“Historical Anthology of Music by Women”
Fanny Hensel was a prolific composer, a skilled pianist, and a respected leader of a flourishing Berlin salon. The elder sister of Felix Mendelssohn, Hensel grew up in a culturally sophisticated home, where from an early age she was exposed to the leading artistic and intellectual figures of the day. These formative contacts helped instill in her a keen discriminating mind and a knowledge and love of poetry. Heinrich Heine, the author of the text of Hensel’s song “Schwanenlied,” was a frequent visitor to the Mendelssohn household, and Fanny may have heard some of his poems even before they were published.
Fanny and Felix shared a common music education and developed an unusually close sibling relationship. But largely because of her sex, Fanny was not encouraged to become a professional musician. Nonetheless a prolific outpouring of pieces continued unabated throughout her life. Her husband, the Prussian court painter Wilhelm Hensel, was very supportive; and her brother, on whose good opinion she strongly depended, encouraged her composing but was opposed to her pieces being published. Largely because of Felix’s negative attitude, only a very small percentage of her compositions—which number well over 400—were published.
Hensel composed almost exclusively in the genres long associated with women and their domestic environment: lieder and piano pieces. Many of these pieces, as well as her few forays into orchestral and choral works, were presented at her lively Sunday musical gatherings, or Sonntagsmusiken. Hensel herself was a leading participant, playing the piano as soloist or as part of the ensemble. Except for a large charity concert in 1838, Hensel did not perform in public, in accordance with her family’s attitudes about woman’s proper role. Thus her celebrated private gatherings provided her with a needed forum for her various musical activities.
Hensel’s first published compositions, three lieder, appeared under her brother’s authorship in his Opus 8 (1827); three more followed in his Opus 9 (1830). Unfortunately, we do not know the reason for this camouflage, although it was not an uncommon practice among women composers. The first piece issued under Hensel’s own name was a lied in an anthology that appeared in 1837. With the exception of an isolated lied published two years later, it was not until the last year of Hensel’s life that her pieces reached the public in printed form, and this time in a spate of seven publications rather than as isolated works. “Schwanenlied” is the first song in Opus 1, Sechs Lieder für eine Stimme mit Begleitung des Pianoforte (Six Songs for One Voice with Piano Accompaniment). The collection appeared in the summer of 1846 and provided Hensel with the great satisfaction of finally seeing an entire volume published under her own name.
“Schwanenlied,” with text by Heinrich Heine, resembles a lullaby. In its clear separation of melody and accompaniment it is akin to the style of many Songs Without Words, for piano solo, some composed by Hensel and some by Mendelssohn. Formally it is simple, like most Hensel settings, consisting of two strophes with the second slightly modified. That slight modification proves significant, however, for it fashions the climax of the song. Occurring in the middle of the second strophe, it is effected by an extension on the word “Fluthengrab” (depths of the river), a turning point for the carefree swan and the drama of the poem. Overall Hensel has successfully captured the bittersweet quality of Heine’s text. A brief piano postlude concludes each strophe.
A star falls down
From its twinkling height,
It is the star of love
That I see falling there.
So much falls from the apple tree,
From the white leaves;
The teasing breezes come
And urge on their game.
The swan sings in the pond,
And paddles up and down,
And singing more and more gently,
He disappears into the depths of the river.
It is so quiet and dark,
Scattered is leaf and blossom,
The star has flickered into dust,
The swan song has faded away.
Recording
Fanny Hensel, Opus 1. Leonarda LPI 112.
Further Reading
Citron, Marcia J. “The Lieder of Fanny Mendelssohn Hensel,” The Musical Quarterly 69 (1983): 570-93.
——. “Felix Mendelssohn’s Influence on Fanny Hensel as a Professional Composer,” Current Musicology 37-38 (1984): 9-17.
Originally published by Bote und Bock, Berlin. Reprinted by the permission of the U. S. representatives, Associated Music Publishers, Inc. (G. Schirmer, Inc.).
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