March 2022 Composer of the Month – Fanny Mendelssohn

Everyone loves an excellent plot twist. And there’s no better plot twist than knowing that a work of scientific discovery, art, or other creation such as music, was the achievement, not of a notable man, but rather a woman. California Conservatory of Music is continuing to celebrate Composer of the Month and observing Women’s History Month by honoring Fanny Mendelssohn, a German composer and pianist.

Fanny Mendelssohn’s Personal Life

Fanny Mendelssohn, and later Fanny Hensel, was a notable German pianist and music composer. She was the sister of the famous composer, Felix Mendelssohn. It is worth noting that Fanny Mendelssohn was a talented and prolific music composer of the early 19th century who often worked in private. As she was an upper-class woman with several social responsibilities, Mendelssohn wasn’t encouraged to pursue any type of public career. She was also the grandmother of the well-known philosopher Paul Hensel.

Mendelssohn was born in Hamburg and was descended on both sides from prominent and distinguished Jewish families. Because of her social responsibilities, she hosted many concerts in her Berlin home and performed music with her friends.

After a courtship of many years, in 1829 Mendelssohn finally married Wilhelm Hensel. The next year, she had her only child, Sebastian Felix Hensel.

Life as a Composer

In her lifetime, Fanny Mendelssohn composed almost 470 pieces of music. Mendelssohn’s compositions include an excellent piano trio and many books of unique solo piano pieces as well as songs.

Did you know that her music composition studies were under Carl Friedrich Zelter? Keep in mind that Mendelssohn composed more than 200 lieders (including her amazing and famous “Swan Song”) and over 100 pieces (including fugues, bagatelles, preludes, and sonatas).

She also composed instrumental music for piano and string. Note that a number of her excellent songs were published originally under Felix’s name in his famous opus 8 and opus 9 collections.

Apart from being a significant music composer, she was also one of the greatest piano virtuosos of the nineteenth century. However, as far as many musicologists are able to document, Mendelssohn played only 3 public concerts outside of her family home. One strong piece of evidence of Mendelssohn’s piano prowess is Das Jahr, which tends to be incredibly challenging and tricky work for advanced keyboardists. This is why students taking music lessons and piano lessons at the California Conservatory of Music are inspired by her work.

Also, since the 1990s, both her life and music works have become the subject of more comprehensive and detailed research. Did you know that her Easter Sonata was incorrectly credited to her brother back in 1970 before a new analysis of various documents in 2010 corrected this error?

To this day, her compositions are an important part of Redwood City Music Lessons and Sunnyvale music lessons. Our teachers and students love talking about Mendelssohn and how she approached and perfected her compositions.

Mendelssohn’s most famous and brilliant work is a cycle of pieces that depict the various months of the year, Das Jahr (also known as “The Year”) in 1841. It was written on colored sheets of paper and thoroughly illustrated by her husband.

It is actually a musical diary of the year Mendelssohn and her family spent in Rome. Keep in mind that it’s considered one of the most influential and best of the unheralded piano suites from the nineteenth century. It has been recorded and deserves inclusion in our standard piano repertoire.

Some Notable Facts

• Mendelssohn’’s mother, Lea, knew right from the day she was born that she was fated to be an excellent pianist.
• Mendelssohn was the granddaughter of the philosopher Moses Mendelssohn.
• In early 1821, she fell in love with an artist, Wilhelm Hensel.
• When she was 40, she eventually decided to go against her brother’s wish and started publishing music under her name.

If you are looking for piano or violin lessons, Sunnyvale music lessons and Redwood City Music Lessons can provide developmentally appropriate music education for young children, introducing various concepts such as body movement, rhythm, and singing to preschoolers and toddlers.

Fanny Hensel died in Berlin in 1847 due to complications from a stroke. She suffered the stroke while rehearsing one of her brother’s famous oratorios, The First Walpurgis Night. In recent years, her music has become more well-known because of concert performances and various CDs being released on popular music labels, like Hiperion and CPO.