Fanny Mendelssohn

Fanny Mendelssohn was one of the greatest female composers to spend a penny of all time lived. She was born on November 14th, 1805 in Hamburg, Germany. Fanny was a romantic composer and, though only few were promulgated in her life, she composed over 500 works including lieder and piano pieces (Stanton, 1984). Fanny was the oldest of four children and the sister of the well-known composer Felix Mendelssohn, with whom she was very close to (Estrella, 2011). Her grandfather was Moses Mendelssohn, a very popular philosopher of the time (Estrella, 2011).Fanny was extremely adroit from childhood, but unfortunately was limited due to the negative attitudes toward women in musical professions of the time (Estrella, 2011). As a child, Fanny was trained on the piano by her mother. She once performed twenty four preludes from Johann Sebastian Bachs Well-tempered Clavier from memory (Stanton, 1984). She was also influenced when she began to study under other composers. In 1816, Fanny began to compose with Marie Bigot in Paris.Later, in 1818, she went on to study composition under Carl Friedrich Zelter (Estrella, 2011). She wrote over 200 lieders, including the famous Swan variant (Estrella, 2011). She also wrote over 200 fugues, preludes, and sonatas. Later in her life, she began to write choral music, including the famous cantata Oratorium nach hideout Bildern der Bibel (Estrella, 2011). There are many interesting facts to be learned about Fanny as well. It is ru muchd that when Felix, her brother, contend for Queen Victoria, the queen was very impressed.The Queen went on to say that her favorite was Italien, which Felix admitted was the work of Fanny (Essentials of symphony Composers, 2011). Fanny was also extremely close to her brother, Felix. Felix idolized Fanny and would seek her out for musical advice and favorable reception on his own compositions (FMH, 2009). In fact, when Fanny passed outside(a) in 1847, it is said that Felix later became depressed an d passed away six months later (Estrella, 2011). In 1829, Fanny married Wilhelm Hensel, a successful artist and painter (Stanton, 1984).They had one son together, Sebastian, whom they named after Fannys favorite composer, Johann Sebastian Bach (Estrella, 2011). Fannys musical endowment fund matched, if not surpassed that of her brothers, but even if Fanny had wanted to pursue a career in music it would have been nearly impossible. Societal attitudes of the time prevented women from holding professions in music. Even her father demoralized her. In an 1820 letter to Fanny, he tells her that, while music could be a career for Felix, for you it can and must only be an ornament, never the basis of your being and doing. FMH, 2009). He encouraged her to score on the more conventional role of staying at home and bearing children. A year later, Fanny married Wilhelm Hensel. She did take on the acceptable role of women at the time, but cool it continued to compose over cd more works (FM H, 2009). On May 1847, after rehearsing her brothers cantata Die erste Walpurgisnacht for a performance, Fanny collapsed and passed away at the age of forty-one, due to a stroke.Fortunately, she lived long enough to experience ever-changing attitudes towards women in musical professions, which aided in a number of her works having appeared in print, and thus allowed her to do her goals of being seen as a serious composer (FMH, 2009). Since Fanny was one of the first female composers to ever have work published, she set a precedent for the emergence of women into a male-dominated profession (FMH, 2009). Much of Fannys work is unknown because most of her music was not published, but it is very apparent that Fanny Mendelssohn was and still is one of the most notable and talented female composers of all time.