# Classical Music on Postage Stamps of the World



## Tedski

One of my several hobby pursuits is stamp collecting, or philately. While I am a general worldwide collector, I also have several specialty, or "topical," collections which I have put together, e.g. "Volkswagen Beetles on Stamps," "Ladybird Beetles on Stamps," and, the subject of this thread, "Classical Music on Stamps."

If there are other TC members with a similar interest, I invite you to post examples from your own collections.

First off, I have a couple of first-day covers issued by the United States Postal Service, as part of the "Americana Series," a series of stamps issued between 1975 and 1981, featuring images depicting American culture and ideals.









The top one features 2 coil stamps:

The 3.5c issue show 2 violins which the Scott Catalogue identifies as being made by Herman Weaver, a violin make who started in 1898, in Virginia, with an inscription that reads, "The music of America is freedom's symphony."

The 8.4c issue pictures a piano, the maker not identified, and the inscription, "Peace unites a nation, like harmony in music."

Below that is an issue from the "Great Americans" series of stamps, this one released in 1982, honoring Igor Stravinsky.


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## Tedski

*"American Music" - Composers and Conductors*

In 1997, as part of an ongoing "American Music" series, the US Postal Service issued a set of stamps honoring 8 American classical music composers and conductors.


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## Sloe

I think everyone who have tried stamp collection have noticed the plentyness of Hungarian stamps:


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## Tedski

*China Honors 4 "Foreign Musicians"*

In 2010, China issued this beautiful set of four stamps honoring "Foreign Musicians." This set is one of my favorites, as it utilizes the line-engraving process on steel plates -- a technique that has virtually disappeared from the United States stamp program. China has committed to preserving the line-engraving technique, and, to that end, hired renowned Danish stamp engraver Martin Morck to train 10 Chinese engravers, to continue the noble tradition.


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## Tedski

Sloe said:


> I think everyone who have tried stamp collection have noticed the plentyness of Hungarian stamps:


Yes, and here is a companion piece to your stamp.


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## Tedski

*Vienna Philharmonic / Leonard Bernstein*

Austria is a popular favorite of stamp collectors due to their consistently beautiful engraved stamp designs, like this one commemorating 125 years of the Vienna Philharmonic. Below that, a US issue honoring a conductor who has waved a baton or two in front of that group.


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## Huilunsoittaja

There are a dozens of Russian composer stamps. So that I don't go picture-happy, I will limit myself:





































And Glazunov was avoided from getting his own stamp because he was viewed as a defector (well that's what I like to think), but he got this instead:


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## Tedski

Huilunsoittaja said:


> There are a dozens of Russian composer stamps. So that I don't go picture-happy, I will limit myself:
> 
> And Glazunov was avoided from getting his own stamp because he was viewed as a defector (well that's what I like to think), but he got this instead:


No need to limit yourself. One of the purposes of this thread is to learn of issues I haven't discovered, yet, to add to my collection.


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## Kivimees

Celebrating our own.


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## joen_cph

A Carl Nielsen stamp on a not-quite-recent postcard showing his childhood home at Nørre Lyndelse, converted into a museum.


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## Kivimees

A couple more:


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## TurnaboutVox

This seems to be the extent of Britain's philatelic appreciation of classical music. Perhaps we really are the '"Land without (much) music"










1985










2009










2013


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## Fortinbras Armstrong

My favorite stamp having to do with music is still this one, with Marx and Lennon


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## Figleaf

I thought that somewhere on Google Images I had seen a Belgian stamp depicting Jean Noté, but I can't find it. Perhaps a European philatelist can enlighten me?

I have an Elvis stamp somewhere, but that's not very classical...


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## Vaneyes

Good thread idea, Tedski. :tiphat:


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## Figleaf

Ivan Kozlovsky on a Ukrainian stamp!


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## Figleaf

I thought you had to be dead to get your fizzog on a stamp, but no! Here's José Van Dam:










And some historic singers too. Enrico Caruso:










Hariclea Darclée, the first Tosca:










Did somebody say Tosca? Because there aren't nearly enough huge photos of Ms. Callas on this site :lol::


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## Sloe

Figleaf said:


> Hariclea Darclée, the first Tosca:


And the first Iris.
Hariclea Darclée´s son Ion Hartulari Darclée was a composer of several operettas.

Jovita Fuentes Philipino soprano with a significant international career in the 1920-s and 30-s who also sung Iris and Salome by request from Richard Strauss himself:


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## Sloe

Italian stamp of Pietro Mascagni:









Another Mascagni stamp:


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## TurnaboutVox

Figleaf said:


> Did somebody say Tosca? Because there aren't nearly enough huge photos of Ms. Callas on this site :lol::


Perhaps fewer at the moment, though...


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## Figleaf

TurnaboutVox said:


> Perhaps fewer at the moment, though...


:lol: I think the sacred flame is being kept alight!

Re Iris, I see we have Darclée and Mascagni but no Fernando de Lucia, the first Osaka. Surely he's worthy of immortality on sticky backed paper? I found stamps of Paco de Lucia and St. Lucia... close but no cigar.


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## Sloe

Figleaf said:


> :lol: I think the sacred flame is being kept alight!
> 
> Re Iris, I see we have Darclée and Mascagni but no Fernando de Lucia, the first Osaka. Surely he's worthy of immortality on sticky backed paper? I found stamps of Paco de Lucia and St. Lucia... close but no cigar.


Searched Fernando de Lucia timbro found this:


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## Tedski

*More from Great Britain*



TurnaboutVox said:


> This seems to be the extent of Britain's philatelic appreciation of classical music. Perhaps we really are the '"Land without (much) music"


More from Great Britain:

From 1972, celebrating the 100th birthday of Ralph Vaughan-Williams









And, from 1980, honoring 4 British conductors


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## Tedski

A Polish stamp from 1986,










. . . with slight modification, served also as a Facebook avatar for Tedski Paderewski. :lol:


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## Figleaf

Tedski said:


> A Polish stamp from 1986,
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> . . . with slight modification, served also as a Facebook avatar for Tedski Paderewski. :lol:


Looks like Pads' hairdo may have served as the inspiration for Sideshow Bob's!

This reminds me of a story, from the world of numismatics rather than philately. My daughter and I were going through a box of foreign coins, when an old drachma caught her fancy.

'Mummy, who's that on the coin?'

'It is... Homer!'

'That is _so unfair _! Why can't _we_ have The Simpsons on _our _coins?' :lol:


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## TurnaboutVox

Tedski said:


> More from Great Britain:
> 
> From 1972, celebrating the 100th birthday of Ralph Vaughan-Williams
> 
> And, from 1980, honoring 4 British conductors


Hmm. A good find, Tedski. I was actually collecting stamps in 1972 and I don't remember the Vaughan Williams one. I suspect that like Schroeder, my child-self would have little to do with composers who weren't Beethoven at that point. :lol:

By 1980 I had _definitely_ stopped collecting stamps. I don't remember the 'British Conductors' series at all.


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## Tedski

This 1975 Austrian stamp commemorates 75 years of the Vienna Symphony Orchestra. As an aside: In a web search of Vienna Symphony Orchestra using Bing, the results have this orchestra playing second fiddle to that "other" local ensemble. Google correctly sorts the results by relevance, with the VPO not showing up until the 4th spot.










And here is a 1956 set from East Germany, honoring Robert Schumann.










Bing gets it right, this time.


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## Sloe

Stamp with Hugo Alfvén:


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## Sloe

Chopin:


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## Pyotr

Tedski said:


> This 1975 Austrian stamp commemorates 75 years of the Vienna Symphony Orchestra. As an aside: In a web search of Vienna Symphony Orchestra using Bing, the results have this orchestra playing second fiddle to that "other" local ensemble. Google correctly sorts the results by relevance, with the VPO not showing up until the 4th spot.
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> And here is a 1956 set from East Germany, honoring Robert Schumann.
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> Bing gets it right, this time.


in 1956, when East Germany issued a pair of postage stamps featuring Schumann's picture against an open score that featured Schubert's music. The stamps were soon replaced by a pair featuring music written by Schumann. "

Schumann's picture is on both stamps. Schubert's music is on the top stamp, and Schumann's on the bottom


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## Tedski

*Some German Issues*

From 1943, an issue from the German occupation of Czechoslovakia, here's Dick Wagner









Franz "Orange" Schubert









Felix "The Cat" Mendelssohn









:tiphat:


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## Sloe

Tedski said:


> From 1939, an issue from the German occupation of Czechoslovakia, here's Dick Wagner


An opera set in Böhmen is _Der Freischütz_:


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## Tedski

*A Few Fine Fellers*

Angry Louie









Carl "Mega" Ditters von Dittersdorf









and Gus "I Don't Need No Stinkin' Nickname" Mahler


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## Tedski

*Always Vienna*

for the 150th anniversary of the Vienna Music Academy









and the 100th anniversary of the Music Academy building.


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## Tedski

From Germany's "Famous Women" series, this one honors Clara Schumann


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## Tedski

Here is a souvenir sheet, issued by Slovenia, in 2011, to honor Johann Gerstner.

From the Slovenia Post website:
This year marks the 160th anniversary of the birth of violinist, teacher and conductor Johann (Hans) Gerstner. Although he made a strong impression on the Ljubljana music scene, his memory, and particularly that of his accomplishments, is too often forgotten and brushed aside. 
Gerstner was born on 17 August 1851 in Žlutice in what is now the Czech Republic. He became interested in music and learned about it from Emanuel Wirth, later a renowned and successful violinist and teacher in Berlin. Both received excellent instruction in violin and music from Karl Rohm. In 1864 Gerstner enrolled at the Conservatory in Prague, where he studied violin until 1870, taking classes with two of the most renowned violin teachers of the time - Moritz Mildner and Antonin Bennewitz. In 1871 Gerstner came to Ljubljana and took a job as the director of the Provincial Theatre and as a violin teacher at the Philharmonic Society's school. In his musical endeavours he put the most effort into his teaching and taught several thousand students. He was a very active concert violinist, and participated in numerous chamber concerts, including with the famous Gustav Mahler. His musicianship and pedagogy paved the way for the development of violin playing and teaching in Slovenia. He established the first but very important foundations, on which were built the careers of all of the later generations of violin teachers, who were together with him the direct progenitors of today's violin teaching efforts. Despite his exceptional accomplishments and being decorated by the Emperor Franz Josef in 1902, Gerstner spent his old age living in poverty and squalor. He died in Ljubljana in 1939 and is buried in Žale Cemetery in Ljubljana.

Maruša Zupančič,
SRC SASA Institute of Musicology


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## Tedski

Another 2011 issue, this one from Romania, for the 20th George Enescu International Festival and Competition


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## Ingélou

What a wonderful thread - fabulous pictures. 
In this company, British stamps just don't cut the mustard.


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## joen_cph

For a bit of further exoticism, here´s a Villa Lobos:









and a Mongolian version of Bartok 









An unusual Mozart (Czech):


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## vmishka

If you like stamp collecting and classical music, then you might want to check out the recently released Kindle edition of the award-winning "The Life and Work of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: A Philatelic Journey" available on Amazon. The e-book is about 380 pages with almost 800 color images of stamps, cancellations, covers, and maximum cards (as well as an appendix with Mozart coins, telephone cards, and collector's cards). All for only $5.99 (free for Kindle unlimited users).


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## SixFootScowl




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## Pugg

Summer 1935 from my country.


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## Sloe

Finnish stamp of Jean Sibelius issued for his 80:th birthday in 1945:


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## Sloe

Pugg said:


> Summer 1935 from my country.


A german stamp from 1933 of another Dutch person:


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## Pugg

​Belgium remembering stamps 2006


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## Pugg

​Strauss 100th Birthday from Austria .


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## Vronsky

Giuseppe Verdi _Otello_









Richard Wagner









Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart


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## Pugg

​
Handel / Ireland


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## SixFootScowl




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## SixFootScowl




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## SixFootScowl




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## Pugg




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