Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov Signed Cabinet Card Presented The Year He Retired From St. Petersburg Conservatory

A cabinet card of Russian composer Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov (1844-1908), signed, inscribed, and dated by him in Russian as, translated: "To Alexander Petrovich Postnikov for a good memory / N. Rimsky-Korsakov / March 27, 1906" at the top. N.p. The photograph depicts a bust portrait of the bearded and bespectacled composer, with a 3/4 portrait turning left. Discretely embossed with the name of the photographer, "Hélène de Mrosovsky" at lower right. Mounted on a stock card with rounded corners gilt-embossed with the name and address of the photographer as "Hélène de / Mrosovsky / St. Pétersbourg / Nevsky 20" along the bottom. A gorgeous full-length and very pictorial backstamp featuring Mrosovsky's name in Cyrillic letters, "E. ??????????," is found verso. Expected wear including scattered flyspecking and scuffs. Minor silvering mostly confined to the bottom third of the portrait. Else near fine. 4.375" x 6.5."

Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov was one of the most prominent composers in Imperial Russia. When he wasn't composing original suites or operas, or adapting other musicians' works, he taught at the St. Petersburg Conservatory, where he had worked since 1871. Rimsky-Korsakov presented this signed cabinet card to a friend in early 1906, the same year he retired from the St. Petersburg Conservatory.

Just one year prior, in early 1905, Rimsky-Korsakov had publicly supported Conservatory students who had demonstrated during the 1905 Revolution. In retaliation for Rimsky-Korsakov's defense of the revolutionary students, he was dismissed from his professorship in mid-March 1905, and his music was later banned. Other faculty at the Conservatory resigned in protest, and there was a student walk-out. Rimsky-Korsakov discussed this difficult period of his life in "Chapter XXVIII: 1905-1906" of his autobiography, "My Musical Life." The composer finished the autobiography while traveling abroad in August 1906, just five months after gifting this cabinet card.

Hélène de Mrosovsky or Elena Mrosovskaya (fl. 1892-1941) was a female Russian portrait photographer who opened a studio in St. Petersburg in 1894. She studied photography at the Russian Technical Society and under Nadar (Gaspard-Félix Tournachon) in Paris.

This item comes with a Certificate from John Reznikoff, a premier authenticator for both major 3rd party authentication services, PSA and JSA (James Spence Authentications), as well as numerous auction houses.

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