Fanny Hensel (née Mendelssohn)

German composer, pianist, and conductor. She is known as the elder sister of Felix Mendelssohn (1809-1847). Born into a prominent Jewish family in Hamburg, Germany, her paternal grandfather Moses was a renowned philosopher, and her father Abraham was the founder of one of Germany's leading banks. Her maternal aunt had studied keyboard instruments with J.S. Bach's sons and pupils and ran popular music salons in Berlin and Paris, while her mother herself played the piano, sang, and was proficient in languages. When Fanny was six, the family moved to their ancestral home in Berlin following the French occupation of Hamburg during the Napoleonic Wars.

The four children—Fanny, Felix, and their two younger siblings—received the finest education from tutors hired by their highly dedicated parents. Fanny and Felix, in particular, displayed extraordinary musical talent. They received piano lessons from figures such as Madame Marie Bigot (highly esteemed by Haydn and Beethoven) and Ludwig Berger (a renowned Beethoven interpreter), and studied composition and music theory with Carl Friedrich Zelter (1758-1832). Fanny's piano skills were universally acknowledged; it is said that at the age of 13, she astonished her father on his birthday by performing all the preludes from Bach's The Well-Tempered Clavier from memory. Her first composition was a song, written at 14, and songs would subsequently constitute a significant portion of her oeuvre. She composed many songs based on Goethe's poetry, and Goethe himself was so fond of Fanny's works that he personally sent her poems.

While Fanny's talent was widely recognized, society at the time expected upper-class women to prioritize domestic duties, viewing their primary role as managing the household with tranquility and wisdom. While a high level of education was a status symbol, it was expected to be exercised only within the private sphere, and Fanny was expected to serve as a supportive confidante to her brother Felix. Indeed, Felix placed complete trust in his sister's abilities, seeking her musical advice on all matters. A close and strong relationship developed, with Fanny overseeing her brother's development and offering concrete advice on his works. For instance, she noted, "Felix would not write down his ideas without consulting me, so by the time the first note was written, I already knew his entire opera by heart." Even in the historic revival performance of J.S. Bach's St. Matthew Passion, Fanny, at 23, collaborated with her brother in directing the orchestra and choir, leading the performance to a successful conclusion.

In the same year, she married Wilhelm Hensel (1794-1861), a court painter. They established their new home within the extensive grounds of her family estate, and a son was born the following year. Although she occasionally struggled with waves of creative inspiration, her husband, himself a working artist, unusually for the time, actively encouraged her activities, leading to a rather vigorous period of musical engagement. One such endeavor was the establishment of the 'Sunday Concerts' (Sonntagsmusiken). This was an academically rigorous event that Fanny took over from her parents, who had originally hosted it at home during her childhood as a venue for Felix's compositions. She managed all aspects, including planning, programming, and negotiating appearances, conducted her self-organized choir through rehearsals, and, of course, performed as a pianist herself. Its reputation spread by word-of-mouth, and at its peak, over 300 guests would flock to attend.

Fanny's works are said to number over 500, with the majority being songs or piano pieces. Other genres include an orchestral overture, a piano trio, string quartets, and choral works. Regarding the publication of her own works, she faced opposition from her father, and after his death, from her brother Felix, enduring years of vexing deliberation. Given that they had supported and relied on each other in musical matters since childhood, almost as 'two halves of a whole,' Felix's consent and encouragement were paramount to Fanny. However, encouraged by her husband and her friend Koedel, a diplomat and amateur musician, in December, just after turning 41, her Op. 1 song collection was finally published by a Berlin publisher without her brother's explicit permission. Felix then, at last, publicly offered words of blessing, and emboldened by this, Fanny compiled and successively published song collections Op. 2 through 7 and melodies for piano over the following year.

However, just as her career seemed poised for further development, Fanny collapsed from a stroke during a rehearsal for a Sunday Concert and died suddenly. It was May, less than six months after her initial publication. Devastated by the loss of his sister, who was like an alter ego to him, Felix entrusted Fanny's posthumous works (Op. 8-11) to a publisher, and six months later, he too died from a stroke.