Burundi: Composers, 2011

 

Burundi issued sheet of stamps in 2011. It is four stamps in a mini-sheet. My version is not perforated. I am fairly certain a perforated version is available. This sheet is Scott #975. It shows Amadeus Mozart with a keyboard and musical score; Beethoven with organ pipes; Antonio Vivaldi with a violin; and Chopin with a piano. It seems there were also issued a set of 4 individual stamps, #971-974 showing the same composers but with different background elements. (Hans Timmerman's site shows the Beethoven stamp as a sheetlet of four identical stamps. It is denominated 1020 francs, rather than 1090 as described in Scott, and it has the same background (pipes) instead of the monument described in the catalog.) It may be possible to discern what organ is shown in the Beethoven stamp, but I am not able to figure it out. My version is in mint condition, from County Stamp Center.

Burrundi: Beethoven

Burundi issued this mini-sheet of four stamps in 2011. Mine happens to be imperforate; a perforated version is available. The sheet is called "Composers" and shows portraits of Mozart, Beethoven, Vivaldi, and Chopin. The image of Beethoven includes organ pipes in the background. There is not quite enough detail to the rendering for me to determine if this is a specific instrument or not, and if so what instrument it might be. The sheet's selvage includes more images, presumably of (other) composers, though I cannot determine who they are. LR may be Liszt. UR looks somewhat like the Bach statue in Leipzig.

Burundi: Bach, 2013

The African nation of Burundi issued this pair of items in 2013. They are part of a larger set that included Mozart, Beethoven, Schumann, Wagner, Schubert, and Verdi. For each composer there is a mini-sheet of a set of 4 stamps, plus a souvenir sheet that includes a single additional stamp. These composers had no direct relationship with the issuing nation. As such their relevance to Burundi is non-existent. Therefore, they fall into the category of "wallpaper," postal items issued simply to make money for the postal administration from collectors who feel compelled to gather items according to their philatelic interests. In my case it's the organ on the stamp from the mini-sheet of 4. The stamp is denominated 1190 francs. It shows Bach at the console of an un-named instrument, a reference to the common image found purportedly at the British Museum.  The other stamps show the composer at various stages of life, in one case playing a stringed instrument. These are so new that my Scott catalog doesn't include them yet.