Fanny Mendelssohn Hensel (1805-1847)
Overture in C Major (around 1826)
Very few of Fanny’ Mendelssohn-Hensel’s 400 compositions were published during her lifetime, although some of her songs saw print under her brother’s name.
During the 19th-century, women—no matter how talented—were out of luck when it came to having a career. It must have felt particularly galling to be Fanny Mendelssohn, who like her younger brother, Felix, was a musical prodigy, yet, he became one of the most famous musicians of their time, and she did not.
Born in 1805, Hamburg, Germany, Fanny was the oldest of four children in an upper-class family. Her mother taught her to play piano, in the “Berliner-Bach” tradition, and by age 13, Fanny could play from memory all 24 preludes from Bach’s Well-Tempered Clavier. People often remarked that “she plays like a man,” which was high praise for a woman at the time. (Cringe.)
There were few opportunities for a woman to grow as a musician, much less perform. Any public performances Fanny made were without her family’s approval. In 1820, her father wrote to her, “Music will perhaps become a profession for your brother Felix, but for you it can and must be only an ornament.”
Regardless, Fanny stayed close to her family, especially Felix, who was more supportive of her music than her parents. He also recognized that his sister was the better pianist. In 1829, Fanny married the painter, Wilhelm Hensel, and continued to compose in private.
After her mother died in 1842, Fanny became the family’s central figure. Throughout, she supported and inspired Felix and his highly successful career, while her own languished. Very few of Fanny’s 400 compositions were published during her lifetime, although some of her songs saw print under her brother’s name.
While most of Fanny’s music was written for voice or keyboard, she had a special talent for utilizing wind and string instruments. Her Overture in C Major, written in her mid-20s, probably had its first (and only) performance, with Fanny conducting at the family’s weekly in-home concerts in Berlin in 1832.
The Overture isn’t Fanny’s only orchestral work (she also composed concert arias and several oratorios), but it’s the only one that focuses entirely on the orchestra. Styled similarly to other overtures of the early Romantic Period, it is music without any background story or visual intention and is considered “absolute” music. Full of glistening melodies and evocative orchestrations, it’s highly representative of her style.
From lyrical wind solos to lush string writing, the Overture shows off Fanny’s ability to blend harmonic language and rhythm. Written in sonata-allegro form, a slow introduction by the horns, strings and woodwinds leads to a faster-paced, melodic section of rapid strings. The winds reply to the string motif as the overture blossoms. A call and response repeats for several measures before the two instruments unite.
The allegro section is clever and lively, with sizzling strings, before the theme hops around the orchestra. The texture builds again with the energetic theme in the strings, leading to a charming woodwind interlude, before the pastoral string theme.
Ever-changing dynamics create drama throughout. The loud trumpets and horns contrast with the gentler strings. Intensity continues to build, traveling through the bassoons and lower strings to the majestic call and response between the trumpets and horns. The Overture ends with a playful variation of the theme as the strings climb the scales for a last time and final chords ring out across the orchestra.
Fanny’s Overture in C never published in her lifetime. Both Fanny and Felix died during the same year (1847). Ironically, Fanny suffered a stroke while leading a choral rehearsal of an oratorio by Felix.
Overture in C Major sat neglected in the Mendelssohn Archive long after her death, until the Women’s Philharmonic of San Francisco negotiated its release. After reconstructing the heavily revised score (in the composer’s own hand), the Philharmonic, led by Jo Ann Falletta, recorded it for a 1992 CD of music by female composers.
Today, Fanny Mendelssohn-Hensel is a highly regarded composer, who despite the limitations of her day, made brilliant music. Audiences are left to wonder what she might have accomplished had the prevailing social restraints not existed.
Jayce Keane, who began her career as a journalist for The Rocky Mountain News, has been working in the orchestra industry and writing about music for 18 years. A longtime resident of California, she now lives in Colorado.