Fanny Mendelssohn

Fanny Mendelssohn was a German pianist and composer from the Romantic period. Although her career was largely overshadowed by her younger brother Felix, she was a prolific composer of over 450 works. She was born in 1805 to a wealthy Jewish family in Hamburg. She received her first piano instruction from her mother, who may have learned the Berlin Bach tradition through the writings of Johann Kirnberger, a student of Johann Sebastian Bach. She also studied composition with Carl Friedrich Zelter and piano with Marie Bigot and Ludwig Berger. She showed prodigious musical ability and began to write music at an early age. She could play all 24 preludes from Bach's The Well-Tempered Clavier from memory alone by the age of 14. She grew up in Berlin and received a thorough musical education along with her brother Felix, with whom she developed a close relationship. They shared musical ideas and influences, and often performed together in private concerts at their home. Fanny also composed some pieces that were published under Felix's name, such as six of her songs in his Opus 8 and 9 collections. In 1829, she married artist Wilhelm Hensel and, in 1830, they had their only child, Sebastian Hensel. She continued to compose and play music, but mostly within her family circle and for her own enjoyment. She also organized regular Sunday concerts at her home, where she premiered many of her own works as well as those of other composers. She was praised for her piano technique and musical expression by many contemporary musicians, such as Clara Schumann, Robert Schumann, Franz Liszt, and Ignaz Moscheles. However, due to her family's reservations and the social conventions of the time about the roles of women, she did not pursue a public career as a composer or performer. She faced opposition from her father and brother, who discouraged her from publishing her works or playing in public concerts. They believed that music was a suitable hobby for a woman, but not a profession. Fanny herself also struggled with the conflict between her artistic aspirations and her domestic duties as a wife and mother. She wrote in a letter to Felix: I cannot deny that music is my favorite occupation; indeed my sole passion; but I am equally unable to repress the feeling that it is not suitable for me. Despite this, she managed to publish a collection of songs as her Opus 1 in 1846, with the support of her husband and some friends. She also planned to publish more of her works, but she died of a stroke in 1847, aged 41. Her death was a great shock and grief to her family and friends, especially to Felix, who died six months later. Since the 1990s, Fanny Mendelssohn's life and works have been the subject of more detailed research and appreciation. Her Easter Sonata was inaccurately credited to Felix in 1970, before new analysis of documents in 2010 corrected the attribution. The Fanny & Felix Mendelssohn Museum opened on 29 May 2018 in Hamburg, Germany.