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The history of music by women has yet, even
today, to be written, but to retrace its figures means
reconstructing the history of women in art (and in
music) in
the various periods and in the different societies. But it also
means discovering how the obstacles encountered in the
affirmation of the individual artists, along with the veil of
forgetfulness that obscured their life, are not exclusive to
archaic societies or periods chronologically distant from us.
The story we want to tell here is that of Fanny Mendelssohn
Hensel, who lived in the first half of the nineteenth century in
a very enlightened Germany, in a cultural environment of the
highest standard and prestige.
The name reminds us of
someone... yes, because Fanny was the sister of Felix
Mendelssohn, composer of extraordinary talent from whom comes the
emergence of some important musical institutions in Leipzig and
the 'rediscovery' of Bach, grandson of the philosopher Moses
Mendelssohn, belonging to one of the most prominent families of
the time, whose salon was frequented by the best minds of those
years (including a certain Goethe...).
Born in 1805, the
young girl had quickly shown a remarkable propensity towards
music, to the point that she could work with the same teachers as
her brother's. However, she found the first obstacle to the
exercise of the profession of public pianist and composer in her
own family and, despite her successes as a performer and writer
during the musical evenings which took place in the Mendelssohn's
home and made it one of the most important musical performance
venues of the city of Hamburg first and Berlin later, she had to
give up any idea of such a career and prepare for the unique path
already marked out for her: that of wife and mother.
At
fifteen years of age, her father wrote: “Music will be a
profession for Felix, while for you it can and must be only an
ornament and, in any case, never the basis upon which will rest
your existence and your activity,” and added, as a gift for
her twenty-third birthday: “You should apply yourself more
seriously and with more zeal to your true and unique work, to the
unique work befitting a woman: to be a housewife.” But
meanwhile, Fanny had become an accomplished pianist and begun
composing extraordinarily popular Lieder (maybe because published
anonymously or under the name of her brother...). Moreover, at 17
years of age, she began a relationship with painter Wilhelm
Hensel against the advice of her family who considered art (and
music) not adapted to ensure any economic viability.
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But she succeeded in convincing them, and at 24
married Wielhelm who became his first and most ardent supporter.
After winning the battle on the personal front, Fanny found
the courage to express her hardship relating to her choice of
profession and in 1836 wrote to a friend in London: “If no
one offers an opinion or takes the slightest interest in your
creations, over time you will lose not only all the enjoyment
they give you, but also all your ability to judge their value. I
cannot help but consider a sign of talent the fact that I have
not given up on composing, although it does not seem anyone cares
for my efforts.” An even greater disappointment, if one
thinks that it was indeed her brother the musician who should
have recognized her value, but on the contrary laid obstacles for
her, writing to their mother: “I cannot encourage Fanny to
publish anything because it is against my point of view and my
beliefs.”
However, a new life begins for Fanny, and her
works, besides being performed during private 'musical soirées',
commence to circulate among devotees while she performs in public
concerts interpreting her brother's pieces for pianoforte.
Upon
returning home with her husband from traveling in Italy, a voyage
she had long wished for, she finds within herself a new awareness
and finally takes the decision to publish her own works, which by
now had reached a considerable number and variety, from
contrapuntal pieces to Lieder, from pieces for pianoforte to
cantatas, from chamber to choir music. She wrote the following to
her brother: “For forty years I was afraid of you, as at
fourteen I was of our Father, because I always wanted to please
the people I love. But now, Felix, I am disobeying and I am
announcing to you that I began publishing. I received an
excellent offer from Herr Bock for my Lieder and I have accepted
his attractive conditions.
I hope I am not displeasing you
and I hope you will not feel offended in any way, but I finally
acted completely independently! If the public likes my
compositions, I already know that it will be a source of great
encouragement to me, and I will continue to publish.”
Unfortunately, happiness lasted a very short time: a few
months later, in 1847, during a rehearsal with the orchestra for
a concert in which she was to perform one of her brother's most
famous Lieder, The First Walpurgis Night, Fanny had a stroke and
passed away, so young and at only the threshold of her impending
artistic recognition.
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