As you prepare for class today…

Pick up corrected Library Assignment #2

Pick up name tag and tape to desk

You are listening to the

piano music of
Fanny Mendelssohn
Hensel

https://towson-naxosmusiclibrary-com.proxy-tu.research
port.umd.edu/catalogue/item.asp?cid=CDA1699-2

http://goldmanmusic.blogspot.com/2010/08/portrait-of-fanny.html
 The Music of Fanny Hensel

Thursday, February 6, 2020

Class #4

Source: https://www.mutualart.com/Artwork/PORTRAT-FANNY-
HENSEL/89EDE4F1F4BFAF73
Today’s topics
Finish “Intro to the
Romantic Period and
the Life of Fanny
Hensel”
Fanny’s life and music
Primary source material
relevant to Fanny’s life

https://blogs.loc.gov/music/files/2015/09/Fanny-and-Wilhelm.jpg
 Next Class in Cook Library
Next class – Tuesday, February 11th in Cook Library
DO NOT COME HERE TO CLASSROOM
Go to top floor of library, 5th floor
Walk to back of floor – at TLC, turn left
Go to classroom 526
Topic: Finding Books, E-books, Scholarly Music
Encyclopedias & Handbooks
Purpose: discovering resources to help with
researching composers for Group Oral
Presentations
 Fanny’s musical training
Taught piano by her mother
Studied piano with Ludwig Berger, then Marie Bigot in
Paris
Studied music theory and composition with C. F. Zelter,
a noted German composer
First composition – lied for her father on his birthday
(1819)
Enrolled in Berlin Sing-Akademie (1820)
Only public appearance: 1838, performing Felix’s Piano
Concerto No. 1
Fanny and Felix
Felix, younger brother, composers and confidents
Study together, share musical ideas and compositions
Felix feels Fanny should not publish and withholds his
approval
In 1826, Felix publishes two of Fanny’s lieder under his
name
During Fanny’s lifetime, very few pieces published
Some works published after her death by family
Many works still in manuscript at German state
archives
Fanny’s early musical experiences
Mother and aunts very musical and cultured
Best teachers in Berlin
Exposure to the music of Bach and Beethoven
At 13, performed all 24 of Bach’s Preludes from
the Well-Tempered Clavier from memory
Wrote lieder because it fit with her place in
society and pleased family
Mendelssohn Family Musicales
Parents begin Sunday musical concerts in
1825
Fanny is a featured performer, rather than a
composer at these events
After her marriage in 1829 to Wilhelm Hensel,
in 1831 & until her death, Fanny reinstates
Sunday musicales
Fanny’s hosted musical concerts featured her
works which she performed or conducted
Fanny’s Salon – Sonntagsmusiken = “Sunday
Music”
Guests Fanny’s duties
Niccolo Paganini Musical director
Franz Liszt Composer
Clara Schumann Pianist
Frederick Heine Singer
Johann Wolfgang Conductor
von Goethe Program director
Fanny’s Choices
To comply with family’s request: primarily
works in the private sphere
Expectation: Fanny’s musical accomplishments
are not for public acclaim
To see music published, works are first
presented as authored by brother
Publishes in her name only after father dies
“Du Bist Die Ruh”
Lied
Theme: love
Composed 1848
Op. 7, no. 4 from “Six Songs”
Published 1847
Poem by Friedrick Rückert
Form: strophic with variation – A A1
 Mendelssohn-Hensel, Das Jahr –
“September: At the River”
Cycle of 15 pieces for solo piano
Character piece: short piece expressing a
mood or story as shown by title
Form: ternary – A B A (three parts)
Changing seasons reflected in key shift of
major to minor
Accompaniment in right hand imitates flow of
water
http://proxy-tu.researchport.umd.edu/login?url=http://towson.naxosmusiclibrary.com/stream.asp?s=75504%2FTowsonNM
L08%2FRW6055_009
 Gender Boundaries: Program music
& character pieces
Program music: instrumental work that tells
a story or suggests a non-musical idea.
Das Jahr (The Year) is a programmatic set of
piano works that musically depicts the months
of the year
Each month is represented by a separate mood
or musical statement = character pieces
Felix was initially condemned for publishing his
set of piano character pieces, Songs without
Words - considered “feminine”
Notturno in g minor
Genre: Character piece, specifically a nocturne
“Notturno” is Italian for ‘nocturne’ = short piano piece
of romantic character – often associated with night
Composed: 1838
Instrumentation: solo piano
Form: Ternary - A – B – A (three parts)
Modulates from G minor to G major, then back to
minor
Not published during her lifetime, 1986 by great
granddaughter
Appropriate for salon setting
Form made popular by composers John Field and
Frederic Chopin
 Primary Source Materials - Review

Definition: document or physical object

which was written or created during the time
under study

These sources were present during an

experience or time period and offer an inside
view of a particular event.
Secondary Source - Review
Definition: a source that interprets and
analyzes a primary source

These sources are one or more steps

removed from the event.

 Secondary sources may include primary

sources within their content.
Primary vs Secondary Source
Primary source
Allows reader to draw own conclusions and
interpretations
See the text as it originally appeared, with specific
formatting or illustrations which add meaning
 handwriting

 drawings/diagrams

 underlining
 differences
in fonts or size
 changes made by creator affecting appearance of source

No changes, enhancements by another

Speaks directly to you from the author/creator
 Secondary vs Primary Source

Includes selection of data, choices made by

editor/publisher/compiler
May include editorial bias
Repackaged (handwritten letters/entries
typed, formatting added, illustrations
stripped)
Facts may be “interpreted” by editor and added
meaning given through summaries and altered
text, may supply “missing” info
Text often given out of context (one paragraph
from letter)
Who was Fanny Hensel?
Look at your group of items
Identify the type of items
Discuss how you could use items to learn more
about Fanny Hensel
Decide if they are:
o primary sources

o secondary sources

o or a combination of both

o Select one to hold up or show class on

document camera
For next time …
Meet in Cook
Library, fifth floor,
classroom 526
Catch up with
readings listenings

https://www.npr.org/sections/deceptivecadence/2013/01/28/170484731/meet-the-musical-mendelssohns-felix-and-fanny