Evening with Fanny Hensel 

a long neglected feminine maestro

sample of an autograph by Fanny Hensel, courtesy of Berlin State Library.

Knowing as sister of the great Romantic maestro, Felix Mendelssohn, Fanny begins showing her musical talent while performing the complete WTC by Bach from memory. Fugal fingers, as her mother called, Fanny has composed brilliant music from her young age. However, she was not supported by her parents to bring up a career in music, she was born to be a loyal wife, not someone who held concerts or playing in the public. The culture of the era discouraged women to show themselves among the crowd, burying lots of feminine talents into deep ground, which was no means to unleashed. With the help of her brother, Fanny held small weekend concerts in salons, publishing some of her compiled works with opus numbers. She died suddenly before performing by stroke.

a quite lengthy movement of an unfinished sonata by Fanny

Excerpt of the opening of the song is posted above.

P/S: typesetted version of the score will be posted soon as the original autograph is in the rights of the library.

List of works by Fanny Hensel that will be featured in the next posts:
Piano Sonata in G minor
Piano Sonata in C minor
Selections from Das Jahr
Other piano pieces