Fanny Mendelssohn

Fanny Mendelssohn emerged as a German pianist and composer during the Romantic era. Her professional path remained largely eclipsed by that of her younger brother Felix, yet she produced more than 450 compositions. Born in Hamburg in 1805 into a prosperous Jewish household, she grew up as the daughter of banker Abraham, whose financial success provided stability, and pianist Lea, who had studied under Johann Kirnberger, once a pupil of J.S. Bach. All four siblings began their musical education under their mother’s guidance. In 1811 the family relocated to Berlin to evade Napoleon’s advancing French forces and soon underwent baptism into Christianity to shield themselves from religious hostility. Five years afterward she pursued piano instruction with Marie Bigot in Paris and continued her studies with Ludwig Berger. From 1819 onward she also trained in composition with Carl Friedrich Zelter, who admired her command of Bach’s music. At roughly seventeen she entered a lengthy courtship with painter Wilhelm Hensel, a match her parents opposed on financial grounds; the couple eventually wed a decade later and welcomed a son in 1830. That same year writer John Thomsen brought her name to wider attention through an article in the British periodical Harmonicon. Her only public piano appearance took place in 1838, when she performed her brother Felix Mendelssohn’s Piano Concerto No. 1; two additional concerts followed. Although her parents had discouraged her ambitions, Felix offered steady encouragement, and because female composers frequently met with dismissal she released several works under his name. Around 1839 she journeyed to Italy accompanied by her husband and son, where she encountered an enthusiastic circle of younger musicians devoted to her music. Their admiration restored her assurance and prompted renewed efforts to compose and issue her pieces. She maintained this productivity until her death in 1847 following a stroke.