnel Honored Artists of the RSFSR Recipients of the Order of the Red Banner of Labour Music educators from the Russian Empire Pianists from the Russian Empire Soviet classical pianists Soviet music educators Women classical pianists