#fanny hensel

[ourmindonmusicpodcast]

Women in Music: Fanny Mendelssohn Hensel

Fanny Cäcilie Mendelssohn was born on November 14, 1805, in Hamburg, Germany. Fanny Mendelssohn, known as Fanny Hensel after marriage, was a highly talented musician and composer in the 19th century, but due to the gender norms of the time, she was unable to fully pursue her career in music. Despite this, she still managed to make a significant impact on the music world. Despite her short life…

[elmartillosinmetre]

Mi crítica del concierto de Rosa García Varela y Pepe Fernández anoche en el Alcázar.

[soundgrammar]

Fanny Mendelssohn, sketched in 1829 by Wilhelm Hensel

[lesser-known-composers]

Fanny Hensel Mendelssohn (1805-1847) - 6 Lieder, Op. 1: III. Warum sind denn die Rosen so blass ·

Kitty Whately, mezzo soprano · Malcolm Martineau, piano ·

[16strings]

Fanny Hensel Mendelssohn - String quartet in E-flat Major (Selini Quartet)

Fanny Hensel Mendelssohn (1805-1847) String quartet in E-flat Major performed by Selini Quartet

Selini Quartet Nadia Kalmykova - violin Ljuba Kalmykova - violin Loredana Apetrei -  viola Loukia Loulaki - violoncello 

MUSIK MERAN 16.11.2022, Stadttheater Meran 

00:00 Adagio ma non troppo 04:15 Allegretto 08:02 Romanze 14:38 Allegro molto vivace

[nurhanarman]

Mendelssohn: Chamber Symphony op 80a mov. 4

Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy was born on this day 215 years ago. His 80th opus 'String Quartet No. 6 in F Minor' is one of Mendelssohn's greatest contributions to the chamber music repertoire. Probably it is also the most tormented work he ever composed as it sings out of his symbiotic relationship with sister Fanny Hensel, a fine composer who died at age 41. Here is an excerpt from my orchestral arrangement of this work also known as 'Requiem for Fanny'. https://youtu.be/VAQ6I4-hrzQ Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy: Chamber Symphony op  80a 'Requiem for Fanny' (String Quartet No. 6 in F Minor) IV. Finale: Allegro molto Sinfonia Toronto / Nurhan Arman, Conductor String orchestra version by Nurhan Arman. Recorded live in CBC Glenn Gould Studio on January 25, 2019.

[cooking-with-hailstones]

Music tag game

Thanks for the tag @onewingedsparrow !

Put your music library on shuffle, then list the first five songs that come up in a poll to let people vote for which one they like the most!

0 pressure tags @hot-flippin-mess @sulkybender @louwhose @citrinediamondeyes @pastelsandpining

[musicalanthrop]

It's time for a new pinned post!

Hi, I'm Lexi! ☺️

🥝 about me

she/her

22

favorite color is green 💚🐍🍀🌿🐢

Illinois -> Washington -> Illinois again

native English speaker, used to be good at Spanish but I'm out of practice

🥝 school

this fall I'm starting my Masters in Library and Information sciences!

recently received my B.A in anthropology and music history

likely going to add a school librarian licensure to my program

goals: be a librarian, eventually get my PhD (perhaps in English?)

🥝 other interests

Music!

I play the oboe, clarinet, guitar, and ukulele, as well as having taken voice and piano lessons. My favorite musicians to study have been Mozart and Fanny Mendelssohn Hensel. My favorite musicians to listen to are Taylor Swift and Maisie Peters 🫶

Judaism ✡️

Reading 📚

Dragons !! 🐉

autism / autism acceptance ♾️

Feminism 💪

🥝 this is a side blog so I might reply or follow back from my main, @thirtythirdhalfbirthday

[cactustaffy]

Daily Mendelssohn Trivia

Felix Mendelssohn's letter to Fanny Hensel. Felix slapped his eldest child, Karl because he behaved badly in the carriage. And he doesn't seem to feel sorry about it.

It was a common practice in the victorian era, and I understand... but why, Felix. Why did you do that.

[angeryed]

Op. 2 no. 5

Word count: 1541 // 100% sfw // mentions of alcohol

Author’s note: this is my first piece mainly about Fanny and Felix Mendelssohn. Please note that this is not a reflection of their character and should not be regarded as such. This is only an inspiration of their real character personalities as I try to make references to a slight part of what they have truly experienced. I hope you enjoy!

Much feedback is appreciated (´,,•ω•,,)♡

⊱ ────── {.⋅ ♫ ⋅.} ───── ⊰

Fanny was a composer. She was meant to be in the ballroom serving everyone as per custom.

Melodies and harmonies spiralled from her fingertips as easy as her breaths rolled from her nose and fluttered in the air. At three she could compose and at ten, she led concerts day in and day out. As a composer should be, she thought. As a composer should be.

Alongside her training to be a good housewife for her dear Wilhelm Hensel, she played, played, played and played the piano.

Despite how many times the Hensels said, “no, Fanny, greet Wilhelm!” Or “stop playing or else your future will be gone!”Fanny still played as Felix played with her. Leading concerts here and there and avoiding the Hensels’ scrutiny, she had fun and made music right under the Hensels’ noses which only sniffed and snorted.

“Make your child behave like a real woman!” The Hensels said, “or else we might remove everything music related from her life once she’s married!”

“Will do Mrs. Hensel, will do,” Felix answered for his father. “We won’t make you regret choosing her as the bride.”

“I’d rather not!” Mrs. Hensel, Wilhelm’s mother, sniffed. “But one more toe out the line, and she’ll regret even having musical talents to begin with!”

“And don’t you chuckle at me, Felix!” She continued as she snapped the smile from his face. “Once she performs in public alone again, the only thing she’ll ever play in our household is some yarn and string!”

“That was absolutely splendid, Fanny!” Felix said. “Do play again! Play again! Play again!”

She paused; pondering the now silent keyboard before her. Strings still vibrated from the melodies she sang.

“I have other duties to attend to,” Fanny said, flipping her scribbled manuscripts. “I’m a lady, Felix. I have to focus on my actual goal.”

Before her brother frowned again, she continued —

“I’ve a husband to find. I'm going to be a housewife soon.”

“What about your music?” Felix retorted, waving the money Fanny earned from her pieces. “They don’t know you write music and I published them in my name.”

He held Fanny’s hands. “You could continue.”

“I could?”

A letter lined with velvet and class subdued her tears. “For you, Fanny,” Felix whispered. “Be there, tonight.”

“And you will stay at home!”

“Why do I have to do this?” Fanny said. “Why do I—”

“You will keep our name clean!” Father raised a pointed finger at me. Each fibre of it shook until his nails went white. “And you will do as I tell you!”

“I am—”

Felix gazed back at her, twisting the skin of his ring finger.

“You said I could!”

The banging door locked away any way Felix could leave. “You said that!” Fanny shouted. “And look what it did, Felix.” He glanced away.

“Look what it did!”

Fanny raised her voice when Felix grabbed a hold of her music.

“And don’t you dare touch it!”

“What am I to do then?” Felix retorted, biting back his tears. “What am I to do about what is your fault?”

“My fault?” Fanny spat. “My fault?”

“You’re not suited for this, Fanny. You can’t perform concerts anymore,” Felix sat beside Fanny, who cowered on the ground, “and I’m sorry for instilling that hope in you.”

Felix offered Fanny his hand. “Come on, go back to your room with me. You can still compose, just don’t perform like what father—”

“Leave, Felix,” Fanny managed to sniffle through gritted teeth. She hugged her knees as tight as she could until her dress tore at the sides.

“Fanny, get up. Please.”

“And I said leave!”

Before sinking onto the ground again, she glared straight into her brother’s face — the same lips which sang as they played piano, whose tongue lisped against the irregular curvature of complicated words and phrases; and whose gaze, drooped into a glance and later a glimpse when his repertoire got boring, pupils later fluttering as quickly away from the sheet music as his little fingers across the keyboard.

“Fanny, I insist—”

“And I,” she whimpered, controlling the uneven hitches agpt her larynx, “you leave.”

Felix dipped his head before her as he left. “Dinner’s coming in an hour.”

“Do you think she finally listened?”

“Fanny? I hope so…

“You really shouldn’t be so harsh on her, dad. She’s been crying in her room for the past hour.”

“Anyway,” Father said, staring straight at Felix. “She cannot go to the party. Her finacé’s family is there. Think of the scandals! Think of it all!”

In the cobblestone streets leading to the ball, pages of sheet music thumped against the backs of countless composers.

“Need a ride, miss?“

“I’m fine, thank you sir,” Fanny replied, unpacking her bag. “I’m a guest performer. Here’s my invitation.”

“F. Mendelssohn?” The guard replied, holding the card in his hand followed by a crowd of laughs and leers.

“Fanny Mendelssohn, sir,” Fanny added. “I’m the composer of that family. Felix is only my little brother.”

Gazing back up at her, he smiled, “right this way.”

Being led to the piano, Fanny was a composer. Fanny was a composer. Fanny was a composer. She kept reminding herself as she sat on the piano stool.

After all those years of preparing for being a housewife, her hands kept trickling out the music from her mind, bleeding into bandages of sheet music and fluttering up in the air. With every performance, each note folded into the ventricles of people’s hearts as motifs conjoined into their veins and pumped blood in their veins.

“They lived because of me,” Fanny thought. “And they shall again.”

And for that moment, she played. Amidst the crowd with everyone to gape at her, to raise eyebrows and clap at her mumps across the piano as their tears fuelled her encore.

She could.

“I could, I could, I could!” Thought Fanny as her keys laughed, cheered and clapped her mind’s whispers out loud.

After her waltzes and nocturnes, she hastened to bring out her lieders.

Readying them on the stand as the crowd hissed to a silence—

“Ladies and gentlemen, may I present to you Fanny Mendelssohn’s piano solo of Italien.”

Her heart prepared for another rush of adrenaline — the rush of laughter and flame, engulfed in all of it like alcohol. Wrapped in music bars, her mind spun again and again—

“Fanny playing Felix’s work?”

“It’s my work,” Fanny answered.

Before the gasps subsided, a virtuosic strum on the piano broke free with her breaths. As she continued her adrenaline reached the brim —

“Stop this!” Some people from the audience spoke. “How do we know you wrote it?”

“I wrote it!” Fanny said. “And I’m so tired of being called over and over and over about what I ought to do!”

She continued playing the piano, even as whispers disrupted the piano’s resonance and jammed her mind with disturbances.

“Fanny Mendelssohn!” A voice shouted before her. “You are to wed the Hensel family! What are you going to do once they find out about this?”

“That I’m a renowned composer? Leave! Father, leave!” Fanny said as she continued her pieces.

A bunch of drunkards in the ball shooed her family away. Satisfied, alcohol pumped through Fanny’s music as she slurred her pieces alongside her voice which often accompanied her lieders.

“See, everyone?” She hiccuped, making a sloppy run across the keyboard in the middle of the night. “Especially you, Mrs. Hensel. I’m to wed your son tomorrow, and look at me! I’m even more talented than my brother, Felix!”

Adding some trills and ornaments to her nocturnes, she shot out again at the Hensel family, a sober blur in the drunken mist and fatigue. “Wouldn’t you want me for a wife, Wilhem darling? Wouldn’t you… wouldn’t you?”

The ground reached for her first after her vomiting on the keyboard. Falling before her fiancé’s feet, spit trickling on her hands, still clutching some manuscripts, she whispered, “wouldn’t you be grateful for such a prodigy?”

In the carriage ride back to the Hensel estate, Wilhelm met Fanny with the same respectful nods and greetings as before.

“I thought, Wilhelm dear,” snorted Fanny, “that you’d hate me for what I did… even I would see how improper I was today.

“Don’t you worry, darling,” replied Wilhelm upon reaching his home. “After taking in consideration your abilities, you’d be best to participate in concerts for the rest of your life.”

The moment those words were uttered out, Fanny, carrying that pungent smell of vomit and liquor, thanked him saying, “I’ve always wanted this… I’ve always… always…”

A fireplace to sit by, and some soup to warm her stomach, still growling for sleep.

“Anything else you need, dear?” Fanny called. “There’s a piano for you down the hall if you want it.”

Fanny searched for the slightest twitch of discomfort in every guest at the ball, carrying a map of the ball if anyone needed it.

“Excuse me, lady, where are the refills?”

“Down the hall to the left, sir,” she replied to a gentleman as she led Felix to the performance room.

Fanny was a composer as everyone said. A composer meant to be in a ballroom, serving the public as per custom.

⊱ ────── {.⋅ ♫ ⋅.} ───── ⊰

I hope y’all liked it (:

Leave a request about which composers/people I should write about next if you want to ʘ̥ꀾʘ̥

(ฅ'ω'ฅ) Ps I never sleep so feel free to send me a dm any time of the day

[ourmindonmusicpodcast]

[elmartillosinmetre]

"Como mujer artista necesito referentes femeninos en la música"

[La pianista gallega Paula Ríos / MICHAL NOVÁK]

Paula Ríos dedica su cuarto disco a música de Fanny Mendelssohn-Hensel, incluyendo la 'Sonata de Pascua' que se le atribuyó recientemente

Aunque naciera en Alicante, Paula Ríos se siente una pianista gallega. Se formó primero en Vigo y luego en la Musik-Akademie der Stadt de Basilea, donde estudió con Rudolf Buchbinder, aunque pasó también por la Schola Cantorum, de donde le ha quedado su interés por los pianos de época: “Trabajo con instrumentos antiguos para tratar de entender mejor las intenciones de los compositores. Hoy día me parece fundamental”.

–Este es su cuarto disco, ¿por qué decide dedicarlo a Fanny Mendelssohn?

–El primer Romanticismo me ha interesado siempre mucho y lo he trabajado muchísimo. Encontré un artículo en prensa hace unos años sobre una sonata de Fanny Mendelssohn que estaba perdida. Apareció la partitura manuscrita y se atribuyó erróneamente a su hermano Felix. Hace 10 años, una musicóloga americana, Angela Mace Christian, estaba investigando a Fanny, localizó el manuscrito y por la caligrafía y otras pruebas documentales demostró que en realidad era de Fanny y se atribuyó a ella finalmente. Yo accedí a la partitura y la estrené en España y Portugal, y la reacción del público fue tan entusiasta que eso me animó a profundizar en este repertorio, que es maravilloso.

–Angela Mace ve elementos beethovenianos en esta Ostersonate (Sonata de Pascua). La escribió en 1828, cuando acababa de morir Beethoven y eso la influyó decisivamente. ¿Comparte esta visión?

–Sí, y no sólo en esta obra. Fanny fue muy ecléctica y recibió muchas influencias que se fueron reflejando en su música. Bach tuvo una gran presencia en su formación y eso se nota en muchas de sus obras. Pero ella tocó las grandes sonatas de Beethoven; seguramente fue de las primeras en tocar la Hammerklavier. En la Ostersonate es muy evidente, pero en la Sonata en sol menor con que cierro el CD también.

–Han pasado 15 años entre una y otra sonatas, ¿qué ha cambiado en su música?

–Fanny no escribió muchas sonatas, porque no era normal que las mujeres afrontaran las grandes formas. Su mismo hermano le decía que debía dedicarse a las obras breves y al lied. Pero escribió algunas sonatas y vemos a Fanny cada vez más segura de sí misma; yo diría que los rasgos beethovenianos se han incluso potenciado en esta segunda obra.

–En el resto de piezas del programa, algunas figuran como primeras grabaciones mundiales. ¿Trabajó con los manuscritos o estaban editadas?

–La mayoría están editadas, pero yo trabajé con manuscritos de prácticamente todas, también de la Sonata de Pascua. Quería ser rigurosa y la obra la revisó Angela Mace. Repasé casi toda la obra de Fanny en manuscritos, cientos y cientos de piezas. Estuve seleccionando, y podrían haber salido cinco discos. Pero intenté hacer una especie de retrato, sobre todo pensando en los conciertos. Concebí el disco como un programa de concierto.

–¿Puede comentarme el resto del programa?

–Fanny fue una pianista virtuosa y muy al tanto de cómo se estaba escribiendo para piano en aquel momento. Estaba atenta a lo que se hacía y asumía rápidamente los nuevos recursos técnicos. Escribía sus propios estudios para mejorar y estar a la altura de los grandes virtuosos de su tiempo. Es una obra muy virtuosística, muy brillante. Son obras breves, muy pasionales, muy arrebatadas y muy interesantes desde el punto de vista formal, armónico… era muy innovadora, muy moderna. No tiene miedo a emplear recursos poco usados en su época. Estaba además muy interesada por la poesía alemana, fue una gran compositora de lieder, pero también escribió, como su hermano, romanzas sin palabras, he incluido cuatro de ellas en el CD.

[Paula Ríos en una imagen promocional del CD / JUAN BARTE]

–Obras de su último año de vida...

–Ella tenía intención de dedicarse profesionalmente a la música, aunque en su familia le dejaron claro de jovencita que eso no iba a ser posible, pero compuso mucho, se han conservado más de 450 obras de ella. Pensó en publicar varias veces a lo largo de su vida, pero se decidió a hacerlo sólo al final, en el último año, por eso han quedado tantas obras de esa época.

–Se hace ahora más música de Fanny Mendelssohn, ¿se está descubriendo el valor de su música o influye el ambiente social y político y se toca por el simple hecho de ser una mujer?

–Creo que la obra de Fanny es magnífica, y de hecho el disco nace de la respuesta del público al escuchar esta música, que gusta mucho. Aparte de eso, creo en la necesidad de la representación de la mujer en las artes. Como mujer artista necesito tener referentes femeninos en la música, y no sólo pienso en mí, sino en las niñas que están en los conservatorios, que sepan que hubo muchas antes de ellas y que si quieren pueden entrar en un mundo en el que son bienvenidas. Creo que se debe interpretar más música de compositoras.

–¿Independientemente del valor de su música?

–Creo que hay suficientes compositoras con música de calidad para que haya más presencia de ellas en las salas de concierto. Todavía no tenemos un problema de calidad, al menos en la música para piano. Hay muchas mujeres compositoras interesantísimas y lamento que no sean más conocidas.

–Si prepara este repertorio con instrumentos de la época, ¿por qué no se atrevió a grabar con uno?

–Mi formación principal fue de pianista moderna. He dado algunos conciertos con pianos históricos y es un placer, pero estoy más acostumbrada al moderno. Este programa lo he tocado (no completo) en un Pleyel del Museo Chopin de Valldemosa y fue un placer. Da muchas pistas sobre la intención de los compositores, la vocalidad, la polifonía, la sensibilidad, el sonido no es tan grande pero es posible hacer muchos más colores, y es posible improvisar, porque son teclados muy sensibles, más ligeros, dan muchas opciones al intérprete. Algún día sí que me gustaría grabar en algún piano histórico.

–¿Por qué el sello Eudora?

–Tiene mucho prestigio y tengo muchos compañeros músicos que me hablaron maravillas. Tuvieron confianza en el proyecto desde el principio. Grabamos en el Auditorio de Zaragoza, que es un sitio extraordinario, y todo fueron ayudas. El resultado creo que conecta perfectamente con el estilo de la música de Fanny, muy delicado, muy sensible y a la vez mucha potencia.

–¿Tiene el próximo disco ya en la cabeza?

–Sí, está en mente, será música española del siglo XX, para continuar con la Generación de la República [Paula Ríos dedicó un disco anterior a música de Jesús Bal y Gay y Rosa García Ascot, miembros de la generación], que hay un repertorio espectacular y está poco grabado.

[Diario de Sevilla. 11-06-2023]

EL CD EN SPOTIFY

[soundgrammar]

April from the manuscript of Fanny Mendelssohn's Das Jahr. Illustration by Wilhelm Hensel.

[lesser-known-composers]

Fanny Hensel (Mendelssohn) (1805-1847) - Streichquartett Es-dur

NODELMAN QUARTETT: Misha Nodelman - Violin Evgeny Selitsky - Violin Andreas Kosinski - Viola Mark Mefsut - Cello

[16strings]

Selini Quartet on the occasion of International Women's Day 2022

Fanny Hensel (Mendelssohn), String Quartet E flat major, 1st movement Hildegard von Bingen, String Quartet "Three Antiphons", No. 1 "O Virtus Sapiente Julia Purgina, String Quartet "Four Moments Musicaux" No. 3 Felix Mendelssohn, String Quartet No. 6 in F minor Op. 80, 1st movement

Nadja Kalmykova, violin Ljuba Kalmykova, violin Loredana Apetrei, viola Loukia Loulaki, cello

[musictheoryaugmented]

Composers Saying Mean Girls Shit

no. 37

Fanny Mendelssohn Hensel