Mendelssohn sister
Fanny Hensel – Germany’s great composer played against all odds
Fanny Hensel in a picture from 1888. Her work has been systematically processed since the 1970s
© Mary Evans Picture Library / Picture Alliance
If Fanny Hensel were alive today, she would be a superstar. It was difficult for the composer during her lifetime – but today her work is being rediscovered piece by piece.
In many cases, her contemporaries did not know what talent Fanny Hensel was. Because the gifted composer, who wrote pieces as a teenager, was prevented by her family from using her talent as she would have liked. On the one hand, it was not appropriate for a lady from a good family in her time to earn a living herself or even with music. On the other hand, why did this family, who had already produced a number of famous talents, need another musician in the concert hall spotlight?
Fanny Hensel was Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy’s sister and four years older than her famous brother. She was born on November 14, 1805 in Hamburg as Fanny Zippora Mendelssohn into a family of cultural workers. She was the granddaughter of Moses Mendelssohn, the famous philosopher.
Fanny Hensel was gifted and was already composing at the age of 15
Like her brother Felix, she loved music, playing the piano – and above all composing. She is said to have written her first pieces at the age of 15. Her family recognized that Fanny was musically gifted. But her father did not allow her to use her talent professionally. Back in the 19th century, a woman of high society was allowed to practice music as a hobby. A career as a composer, on the other hand, was unthinkable.
But making music at home in front of guests was allowed – and so the visitors to the Mendelssohn House must have often enjoyed their private piano concerts. However, it was denied the general public. Posterity was to make up for this omission two centuries later.
A look over the composer’s shoulder: Google dedicates a doodle to Fanny Hensel
Fanny Hensel was a passionate composer, with her thoughts always on the music. She is said to have feared marriage – for fear of having too little time for music. But her husband, the painter Wilhelm Hensel, turned out to be a supporter of his wife. The two loved art and music, she could keep composing.
On November 14th – her 216th birthday – Google is dedicating a doodle to Fanny Hensel that shows her in a typical situation: playing the piano and composing at the same time.
Fortunately, today the public can enjoy the works of Fanny Hensel: Since the 1970s, more and more of her works have been researched and her compositions have been performed. But her work is still not completely processed. It is quite extensive and is said to contain more than 450 pieces – although Fanny Hensel, who is now considered one of the greatest composers of the 19th century, did not get very old: She suddenly died of a stroke in Berlin at the age of 41. She was just about to rehearse for a private concert.
Source: “Google Watch Blog“
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