Interesting Facts About Fanny Mendelssohn

I have been working a great deal on Fanny Mendelssohn’s Das Jahr over the past few months, and have learned a lot about her as a composer. Today however I would like to share with you some of the things I discovered about her as a person. Here are some interesting facts for which I thank author and scholar Emily E. Hogstad, whose great passion is researching the history of women in music.

1. Fanny’s mother Lea knew from the day she was born that Fanny was destined to be a pianist, and delightedly described her newborn’s
“Bach fugal fingers.” Lea herself was a keyboard player who had studied under a student of Bach’s, and was absolutely right about her daughter.
In 1819, at the age of fourteen, Fanny played The Well-Tempered Clavier by memory for her father as a birthday present.

2. Despite their comparable musical talent, Felix was encouraged more than Fanny growing up. When Fanny was fourteen and Felix was ten,
an aunt sent them gifts from Paris: Fanny received a necklace of Scottish jewels, while Felix got writing implements with which to compose
his first opera. Their father famously wrote to Fanny, “Music will perhaps become his profession, whilst for you it can and must only be
an ornament, never the root of your being and doing.”

3. In early 1821, Fanny fell in love with an artist named Wilhelm Hensel. Her family was hesitant to approve of the match because of the age difference
(she was sixteen; he was twenty-seven). Seven years later, Hensel finally got permission to propose. Interestingly, he made it clear that her
“unlimited practice” of music was to be a precondition of their marriage.

I look forward to sharing more facts about Fanny Mendelssohn next week.