No matter whether you are into classical music or not, you certainly have heard Felix Mendelssohn’s “Wedding March”. The piece features in countless wedding scenes in films and TV series, and if you live in the West, you might have even walked the isle accompanied by it. If you are a classical music lover, you might be familiar with Mendelssohn’s most famous works – the Violin Concerto, the Italian symphony and the Oratorio “Elijah”. And if you happen to be a classical musician, you would definitely know that he was the one who revived J.S. Bach’s music (it might be hard to imagine but at the beginning of the 19th century Bach was almost forgotten.) However, not too many, even among the classical musicians, are familiar with the name Fanny Hensel née Mendelssohn Bartholdy.
Fanny was the eldest child of Abraham and Lea Mendelssohn, a wealthy Jewish couple who converted to Protestantism. Because of the family’s fortune Fanny and her younger brother Felix received the best music tuitors at the time. What is more, like the Mozart children (oh yes, Amadeus had a very tallented sister!) Fanny and Felix were child prodigies too.
The Mendelssohns often organised home concerts for relatives, friends and prominent members of the Berlin society. The so-called Sonntagsmusiken (Suday concerts) gave both Fanny and Felix the opportunity to perform earlier and contemporary pieces as well as their own compositions. Besides, these events brought prestige to the entire family which was trying to fit in the norms of the 19th century burgeoux culture.
As to the relationship between the siblings, musicologists L. Todd and A. Mace suggest that they had a very special bond – one of subtle rivalry but also deep love, trust in each other’s opinion and appreciation for the artistic abilities of the other:
“We now know that Fanny Hensel was not just a supportive sister and talented musician, but also a highly accomplished composer of over 450 works, with a great influence over her brother’s musical decisions” (Angela Mace, musicologist and researcher of the Mendelssohnian style, 2013:3)
“She was his own “worst” critic, and offered thorough critiques of his music (when he revised the theme from the second movement of the Italian symphony she didn’t hesitate to tell him, she preferred the original version). Felix referred to Fanny as his Minerva, after the Roman goddess of wisdom, his Thomaskantor, i.e. likening her to J.S. Bach. And he found her songs to be among the very best examples of the genre.” (Larry Todd, musicologist and biographer of Fanny & Felix Mendelssohn)
(Fanny & Felix Mendelssohn portrayed by R. Poetzelberger)
However (were you wondering by now when the ‘however’ part will come?), when Fanny was 14 her father reminded her she should concentrate on her future role as a wife and mother. And while Felix was encouraged to go on tours, Fanny had to remain home. What is more, she was not allowed to publish her compositions. Angela Mace explains:
“The economic prosperity and social success of her family offered her a poisoned apple: on one side, she was not allowed to embark on an artistically fulfilling career, as the middle-class Clara Wieck Schumann could, but she did have the personal financial means to enjoy an incredibly rich and varied musical life in her own home.” (A. Mace, 2013: 245-46)
So, Clara Shumann was “allowed” to perform across Europe and publish her own compositions but Fanny Hensel was not. Isnt’t that a paradox? But then, there are many things about society that one may fail to grasp…
However (a lucky ‘however’ this time), painter Wilhelm Hensel - Fanny’s husband, encouraged her to continue composing. He supported his wife’s artistic ambitions throughout their life together and was a major influence behind her decision to publish her works at the end of her life:
“No, you should not take leave of your childhood occupations, at the threshold of your new life and your art, which essense of your being, will be a heavenly joy to me.” (Helmig, 1997: 156 Letter of Wilhelm Hensel to Fanny Mendelssohn, mid-September 1829 in Mace, 2013: 235)
(Fanny Hensel née Mendelssohn, "September: at the River" from the suite "Das Jahr")
But it was not all bed of roses for Fanny as she felt throughout her life that she had to fit in her family’s expectations about how a “proper” daughter, sister and wife “should" behave… And probably Fanny was not the only woman under the sun who experienced the collision betwee her inner needs and the need to be approved by the others - a clush that always comes at a cost. In one of her final letters to Felix she writes:
“I wouldn’t expect you to read this rubbish now, busy as you are, if I didn’t have to tell you something. But since I know from the start that you won’t like it, it’s a bit awkward to get under way. So laugh at me or not, as you wish: I’m afraid of my brothers at age 40 as I was of Father at age 14 – or more aptly expressed, desirous to please you and everyone I’ve loved throughout my life. And when I now know in advance that it won’t be the case, I thus feel rather uncomfortable. In a word, I’m beginning to publish.” (Citron 1983: 611-12, Letter of Fanny Hensel to Felix Mendelssohn, July 9th 1846 in Mace, 2013: 254-55)
If Felix was so fond of (and he really was) his sister’s compositions, why didn’t he encourage her to publish? As a matter of fact, he released a few of her early songs under his name. Not in order to claim them as his own compositions but to make them available to the wider audience. But why, why, why he was so convinced that Fanny shouldn’t publicize? We will never know for sure.
Felix passed away just six months after his sister. They were very close during their youth but drew apart from each other at the end, in particular after Fanny rebelled and started publishing. However, Angela Mace suggests that Felix might have been behind the release of a posthumous opus by Fanny. Mace’s argument supporting that idea is the fact that Felix visited his sister’s grave and music room, and “someone with musical ability clearly put this opus together” (Mace, 2013: 267).
In conclusion, though Fanny’s story may seem rather pensive, it is still positive that some of her works are available for us to appreciate. (In contrast to the compositions of Maria Anna (Nannerl) Mozart which are lost forever). For if a woman’s place was in the home we would never be able to dive into this:
(Fanny Hensel née Mendelssohn "Oratorium nach den Bildern der Bibel" / "Oratorio according to the Pictures of the Bible" )
Sources:
Angela R. Mace “Fanny Hensel, Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy, and the Formation of the Mendelssohnian Style”, 2013
“Talking about Fanny (Mendelssohn) with author R. Larry Todd”, Mar 1st 2010 interview http://www.mybiggayears.com/archives/fann/
Fanny Hensel, biography http://www.fannyhensel.de/hensel_eng/bio_frame.htm