Tchaikovsky
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Anna Nikolaevna Esipova

Анна Николаевна Есипова

Russian pianist, sometimes known as Annette Essipoff or Essipoff-Leschetitzky, born in Saint Petersburg, Russia, on 31 January/12 February 1851.

The daughter of a high-ranking civil servant, Anna Esipova studied under Teodor Leszetycki (1830-1915) at the Saint Petersburg Conservatory, and she became his second wife in 1880 (they divorced twelve years later). After a successful debut in Saint Petersburg in 1874, she undertook concert tours of Russia, Western Europe, and the United States. From 1893 to 1903 she was professor of pianoforte at the Saint Petersburg Conservatory, where her students included Sergei Prokof'ev.

The early editions (two-piano arrangement and orchestral parts) of Tchaikovsky's Concert Fantasia for piano with orchestra, Op. 56 (1884) carry the dedication "à Madame Annette Essipoff", although in the full score published in 1893 her name had been replaced by that of Sophie Menter. Neither name appears on the autograph score, and the composer did not refer to the matter in his correspondence.

Anna Esipova died on 5/18 August 1914 at Saint Petersburg, Russia, aged 63.