Grove Music Online Fanny Mendelssohn

Hensel [née Mendelssohn (-Bartholdy)], Fanny Cäcilie

Angela Mace Christian
https://doi.org/10.1093/omo/9781561592630.013.3000000159
Published online: 28 November 2018
(b Hamburg, 14 Nov 1805; d Berlin, 14 May 1847). German composer, pianist, and salon hostess. Fanny
Hensel was one of the most prolific female composers of the 19th century, among the first women to write
a string quartet, and a life-long proponent of the music of Johann Sebastian Bach, Ludwig van Beethoven,
and her brother, Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy. Hensel was a pianist of rare talent and prodigious memory
who dazzled private audiences at her concert series in her Berlin home. She struggled her entire life with
the conflicting impulses of authorship versus the social expectations for her high-class status, finally
deciding to publish her music only one year before her early death at the age of 41; her hesitation was
variously a result of her dutiful attitude towards her father, her intense relationship with her brother, and
her awareness of contemporary social thought on women in the public sphere. Hensel’s music reflects her
deep reverence for Bach especially, as well as for Beethoven, but also exhibits the fine craftsmanship and
lyricism typical of the post-Classical Mendelssohnian style, and her own experimental and inventive
approach to form and content. During her lifetime, Hensel’s career, conducted mostly in the private
sphere, was overshadowed by the more public exploits of her brother. The true extent of her compositions
(over 450 completed compositions and drafts) and her contributions to the Mendelssohnian style have
been rediscovered and appreciated in the late 20th and early 21st centuries.
NB: The history of names in the Mendelssohn family is complicated, because the family names
shifted with baptism and marriage. Throughout this article, I will use the surname ‘Hensel’ to
refer to the composer generally. When distinguishing her from her brother or husband, I will refer
to her as ‘Fanny’. Her preferred name after her marriage was ‘Fanny Hensel geb. Mendelssohn
Bartholdy’.
1. Childhood and religion.
Fanny Hensel née Mendelssohn Bartholdy was born on 14 November 1805, in Hamburg, Germany to Lea
Mendelssohn née Salomon and her husband Abraham Mendelssohn. Upon seeing her first-born daughter,
Lea Mendelssohn remarked that Fanny was born with ‘Bach fugal fingers’ as reported by the new father in
a letter to his mother-in-law Bella Salomon (Elvers, I(iii)1997, p.17), thus immediately placing the infant
in a rich context of music, erudition, and strong female leaders in the Itzig-Salomon family. The young
Fanny Mendelssohn inherited decades of tradition also as the granddaughter of the Enlightenment Jewish
philosopher, Moses Mendelssohn, whose legacy included the fight for Enlightenment in the Berlin Jewish
ghettos, and whose six children went on to become influential leaders in the arts, finance, and natural
sciences. Indicative of his rationalist thought and freedom of choice in a world heavily oppressive to
members of the Jewish diaspora, Moses Mendelssohn’s six surviving children (of ten) would take three
different paths: Joseph and Recha remained Jewish, Abraham and Nathan converted to Protestantism, and
Henriette and Brendel (a.k.a. Dorothea Veit Schlegel) converted to Catholicism (the latter via
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Protestantism). Questions of identity and religion would remain part of Hensel’s daily life and would
influence her choices and the choices made for her by her parents. Even today, the nature of the
Mendelssohn family’s religious observance remains contested in both the Jewish and the scholarly
communities.
Little of Fanny Mendelssohn’s childhood is known before her family moved to Berlin in 1811. The move was
most likely prompted by some illicit activities in which her father was engaged; there is evidence to
suggest that Abraham and Joseph Mendelssohn, and their bank Gebrüder Mendelssohn, were involved in
smuggling in Hamburg as part of the resistance to Napoleon’s army then occupying much of Germany,
including what had been the previously politically neutral port city of Hamburg. Some accounts (especially
that of Sebastian Hensel in Die Familie Mendelssohn, H1879) romanticize the flight from Hamburg to Berlin
as a dramatic escape from the authorities. Although the reality was rather that the Mendelssohn family
made a rational and timely choice to move to the centre of finance in Berlin, once they arrived in Berlin, the
French authorities in Hamburg suspected their move had been timed to hide unpaid customs, and insisted
on arresting the brothers and examining their accounts.
Just one year after Napoleon Bonaparte became Napoleon I, Emperor of the French – an imperialistic move
violating the democratic agenda of the French Revolution – Hensel was born into a world torn by
conflicting ideals of revolution, emerging democracies, and rapidly shifting cultural norms and artistic
fashions. As a young girl, Hensel probably sensed little of these day-to-day political conflicts or her
father’s troubles with the authorities, but it is clear that she did absorb the atmosphere of political unrest.
Her diaries and letters later in life reveal a broad world view that often eclipsed her interest in writing
about her own life. She inherited some of the liberal tendencies of her father, and when she became a
parent herself in 1830, she sewed ribbons representing the French flag onto the clothes of her newborn
son, Sebastian Ludwig Felix Hensel (named after her three favourite composers). As children of the
wealthy upper class in Berlin, Fanny and her siblings were mostly sheltered from prejudice shown to Jews
on the streets, although Felix may have been accosted in the streets during the ‘Hep Hep’ riots of 1819
(Ense, I(iii)1859, pp.614–15). The story is not well documented, but the reality was that the Mendelssohns
were outwardly Jewish and may well have experienced some racial stereotyping. Indeed, the upper-class
German Pistor family, with whose daughter Betty the Mendelssohn siblings were quite close as children,
objected to the Jewishness of the Mendelssohns, causing a painful rift between the young friends
(Christian, I(iii)2014). Neither Fanny Mendelssohn nor her siblings were educated in the Jewish faith, and
as Jeffrey S. Sposato has demonstrated, their parents took great pains to assimilate their children into
Protestant Prussian society from birth (Sposato, I(iii)2005).
Little more is known about Hensel’s childhood before her teens. What we do know survives mostly in
letters she wrote, some of which were mailed from Vienna (Klein E2007, ‘Die Mendelssohns auf der
Flucht’). The Mendelssohn family’s short residence in Vienna for several months in the summer of 1813
was a result of the Napoleonic wars. While Abraham was travelling between Berlin and Vienna for business,
his young family lived with Fanny von Arnstein in Vienna as refugees. Until Hensel’s younger brother,
Felix, started to exhibit unusual musical talent, few records were kept of the family’s day-to-day life. After
Fanny and Felix began their formal musical and general education side-by-side, however, the recorded
information on the two composers increased.
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2. Early education, 1816–20.
Since Hensel was born into a family full of highly educated and musical women, it is no surprise that she
received early education in both general humanities and music. She showed prodigious and precocious
talent in both her academic and her musical studies. Her mother and her great-aunts were exceptional role
models in this regard. Hensel’s son, Sebastian, in his family history Die Familie Mendelssohn (H1879),
recorded that his grandmother Lea had been highly accomplished not just in the usual social graces
expected of a late 18th-century woman, but also in learning. She sang, played piano (especially Bach’s
Well-Tempered Clavier), and drew; she could speak and read French, English, and Italian in addition to
German, and she even read Greek, although she kept that less typically feminine ability a secret. Fanny’s
great-aunts on her mother’s side were also deeply involved in the arts, and in J.S. Bach’s music in
particular. Sarah Itzig Levy, who was well known in Berlin as one of the early and influential salonnières,
was a student of W.F. Bach and later patroness of C.P.E. Bach. Hensel’s grandmother, Bella Salomon, was
equally influential, and was responsible for providing Felix with his famous copy of Bach’s St Matthew
Passion.
Musical education had begun by 1816 with piano lessons from Lea Mendelssohn. Fanny and Felix quickly
outgrew their mother’s tutelage. The Mendelssohn parents hired the best tutors available in all subjects for
their children, and for piano lessons they turned first to Franz Lauska, an acquaintance from Carl Friedrich
Zelter’s Singakademie. Fanny and Felix also enjoyed a few lessons with Marie Bigot when the family spent
some time in Paris in 1816. Ludwig Berger, highly respected in Berlin as a piano pedagogue, started
teaching the siblings in 1817. A protégé of Muzio Clementi, Berger had been forced to give up his own
concert career due to tendon injuries; after 1815, he became influential as a composer in the Berlin
Liederschule tradition. He was a key member of the Stägemann Liederkreis which produced the first version
of Die schöne Müllerin during the winter of 1816–17, and subsequently worked with Wilhelm Müller to
publish in 1818 the first settings of some of the poetry (in Berger’s op.11) that would be taken up by Franz
Schubert in 1823. Hensel’s future husband, Wilhelm Hensel, was also a part of the Stägemann Liederkreis
(he contributed the part of the hunter), but it is not yet known whether Fanny had any knowledge of him
before their first documented meeting in 1821. The Stägemanns lived not far from the Mendelssohns in
Berlin, but they were not part of the Mendelssohn family’s assimilated Jewish social circle, so the
likelihood that their paths crossed is not high. Berger was openly at odds with the Mendelssohns’
influential teacher, Carl Friedrich Zelter, and established his own Jüngere Berliner Liedertafel in opposition
to Zelter’s Berliner Liedertafel. Fanny and Felix continued lessons with Berger until 1822, at which point he
was dismissed.
While unfortunately little is known about what exactly Hensel learned under Berger, it is clear from her
performance activities and emerging piano composition style that he promoted a light and nimble
technique in the late 18th-century style (perhaps as a result of his apprenticeship under Clementi) and that
he was among the first to introduce her to the music of Ludwig van Beethoven. Zelter began teaching
Hensel in 1819, and was no keyboardist: he was responsible for teaching counterpoint and some free
composition. The presence of early works for keyboard among Hensel’s papers most likely reflects
Berger’s tutelage rather than Zelter’s, while her efforts in counterpoint (and those of her brother, which
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are more clearly preserved in his exercise books) are the result of Zelter’s guidance. Indeed, by 1824 Zelter
could proudly relate to his epistolary confidant, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, that Hensel had written 32
fugues (none of these is known to survive). In addition to studying counterpoint with Zelter, Fanny and
Felix enrolled in Zelter’s Singakademie in 1820, attending rehearsals every Friday. It was there that they
encountered the choral music of the previous century – most significantly of J.S. Bach – that would inform
their own choral music compositions for the rest of their lives.
Hensel’s compositional efforts during her study with Berger and Zelter display an emerging young pianist
and composer exploring diverse genres and styles. While her first and fourth surviving works are for solo
piano (H-U1 and H-U4), it is clear that she very quickly found her voice in the Lied. Three-quarters of her
ensuing 100 works (which include works up to October 1823) are solo Lieder. The others display a variety of
genres, including choral songs, piano pieces, etudes, a piano sonata, a piano quartet, an Adagio for piano
and violin, and a work for piano four-hands. One clear influence in her early preference for the Lied was
that of her father. As a young upper-class woman, Hensel was encouraged to write Lieder since their
diminutive proportions were considered more appropriate for her gender and class, and her father
reinforced these concepts of social propriety. Her choice of text in her first attempts suggests how much
she aimed to please her father. Abraham Mendelssohn had lived in Paris for several years before returning
to Berlin to marry Lea Salomon, and retained his Francophilia for the rest of his life; 13 out of Hensel’s first
26 Lieder are on French texts of Jean Pierre Claris de Florian, a favourite poet of Abraham’s. Two more are
on French texts of other authors. The predominance of the French poets subsides after Hensel started
setting Goethe (her first Goethe setting appeared in summer 1820), and she never again set Florian after
March 1821. The Lied would continue to dominate her compositional activities; along with works for solo
piano, the Lied is the only genre in which she composed consistently throughout her career. By the time
she had finished her last composition on 13 May 1847, she had written about 255 Lieder, just over half of
her entire compositional output.
Even as Hensel enjoyed lessons with Berger and Zelter and continued to develop her piano skills at a high
level, the reality of her situation was that she could not continue in the same vein as her brother. Her
family was full of contradictions on this point, however; at the age of 13, Hensel performed all 24 of Bach’s
Preludes from the Well-Tempered Clavier from memory, most likely for her father’s birthday. This feat was
enjoyed privately by the family, so did not violate her approved role in society. A young girl, though, would
have difficulty making that distinction, especially while observing a younger brother’s more publicly
acknowledged efforts at the same time. In response to a letter Hensel apparently wrote on this topic (which
does not survive), Abraham Mendelssohn in the summer of 1820 unequivocally suppressed his 14-year-old
daughter’s emerging ambitions:
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What you wrote to me about your musical occupations with reference to and in comparison with
Felix was both rightly thought and expressed. 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. We may
therefore pardon him some ambition and desire to be acknowledged in a pursuit which appears
very important to him, because he feels a vocation for it, whilst it does you credit that you have
always shown yourself good and sensible in these matters; and your very joy at the praise he earns
proves that you might, in his place, have merited equal approval. Remain true to these sentiments
and to this line of conduct; they are feminine, and only what is truly feminine is an ornament to
your sex. (S. Hensel, H1879/1882, vol.1, p.82.)
Thus Hensel’s professional hopes were extinguished quite early. It was clear that she was to subordinate
her ambitions to those of her brother and prepare instead for her role as a wife, mother, and woman of
high class. Music could not be a career for her; rather, she could only pursue it as a talented amateur and
avoid exhibiting any unfeminine ambition. Hensel’s awareness of her abilities versus the constricted stage
for her activities became her life-long struggle.
3. Changing priorities, 1821–3.
As Hensel matured from a child into a young woman, the Lied became important to her in a biographical
sense. As mentioned above, Hensel wrote only sparingly about her life in her diary and in her letters. She
did not start her diary until 1829, already long past her formative years. Thus we do not know the intimate
details of her education and developing personality. However, Hensel’s Lieder open windows into
understanding her frame of mind and reactions to various life events. In 1821, at the age of 16, Hensel met
the artist Wilhelm Hensel, either at a performance of tableaux vivants he had designed or at an exhibition of
his paintings. Wilhelm, a rising star in the Berlin art scene, had been commissioned to paint visiting
Russian dignitaries in their roles in the tableaux vivants entitled Lalla Rookh performed at court as part of
their entertainment. The paintings were to be sent to Russia from the Prussian court as a memento of their
visit; before they were shipped away, they were exhibited. Nothing specific is known about the meeting
between Fanny and Wilhelm, nor how the acquaintance was encouraged, but it is clear that by the summer
of 1822, Wilhelm was openly courting Fanny. We see her first setting of one of his texts on 15 June 1822 (H-
U48); this is Lebewohl, which Wilhelm had penned to the young Fanny (still only 17 years old) before the
Mendelssohn family’s departure on an extended trip to Switzerland. The manuscript bears evidence of a
young woman unsure of her own feelings; the page is smeared and blotted with ink, almost to the point of
illegibility, and was affixed to the facing page with drops of sealing wax. The ink blots transfer to the facing
page as well, indicating that the song was sealed rather hastily while the ink was still fresh. While the exact
reasons for hiding this particular setting are unknown, one possible interpretation is that she was
attempting to keep her feelings private from her family. On this trip to Switzerland, Hensel longed to cross
the Alps to visit Italy; both Fanny and Felix had read Goethe’s Italienische Reise, and wished to experience
the country for themselves. The wish to visit Italy remained strong for Hensel her entire life; she would
finally visit with her husband and young son in 1839–40. In the meantime, she wrote several Lieder on the
subject of Italy, including Sehnsucht nach Italien (H-U50), composed during the Swiss trip, and Italien (H-
U157), composed in 1825 and published as her brother’s op.8 no.3. On the return journey to Berlin, the
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family stopped in Weimar to visit Goethe. Felix had already visited Goethe in November of 1821, and now
Hensel, too, had the opportunity to meet the giant of German literature and cultural thought whose texts
would become among her most frequently set. Hensel performed Bach and her own settings of Goethe in
his home, both of which were very well received by the aging Goethe and his family.
At Christmas that same year, Wilhelm gave Fanny a copy of his friend Wilhelm Müller’s Sieben und siebzig
Gedichte aus den hinterlassenen Papieren eines reisenden Waldhornisten (‘77 Poems from the Posthumous
Papers of a Travelling Natural Horn Player’), which contained the collection Die schöne Müllerin (im Winter
zu Lesen). Fanny promptly selected and set several poems from the collection, including ‘Die liebe
Farbe’ (H-U62). The text conveys the wandering boy’s disappointment that the miller maid’s favourite
colour was green, meaning that she preferred the hunter over him; however, in her own scenario Hensel
becomes the miller maid and her choice of text clearly shows her preference for Wilhelm (11 years her
senior), who had played the hunter in the Stägemann Liederkreis. Hensel also embedded references to the
original version of Die schöne Müllerin in her settings by nearly quoting her teacher Ludwig Berger’s setting
of ‘Rose, die Müllerin’, most clearly in her incorporation of the hunting horn topic. Her awareness of
Berger’s model (and her own insecurity about her attempt) is also clear; she wrote ‘Das hat Herr Berger
besser verstanden’ (‘Herr Berger understood this better’) on the manuscript of her own Die liebe Farbe.
Her parents expressed concerns about Wilhelm Hensel’s age, his middle-class status, and his mystic
Catholic sister, Luise. When Wilhelm left in 1823 for a five-year trip to Italy to study the masters and finish
his artistic education, Lea Mendelssohn forbade any correspondence between her 19-year-old daughter
and Wilhelm, for fear that he would return from Italy a Catholic. The topic was broached in a rather
unpleasant scene in May 1823, a few months before he left. He had told Fanny at some point earlier about
his interest in the religion; assuming she had conveyed that information to her parents and assuming their
tacit blessing by their silence on the subject, Wilhelm was caught off guard when Lea brought it up in
casual conversation. The reaction from Lea and Abraham was apparently much less congenial than he had
hoped, with Lea declaring that if he did convert, she would make every effort to persuade her daughter to
break any engagement. Such a conversion would in fact have made it impossible for Fanny’s parents to
give their blessing for her marriage, as the association with a Catholic would have damaged their
assimilated status. Moreover, it would have greatly narrowed Wilhelm’s professional opportunities in a
heavily Lutheran Berlin. In place of writing letters to her absent lover, Fanny wrote Lieder – over 30 in that
year alone, her most prolific year – which display her preoccupation with the absent Wilhelm. She chose
texts predominantly on the subjects of distance, loss, and absence.
In addition to Lieder, Hensel explored some larger genres in the early 1820s. Starting in autumn 1821, she
moved from piano pieces and etudes to try her hand at a piano sonata. Her first attempt, a sonata in F
major (H-U43), does not survive. Her next attempt dates from early the following year (January to
February 1822), with a 140-bars-long movement of a sonata in E major (H-U44). Later that same year,
Fanny made an early attempt to write chamber music with her Piano Quartet in A♭ major (H-U55). We can
see in this effort an attempt to equal the activities of her younger brother, who had by that time completed
his first piano quartet, published as his op.1 in 1823 with a public and high-profile dedication to Prince
Anton Radziwill. In stark contrast, Hensel worked on her piano quartet in private for seven months, from
May to November 1822, and never performed (as far as we know) nor published the work. It appears to
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have been left unfinished without a finale; however, she did break the minuet and trio form of the third
movement with a showy Presto, marked Fine. The form of this movement thus encompasses both third and
fourth movements. The scope of the quartet is ambitious, and shows Hensel grappling with broader sonata
forms, although her compositional choices with their reliance on passage-work and repetition may be
thought to betray the impatient hand of a young and inexperienced composer. The theme of the Larghetto
is attractively lyrical, and calls to mind the slow movement of Mozart’s Piano Concerto no.21, K467. The
lyricism of the movement perhaps reveals the influence of Berger, who had known the inventor of the
nocturne, John Field, in St Petersburg. Fanny put the piano quartet away and returned to piano pieces and
etudes for another year; these works show increasing skill in terms of both piano technique and
compositional mastery. An etude in D minor from December 1823 (H-U103) shows her absorbing the
virtuoso techniques of the pianists she was meeting and hearing; the etude exhibits running octaves in the
left hand, a formidably difficult technique that was a hallmark of Frédéric Kalkbrenner’s style. The
resemblance is not coincidental: Fanny wrote ‘alla K[alkbrenner]’ on the manuscript.
As Hensel expanded her compositional horizons and dealt with the absence of Wilhelm in Italy, life in the
Mendelssohn home in Berlin remained vibrant and full of opportunity. In 1823 Fanny’s parents began the
tradition of the ‘Sunday musicales’ that would remain at the heart of Hensel’s musical activities for the
rest of her life. The first of these events took place in the Mendelssohn family’s home at Neue Promenade
7, where the Mendelssohns lived before moving permanently to Leipzigerstrasse 3 in 1825. These
fortnightly events generally featured opportunities for the precocious young Felix to hear his newest
works performed by excellent musicians; the Mendelssohns even hired members of the Prussian court
orchestra on occasion to read Felix’s string symphonies and other orchestral works. The young composer
would usually conduct the performances himself. Hensel performed frequently in these programmes and
was just as much appreciated by the guests as was her brother; indeed, many visitors remarked on her
equal, if not more mature, talents as a performer. She was not limited to the demure sonatinas of Clementi
or Kuhlau, as most young women would have been. Rather, in addition to Lieder, piano duets, and other
works, Hensel often performed what is still the core of most virtuoso piano concert repertoire: the piano
concerto. Her concerto repertoire included Hummel’s Piano Concerto in A minor, op.85; Hummel’s
Rondeau brilliant in A major, op.56; her brother’s Piano Concerto in A minor and his Concerto for Two
Pianos in A♭ major; and Beethoven’s Piano Concertos in C major, op.15, G major, op.58, and E♭ major, op.
73. Fanny and Felix often accompanied each other on a second piano, or were accompanied by a small
string ensemble. Hensel wrote her own cadenza to Beethoven’s Concerto in C major, op.15, on 11 April 1823.
At this time, women did not write their own cadenzas, since to display such creativity – especially in the
context of a masterwork written by Beethoven – was considered the purview of male genius. Fanny’s
cadenza is neatly preserved in one of her composition notebooks and shows her intimate knowledge of the
themes, structure, and style of Beethoven’s concerto as well as her aesthetic position on cadenza styles in
the early 19th century (Mace [Christian], I(i)2012, 223–48).
It is not clear that Hensel performed much, if any, of her own music at the Sunday musicales (they were
intended for her brother’s professional development), but she continued to compose nonetheless. On
Felix’s birthday, 3 February 1824, Zelter effectively ended Felix’s tutelage and welcomed him as a
‘journeyman’ rather than an ‘apprentice’ in the music trade. No one would welcome Hensel in the same
way until Felix did so himself in 1846 after she had published her first opus. But still Hensel persisted with
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remarkable determination to continue composing. Her ability to keep challenging herself and developing
as a composer is evidence that she was driven by a true need to write music. She was not just an unusually
talented amateur; rather, she was at her core a creative artist. Despite the discouragement she received
from her father and from society, she received considerable support and respect from her family and
friends. As she waited for her suitor to return from Italy, Hensel turned inwards to her circle of siblings and
friends; these relationships became intensely important to her over the next five years.
4. A developing composer, 1824–8.
In February 1824 Hensel returned to the idea of a sonata with her Sonata o Capriccio in F minor (H-U113).
Like her 1823 attempts, this is a one-movement work. The heavy textures bring to mind Beethoven’s
Sonata in F minor, op.57, the ‘Apassionata’. Hensel reimagined the dark, thickly voiced, theme of
Beethoven’s first movement in her own Sonata o Capriccio.
Hensel detected the inventive approach Beethoven took in his sonata forms; perhaps she felt blending the
sonata with the capriccio would allow her to reflect the shifting moods characteristic of Beethoven’s style.
Hensel’s opening is rather more stolid than Beethoven’s, perhaps influenced by the repeated chords voiced
low in the piano and in close position at the opening of Beethoven’s Sonata in C major, op.53, the
‘Waldstein’. In July 1824 we find the first surviving multi-movement piano sonata by the young Hensel.
The Piano Sonata in C minor (H-U128) is in three movements; its classicism clearly exhibits the impression
of her tutelage with both Berger and Zelter. In this sonata, Hensel developed her themes with a greater
sense of ease and overall organicism. Hensel maintains here the character of each movement throughout
with notably greater control than in her Piano Quartet of two years earlier. The second movement
particularly effectively combines Hensel’s Lied style with the instrumental genre, featuring a gentle,
song-like theme marked by a steady quaver rhythm. Beginning at bar 35, Hensel again evokes Beethoven
with a moment that recalls the opening of his Sonata in D major, op.28, the ‘Pastoral’, with a chordal
motive that descends stepwise over a steady quaver drone.
If 1823 had been Hensel’s Liederjahr, with over 30 Lieder, 1824 followed closely behind in this regard, when
she produced some 20 Lieder. Her yearly Lied output would remain steady through her teenage years and
early twenties until her marriage. After 1829, Hensel averaged just about four Lieder per year, with the
exception of 1841 when she was inspired by her trip to Rome (1839–40) and wrote 12 Lieder. Another
increase in activity occurred in 1846, when she wrote 15 Lieder after becoming a published composer for
the first time. However, understanding how much her Lied output dropped off after 1829 helps us put her
work into context; she turned instead to larger genres, such as the cantata, string quartet, concert arias,
choral songs, and even an orchestral overture. Although these works don’t form the backbone of her entire
oeuvre as her Lieder do, they remind us that she was not always exclusively a Lied composer but cultivated
a range of other genres.
Hensel’s 1824 obsessions, besides the exploration of sonata form, were the poems of Ludwig Tieck and
Johann Peter Eckermann. She had first set one of Tieck’s poems in 1822 (Schlaflied, H-U58) and then set his
work again in 1823, with five settings after 20 September, and on into 1824, when she set nine of his poems
between January and September. Her final Tieck setting was a vocal duet, Schäfergesang (H-U160), in
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September 1825. She wrote a cluster of six Eckermann settings between September 1824 and January 1825,
and then never set his poetry again. This obsession with one poet at a time was quite typical of her
compositional practice; she proceeded through genres in a similar way in the 1830s.
Hensel also intensified her musical relationship with J.S. Bach in 1824. In addition to finishing her 32nd
fugue, as reported by Zelter, she produced a lengthy Toccata in C minor (H-U114) in three-part form.
Earlier in 1824, Felix had received the famous copy of J.S. Bach’s St Matthew Passion, and Bach and his
Passion became central to the Mendelssohn family’s musical study and efforts for the next five years.
The major event of 1825 was the family’s move to Leipzigerstrasse 3, after Bella Salomon died leaving her
daughter Lea disinherited. Because Neue Promenade 7 now belonged to the rest of the family, Lea and
Abraham had to purchase it or rent it; they chose to purchase a new house near Leipzigerplatz. The
mansion was in disrepair and had to be broadly renovated, but with the renovations completed,
Leipzigerstrasse 3 became an inspirational centre of daily life for the Mendelssohn family and their
friends. The house was shaped like a ‘U’ with a Gartenhaus in the back that became the central music room
for the Sunday musicales run by Lea and Abraham and later Hensel herself. The Gartenhaus opened onto a
lawn and spacious garden of several acres, where guests could mingle in numbers of up to 200 and enjoy
the music spilling from the open doors of the Gartenhaus. Hensel became deeply attached to this location,
and indeed it became central to the Mendelssohn family identity. She wrote in the autumn of 1846: ‘I can’t
even express how happy the garden made me this summer. Our entire lifestyle depends so entirely on this
location, that I can only think with terror of having to crawl off somewhere else’ (S. Hensel, H1879/1882,
vol.2, p.369). Fanny and her generation did not live to see the house fall once again into disrepair in the
1890s, after which point it was torn down.
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Map of Berlin 1833. Published by the Society for Diffusion of Useful Knowledge.
Image of the Gartenhaus courtyard by Wilhelm Hensel, showing Fanny Hensel’s studio windows to the left of the columns. Felix
Mendelssohn Bartholdy’s summer house in Berlin, Leiperzigerstrasse 3. bpk Bildagentur / Mendelssohn-Archiv, Staatsbibliothek zu
Berlin /
Photo: Ruth Schacht / Art Resource, NY.
Perhaps partly owing to their new location and beautiful surroundings, the Mendelssohns’ social circle
became even larger and more close-knit. Hensel’s diaries later recount almost nightly gatherings of
friends for music and conversation. One especially important new friend was Adolph Bernhard Marx. Marx
was known as an avid Beethoven proponent in an era that still did not understand Beethoven’s late style.
Marx and Felix formed a tight bond, corresponding and seeing each other almost daily; Marx is credited
with helping Felix revise several of his most famous youthful works, including the Overture to A Midsummer
Night’s Dream. Marx’s impact on both Fanny and Felix was immeasurable. We know that both siblings took
especially the late works of Beethoven as a model, which at that time was unusual. Abraham specifically
did not care for Beethoven’s late works and certainly did not encourage his children to study them, nor did
their teacher Zelter, but it is clear that they did so.
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In 1826 Hensel travelled again, four years after her last trip away from Berlin, this time to Bad Doberan (a
small town near Rostock) with her father. There she composed a piano piece in D minor (H-U166) and
some seven or so Lieder. One Lied in particular referred to the location: her Die Äolsharfe auf dem Schlosse zu
Baden (H-U179) later revised and published as Schloß Liebeneck, on a text by her friend Friederike Robert.
However, her 1826 poet of choice was Johann Heinrich Voss; of the 18 Lieder she composed that year, eight
were on texts of Voss. The poet had died that year, drawing renewed attention to the group of poets
dedicated to Klopstock. We can see a related interest in the poetry of Klopstock emerging in her settings of
1827 and 1828, although she never set his poetry to the same extent. Klopstock had been famously
associated with the lovesick Werther in Goethe’s Die Leiden des Jungen Werthers; perhaps Hensel channelled
her suppressed feelings for the still absent Wilhelm through the association with this poetry. She
continued to set Goethe, as well, including an ambitious, 77-measure vocal duet, Ich hab’ ihn gesehen (H-
U186).
Well known from 1826 is Felix’s Overture to A Midsummer Night’s Dream, completed in August. As usual,
Felix confided his compositional ideas to Fanny and told her that he had ‘begun to dream the Midsummer
Night’s Dream’ by early July 1826. Significant here is that by June 1826 Felix (and most likely Fanny as
well) would have been familiar with Carl Maria von Weber’s Oberon, from which Felix adopted a kernel of
the ‘Mermaid’s Song’ for his organically developed theme in his overture. A few years later, in April 1829,
Hensel would also recall Oberon and the ‘Mermaid’s Song’ when she wrote her duet Schlafe du, schlafe du
süß (H-U233) as Felix departed for his first trip to London. In her setting, on a text by the family friend
Johann Gustav Droysen, Fanny and her sister Rebecka most likely are depicted by two mermaids who
accompany a small boat – representing Felix’s ship from Hamburg to London – on a sea journey for safety.
The family referred to Fanny and Rebecka as ‘the two otters’, thus the translation to mermaids does not
require a great stretch of the imagination.
Of special interest both for Hensel’s continuing attempts to find validation for her compositional efforts
and for the relationship between Fanny and Felix was the publication in 1826 of two of Hensel’s Lieder
under her brother’s name in his op.8, nos.1–6 (Fanny’s were no.2, Das Heimweh, H-U129, and no.3, Italien,
H-U157). One more would follow in May 1827 when the rest of the opus was published, Lieder nos.7–12
(Fanny’s is no.12, the duet Suleika und Hatem, H-U149). The incorporation of these Lieder in Felix’s
publication sparked misunderstandings from Hensel’s own lifetime to our own time. Most likely, the
reason her authorship was repressed was to avoid drawing unwanted public attention to the daughter of an
upper-class family in such an enterprise, while still allowing her the pleasure of seeing her work made
public. The motivation has been variously interpreted, from attributing it merely to casual disregard, to
seeing it as the active suppression of Hensel’s creative voice by her brother. However, Hensel actively
participated in selecting the Lieder for this opus, and her brother openly admitted that his sister’s were
among ‘the very best we possess of Lieder’ (Sirota, G1981, p.85) – no light praise coming from a man who
could walk away from ten years of close friendship over his brutally honest low opinion of Marx’s oratorio.
Despite their best attempts, Hensel’s authorship of the Lieder was a poorly kept secret; Marx poked some
fun at the situation in his review of the opus in his Berliner allgemeine musikalische Zeitung, saying that one
might believe the composer was a woman ‘if one did not know the composer, if there were female
composers, and if ladies could absorb such profound music’ (Marx, I(iii)1827, p.179). And in 1829 John
Thomson openly stated in the Harmonicon that ‘three of the best songs’ had been composed by Fanny
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(Thomson, I(iii)1839, p.99). The most high-profile revelation came in 1842 when Felix visited Queen
Victoria and Prince Consort Albert, and the three enjoyed some time together playing the piano and organ,
and singing, in the Queen’s private chambers. Queen Victoria selected what she thought was Felix’s op.8
no.3, Italien, to sing while Felix accompanied. When she had finished, Felix was forced to admit that the
song was his sister’s, and requested that she sing another of his own composition.
The three years from late 1826 onwards were, according to Sebastian Hensel, the happiest years in the lives
of the Mendelssohns. The social circle around Fanny and Felix continued to grow and enrich their lives.
They hosted gatherings included readings of poetry, conversation, and always music. The friends, led by
Karl Klingemann, also founded an in-house mock newspaper for their personal entertainment, entitled in
summer the Gartenzeitung and in winter the Schnee- und Thee-Zeitung. By May 1827, Felix had matriculated
at the University of Berlin (now known as the Humboldt University), where inevitably Hensel was not able
to follow. However, Alexander von Humboldt was one of the friends who frequented the Mendelssohn
house during these years and even contributed to their mock newspaper. We may assume that Humboldt
did not dispense scientific knowledge in social settings; instead Hensel attended his public lectures at the
Singakademie where she bitingly observed that ‘Gentlemen may laugh as much as they like, but it is
delightful that we too [women] have the opportunity given us of listening to clever men’ (S. Hensel,
H1879/1882, vol.1, p.151). Concurrent with the beginning of Felix’s formal college education was the end of
his formal musical education, and by extension, Fanny’s; Zelter was dismissed and broader, more public,
professional opportunities were sought for Felix.
As usual, despite the disparity between her brother’s opportunities and her own, Hensel forged ahead with
her compositional projects. In 1827 she began another lifelong fascination, with the poetry of Heinrich
Heine. The Mendelssohns knew Heine personally, but Hensel could never bring herself to like him. She
found him to be self-conscious and affected; and although she admired his poetry immensely, she found it
difficult to like his disjunct style and famously ironic twists. On occasion, she even modified the poetry to
remove the irony. Nevertheless, Hensel’s Heine settings are among the best in her catalogue. Also in 1827,
as rehearsals for the St Matthew Passion began in earnest, Hensel demonstrated an even more intense
engagement with J.S. Bach’s music, which was also to continue for the rest of her life. At some point in
1827 she finished a ‘Piano book in E minor’ containing two preludes, a fugue, an Allegro di molto, a Largo,
and a toccata, as well as a fragment of another fugue. The inspiration for the Klavierbuch appears to have
been the keyboard suites of Bach, although it is clear that she took some formal latitude within that
approach. The Fugue exhibits an especially close relationship to Felix’s E minor Fugue from June 1827;
Hensel’s fugue is undated, so we cannot know whose came first, but the rising triadic subjects and
subsequent chromatic fortspinnung are undeniably similar. Felix’s comparable suite-like set of Sieben
Charakterstücke, op.7, would once again present the more public face of their parallel compositional
trajectories, when he published it in 1827 with a dedication to their former piano teacher, Ludwig Berger.
In 1828 Hensel’s Bachian proclivities manifested themselves in a particularly intriguing work with an
equally intriguing history: the Easter Sonata. For almost two centuries the work was considered lost. The
only surviving evidence of its existence was a handful of letters from 1829, and a few scholarly references
from the 1980s and 1990s. The manuscript surfaced briefly in Paris in 1972, when it was recorded by Eric
Heidsieck for the Cassiopée label as the Sonate du Pâques attributed to Felix Mendelssohn, before
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disappearing once more. Finally, the work was rediscovered in 2010, as described by Angela Mace Christian
(Mace [Christian], 2013), when she was allowed to view it and verify it as the missing autograph in
Hensel’s hand. For many years, scholars believed the work dated from 1829 because letters containing the
first surviving references to the work are from that time; however, the date on the autograph reveals that
Hensel wrote it between 7 April and 10 May 1828. The work is quite possibly Hensel’s ‘finishing piece’ for
her education, as it reflects the stylistic models that she and Felix had been studying for the previous ten
years: Bach and Beethoven, in addition to a clear use of what would become known as the
‘Mendelssohnian’ style. The sonata is ambitious, and is structured in four movements. The first is a
Beethovenian sonata-allegro movement in A major, followed by a severe prelude and fugue in A minor,
steeped in Bachian chromaticism. The fugue shows a distinct relationship to the fugues she had written the
previous year; we can see this as an extension of her fascination with Bachian counterpoint inspired by the
St Matthew Passion. A light but slightly sinister Scherzo follows, exhibiting the elfin style found also in
Felix’s orchestral writing, and most familiar from the Overture to A Midsummer Night’s Dream. The finale is
a tour de force, concluding the work with stormy tremolo passages in the left hand which could depict the
earthquakes from the Passion story (a time-honoured topic in such settings). The Finale ends with a
radiant chorale fantasy on ‘Christe, du Lamm Gottes’, clearly in reference to the liturgical season when
Hensel was writing her sonata. The work is among her most well-crafted for the piano, and reflects an
advanced keyboard technique clearly influenced by her study of both Beethoven and Bach (Mace
[Christian], I(iii)2013, pp.42–86).
Another enormously significant event of 1828 was the return of Wilhelm Hensel from Italy in October. On
his return to Berlin, Wilhelm found the Mendelssohn family circle rather intimidating, and himself
rendered an outsider both because of his extended absence and his lack of musical ability. He returned to
find Felix planning his first extended professional journey, and the Mendelssohn family in the throes of
preparing for the monumental performances of the St Matthew Passion. Immediately upon his arrival,
Wilhelm exhibited his paintings at the Royal Academy of Art in Berlin. His success there won the approval
of Friedrich Wilhelm III, who initiated the move to appoint him as Hofmaler (court painter). As Wilhelm
awaited a formal appointment, which would allow him the professional stability to marry Fanny at last, he
and Fanny had first to get to know each other again. For her part, Hensel had developed intimate
friendships with others in her circle, as well as an intense emotional bond with her brother. Finding his
place within the family again would prove to be difficult for Wilhelm. One particular object of jealousy was
Droysen, who had become particularly close with both Fanny and Felix. Hensel set six of his texts between
1828 and 1829; when Wilhelm finally broached the sensitive topic of her closeness with Droysen, Fanny
declared she would never write a Lied again and would leave her composing behind as she became a wife
and eventually mother. Wilhelm was able to urge her gently away from these drastic measures, but Fanny
never again set another text by Droysen. In fact, she immediately thereafter set four texts by Wilhelm, and
continued to set his texts for the remainder of her life.
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5. Engagement and marriage, 1829.
Hensel began her diary on 4 January 1829 with the portentous statement: ‘Felix, our soul, is leaving, the
second half of my life stands before me’ (Hensel ed. Klein and Elvers, H2002, p.1). Indeed, this year would
mark the end of her childhood and the joys of her relatively carefree life with her siblings and friends. It
also marked the culmination of years of preparation personally for Fanny – she would finally become the
wife she was expected to be – and professionally for Felix, with the successful revival of Bach’s St Matthew
Passion. Through it all, Hensel remained remarkably prolific as a composer. By the time she married
Wilhelm on 3 October 1829, almost precisely ten years after penning her first surviving Lied in 1819, Hensel
had completed just over half of what would be her entire surviving catalogue.
On 23 January 1829, following the announcement of his appointment as Hofmaler at the Prussian court,
Wilhelm Hensel and Fanny Mendelssohn were formally engaged. They immediately began planning their
wedding, while at the same time taking part in the St Matthew Passion revival and saying goodbye to Felix.
On Midsummer’s Day, 24 June 1829, as she later described to her brother, Fanny and her friends
facetiously initiated Wilhelm into the tightly knit family circle, referred to as ‘The Wheel’:
When we picked up Mother and Father at Marianne’s in the evening, the entire wheel came along,
Louis Heydemann carrying coats and umbrellas (it was a dry heat, with no hint of rain). And when
we had to separate, the wheel, struck with enthusiasm, selected Hensel to be one of its members,
right on the street, by means of a ceremonious round wreath of roses and holding up of the
opened umbrella
(Citron, E1987, p.60).
Wilhelm responded with a drawing titled ‘Das Rad’ (‘The Wheel’), showing the family circle as a wheel,
with the spokes formed by each family member or friend. Wilhelm painted himself on the outside of the
wheel, connected to Fanny by a leash. Clearly he still felt like an outsider in this highly talented and
passionate family.
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Wilhelm Hensel, ‘The Wheel,’ 1829. With the portraits of Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy in Scottish costume, Fanny and Rebecka in an
embrace, with a sheet music and otter tails, Paul Mendelssohn-Bartholdy with Albertine Heine, the Heydemann Brothers, and J.G.
Droysen. bpk Bildagentur / Kupferstichkabinett, Staatliche Museen /
Photo: Jörg P. Anders / Art Resource, NY.
1829 was, however, a difficult year for Hensel, as she dealt simultaneously with her imminent marriage
and the first extended absence of her brother. She faced the challenge of falling back in love with a man she
hadn’t corresponded with in five years while at the same time learning to accept that another man could
replace her brother as her closest confidant. Her letters to Felix and Wilhelm between January and October
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document the troubled state of her mind; at first, she hoped that she could continue to love Felix and
Wilhelm equally, and Wilhelm even ceded that Felix should be first in her affections. As the summer wore
on, the ‘wheel’ started to disassemble as the members travelled or found their own husbands and wives,
and Hensel started to feel left behind. Wedding planning was not always a smooth process; Lea
Mendelssohn was difficult to please, and Hensel started to feel even more the lack of her brother’s
harmonizing presence. Towards August, she started to make the transition to greater emotional
dependence on Wilhelm rather than on Felix, but her underlying emotions erupted again on the morning
of her wedding. Felix had sustained a leg injury in a coach accident in London that prevented him from
returning to Berlin for the wedding, and Fanny poured her heart out to him:
My dearest Felix! Today is the third of October and my wedding day. My first joy on this day is in
finding a quiet fifteen minutes, which I’ve wanted for a long time, so that I can write on this very
day and tell you once more everything that you’ve already known for a long time. I am very
composed, dear Felix, and your picture is next to me, but as I write your name again and almost
see you in person before my very eyes, I cry, as you do deep inside, but I cry. Actually I’ve always
known that I could never experience anything that would remove you from my memory for even
one-tenth of a moment. Nevertheless, I’m glad to have experienced it, and will be able to repeat
the same thing to you tomorrow and in every moment of my life. And I don’t believe I am doing
Hensel an injustice through it. Your love has provided me with a great inner worth, and I will
never stop holding myself in high esteem as long as you love me
(Citron, E1987, p.90).
The relationship between Hensel and her brother was clearly at a crisis point here; the two remained
devoted to each other, but distance, time, and eventually Felix’s own marriage in 1837 drove a wedge of
silence between them.
Hensel’s wedding took place on 3 October 1829, at the Parochialkirche in Berlin, which was full of
assembled family and friends. Her organist was A.W. Grell (whom she knew from the Singakademie), and
the music included her own recently composed processional and recessional. Fanny had asked Felix to
write her processional, but he did not finish it in time for the wedding, most likely due to his leg injury. So,
in the days before her wedding, Hensel sat down and wrote her own processional, a triumphant march in F
major. It is rather lengthy for a processional in a small church (even walking slowly, one should be able to
traverse the Parochialkirche in about a minute) and contains alternating chordal and imitative sections.
Fanny wrote a low D♭ in the pedal part, which is accessible on most modern organs today, but doesn’t
appear to have been available on the organ installed in the Parochialkirche at the time. Grell had only the
day of the wedding to learn and perform the piece, so we must assume that he quickly made an adjustment
to the pedal part. No change was made in Fanny’s score, however. The pianistic idiom of much of the piece
betrays her limited experience of the organ, but it is still a successful work, and is her first surviving work
for the organ. Little further detail about the wedding survives. The couple immediately moved into their
own apartment in the parental house. In this way, echoing his induction into the ‘wheel’ four months
earlier, Wilhelm became a Mendelssohn at the same time as Fanny became a Hensel.
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Parochialkirche, Berlin.
Although throughout that year, Hensel did not compose a great deal of piano music (turning instead
mostly to song), immediately after her wedding she started another piano sonata, a genre she hadn’t
attempted since completing her Easter Sonata over a year earlier. This new work was a Piano Sonata in E♭
(H-U246). She completed three movements over the next two months before abandoning the work. A few
years later, in 1834, she would pick up the sonata again and convert it successfully into her String Quartet
in E♭ (H-U277). Before writing her string quartet, Fanny had experimented with other chamber genres in
1829, producing two works for cello and piano: a Sonata o Fantasia (H-U238) in August and a Capriccio (H-
U247) later in the autumn. A particularly meaningful work was the song cycle she wrote in response to her
brother’s departure. After her initial response to Felix’s absence – the duet Schlafe du, schlafe du süß (H-
U233) written on 11 April – she apparently felt the need to work through the separation musically in a more
substantial form. Hensel worked on this Liederkreis (H-U234) from 25 May to 6 June in collaboration with
Droysen, who wrote the texts for all six of the Lieder. The song cycle loosely traces a departure, separation,
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and eventual reunion, and she refers in it to Felix’s own works (Bartsch, G2007). The Liederkreis is the
only surviving example of a single-poet song cycle by either Hensel or her brother; Hensel had planned to
write another later the same year, working this time with both Droysen and Wilhelm, but that cycle never
materialized. Another touching biographical moment reflected in Hensel’s Lieder can be seen in her
Schlafe, schlaf (H-U241), on a poem that Wilhelm wrote to her about one week before their wedding. He
accompanied his gift of the poem with a newspaper cutting announcing their upcoming nuptials. Fanny
responded immediately by setting it on 21 September. Hensel would set her new husband’s texts twice
more that year, both in song and in a more substantial context. Lea and Abraham celebrated their silver
anniversary in 1829, and their talented children naturally could not let the occasion pass without
appropriate musical festivities. Both Fanny and Felix contributed stage works; in Fanny’s case, she
collaborated with Wilhelm on a Festspiel entitled Die Hochzeit kommt, which featured three sopranos, a
tenor, two basses, four-part mixed choir, and orchestra. Text was really all Wilhelm could contribute; he
was famously tone-deaf.
6. Sonntagsmusiken and early maturity, 1830–38.
Within a month after her wedding, Fanny was pregnant with her first and only child. Sebastian Ludwig
Felix Hensel was born one month premature on 17 June 1830, after a difficult and dangerous pregnancy.
The birth of her son brought Hensel great joy and for most of 1830 occupied her time and energies. It was
not at first certain that the child would survive, but by 7 July she could relate to her brother that
‘Sebastian…was dressed for the first time today, but not with jacket and boots. Rather, he’s grown into a
regular child’s outfit…from a little package that was bundled up and put into a tiny bed almost too
pathetically’ (Citron, E1987, p.103).
During her confinement beforehand (from 17 April) and her ‘lying-in period’ after the birth (which
appears to have been six weeks), Hensel was not allowed by those around her to compose or play piano.
Thus, she produced no new compositions from 10 April to 29 October. In total, she committed to paper only
seven compositions (five Lieder and two works for piano) that year, by far her least productive year to date.
Of note in 1830, however, was the publication of her next three Lieder under Felix’s name, in his op.9. The
opus was divided into two halves, entitled ‘Der Jüngling’ and ‘Das Mädchen’. Probably not coincidentally,
all three of Hensel’s Lieder appear in the second half, as nos.7, 10, and 12. The titles suggest the idea of
cyclicity or at the least some sort of dialogue, but the opus is otherwise neither cyclic nor programmatic.
However, examination of the key relationships and alternating performance options, as discussed by
Douglass Seaton and Angela Mace Christian, may reveal more intimate connections between the selections
(Seaton, I(ii)2003, p.217ff; and Christian, I(ii)2015, pp.63–84). The publication of Hensel’s Lieder under
her brother’s authorship has been interpreted as ‘appropriation’ by Felix, but it is clear that Hensel was a
full partner in, or even a co-author, of this opus, just as she had been of op.8 in 1826 and 1827. In fact, Felix
was still in the United Kingdom when his publisher, Schlesinger, pressured him to submit the opus in
August 1829; Felix wrote, requesting that Fanny ‘without any further reference to me…select from my or
her things completely without stipulations’ (Appold and Back, 2008, Sämtliche Briefe, vol.1, p.376).
Hensel’s contributions were Die Nonne (H-U46) from 1822, Verlust (H-U213) from 1827, and Sehnsucht (H-
U219) from 1828. Die Nonne completes the opus, as no.12, with a simple but highly effective setting of
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Uhland’s poetry. The piano part and vocal line push insistently at an upper e″ as if the young nun were
protesting against her confinement in the cloister walls, while descending lines throughout represent
resignation and images of death (both of the young nun’s former lover and of the nun herself). Hensel’s
setting of this poetic text reveals the depth of her psychological insight into the plight of a young woman
whose worldly options have been delimited by society. Hensel’s diary suffered as much from her new
domestic duties as did her music; thus we find her recording the birth and early growth of her child in two
entries in July and August (along with a brief mention of a revival of her parents’ Sunday musicales on 31
July 1830), and then an entry on 4 March 1831 apologizing for her long silence. She narrates the continuing
growth of Sebastian, her brother’s travels, and a plan to winter in Italy that was derailed by her parents’
extreme objections. It is not entirely clear why her parents objected so strongly, but when the idea of an
Italian journey had been considered for their honeymoon, the objection had been that it would be foolish to
spend an entire year’s income so early in marriage; since Hensel was also pregnant immediately after the
wedding, such a trip had been out of the question. Despite once again being disappointed in her desire to
visit Italy, Hensel entered a phase of domestic bliss with increasing intimacy and joy in her marriage, after
some renovations to their living space which had caused Fanny and Wilhelm to sleep apart for many
months were complete and they could once again share a bed. She describes their marital bliss thus:
‘Wilhelm has become accustomed to cradling my head in his arms, and so the nights become even more
dear to us than the days. It seems impossible to us that love and happiness could grow even greater, but so
it is, that with every day we become closer, and every night we agree how happy we are’ (Hensel ed. Klein
and Elvers, H2002, p.32).
While 1831 was not one of Hensel’s most productive years in terms of quantity – again that year she
completed just seven compositions – she worked in some of the largest genres she had explored to date,
starting what was effectively a ‘cantata project’ in tandem with launching her own version of her parents’
Sunday musicales, her Sonntagsmusiken. She initially planned her series as a venue for choral music, very
much along the lines of Zelter’s Singakademie, and thus appears to have written her three cantatas for this
purpose. Her brother encouraged her also to perform on the piano for her guests, and Hensel followed his
advice. Her Sonntagsmusiken became a site for performance in a variety of genres, from her own Lieder to
the oratorios of her brother, and of composers ranging from Bach to Chopin. Attendance at her
Sonntagsmusiken became the most sought-after invitation in Berlin; audiences reportedly numbered up to
200 people including Prussian royalty, and among her performers were such visiting virtuosi as Clara
Schumann and Franz Liszt. She ran the Sonntagsmusiken more as a concert series, with a budget for
performers and refreshments, rather than along the lines of the early Berlin social salons that her great-
aunts and her parents’ friends had maintained. She was thereby finally able to transcend the private and
public divide to reach out to a broader audience with her musical abilities. Her family considered this sort
of activity socially acceptable as it was within the private sphere (no critics were ever present at the
performances, which could be attended by invitation only) and it brought great prestige to the
Mendelssohn family name in Berlin and abroad.
Hensel completed all three cantatas, Lobgesang (‘Song of Praise’) (H-U257), Hiob (‘Job’) (H-U258), and the
Choleramusik (‘Cholera Cantata’) (H-U260), between 6 February and 20 November 1831 in quick
succession; a space of only one to two weeks separates the end of work on one cantata and the beginning of
work on the next. Each cantata took progressively less time as she gained facility in the genre (about four
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months, two months, and seven weeks, respectively). With each composition, Fanny also expanded her
ensemble. Lobgesang features two soloists (soprano and alto) as well as a four-part choir and a small
orchestra. Hiob adds two more soloists (soprano, alto, tenor, and bass), and expands the orchestra with
two timpani. Finally, the Choleramusik represents Fanny’s most ambitious attempt. The work later
acquired the title ‘Oratorio on Scenes from the Bible’; that title did not originate with Hensel, however, and
at only 13 movements the work is more of a cantata than an oratorio. In addition to the expanded
instrumentation used in Hiob, the Choleramusik incorporates three trombones and an eight-part choir.
Each cantata was intended to mark an important moment in the composer’s life. With Lobgesang, written
for her son, Hensel praised God for sparing the life of both herself and her child a year earlier. Hiob was
dedicated to her husband for their second wedding anniversary; Hensel finished the score on October 1 and
recorded in her diary that the work was ‘probirt’ (tried through) on 3 October, which was the couple’s
second wedding anniversary. Finally, the Choleramusik, while it was primarily intended to mark the
cessation of the cholera epidemic that ravaged Berlin in 1831, was performed as part of the festivities for
her father’s birthday on 10 December. An ethereal freely-composed chorale, Ich habe einen guten Kampf
gekämpfet, provides homage to Bach’s cantatas, while simultaneously intersecting with her brother’s
concurrent use of invented chorales in several of his works (Todd and Mace [Christian], I(iii)2009). The
cantata’s final chorus sets the text ‘Singet Gott, lobsinget dem Herrn’ particularly effectively, with a rich
orchestral texture complementing that of the introduction, showing homogeneity of compositional style
from start to finish. Hensel solicited her brother’s feedback on her first cantata early in the year, but he did
not respond until mid-December, after she had already completed all three cantatas. His criticism was
sharp, although buffered with self-deprecating humour, and Hensel never again tried to write a cantata. A
similar phenomenon occurred after Felix criticized his sister’s String Quartet in E♭ major in 1834; she
never wrote another string quartet.
Spanning the end of 1831 and the beginning of 1832 is a work that builds on Hensel’s newly acquired
experience of writing for ensemble, and sets the trend for a year of diverse genres: the ‘dramatic scene’ or
concert aria, Hero und Leander (H-U262). Fanny and Wilhelm collaborated on this work for Fanny’s friend
Ulrike Peters, when she became ill. Wilhelm adapted the Greek myth featuring two lovers separated by the
sea, from Hero’s point of view, and Hensel set the text effectively, with references to her brother’s sea-
inspired music, Meeresstille und glückliche Fahrt. The orchestration includes flutes, clarinets, bassoons,
horns, trumpets, timpani, strings, and even a serpent, which Felix had also used in his 1828 overture.
Continuing with orchestral genres in 1832, Hensel began her own overture in late March, and had
completed it by late April or early May. The resulting work was her Overture in C (H-U265), which reveals a
continuing interest in her brother’s Meeresstille und glückliche Fahrt (by virtue of similar formal
organization and use of solo flute at the transition), as well as Beethoven and Carl Maria von Weber. This
overture remains Hensel’s only piece for orchestra; it received its premiere in her home in 1834. Only two
unfinished works for solo piano date from 1832; one, Das Nordlicht (H-U263), was a reaction to the unusual
spectacle of the aurora borealis visible in Berlin that year. After having written so heavily for voices the
previous year, Hensel composed just one Lied, Wiegenlied (H-U266), in mid-September. It is possible that
she had intended this lullaby for her second child; sadly, Hensel delivered a stillborn daughter on 1
November 1832. She also wrote a fragment of a choral work for four-part male choir and piano (H-U268),
and a duet on a text by Wilhelm, So soll ich dich verlassen (H-U264), which possibly marked the passing of a
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dear family friend, Eduard Rietz. It is clear that her compositional focus had by this time shifted away from
the Lied, perhaps as she felt greater autonomy from her brother and father after her marriage. Continuing
the more public face of her reputation as a Lied composer, however, was the publication of her early setting
of a text by Sir Walter Scott, Ave Maria (H-U20), from 1820, in The Harmonicon, vol.10/2 (1832). The same
English reviewer, John Thomson, who had praised her works in Felix’s op.8 in The Harmonicon, now
apparently took the liberty of sharing the Lied with the journal. According to Thomson, Hensel had given
him a copy before he left Berlin in 1829. He claimed that she had composed it on his request, but that is
clearly not the case since the Lied dates from 1820, not 1829. It is not clear whether or not Hensel requested
or even authorized the publication of the Lied, but this publication is significant in that it was the first time
her music had appeared under her own name.
After the stillbirth of her daughter, Hensel had difficulty returning to composing and her Sonntagsmusiken
in 1833. She produced only four works that year, including two Lieder and a Fugue in E♭ for piano (H-U273).
However, Felix was living with his family in Berlin that winter while he awaited the determination of the
Singakademie on its new leader (Zelter had died in 1832 and Felix did not get the post in the end, which
caused a rift between the Mendelssohn family and the Singakademie), and he encouraged Hensel to return
to practising the piano and hosting concerts. These events became the artistic and social outlet she needed
at the time to keep performing and composing. One friendship that became especially important was with
the soprano Pauline Decker, who had retired to the private sphere after her marriage. As a former
professional singer, Decker was able to match Fanny’s abilities and provide a rewarding artistic
partnership. Hensel wrote her most ambitious work in 1833 for Decker, the quasi-mass, quasi-tableau
vivant, Zum Fest der heiligen Cäcilia (‘On the Feast of St Cecilia’, H-U272). Hensel composed this work for
performance on 22 November, which was not only the Feast Day of St Cecilia in the liturgical calendar (and
Fanny’s name day), but also marked Felix’s debut as conductor in his new position in Düsseldorf. Hensel’s
work included settings from the introit, gradual, and collect of the Latin Mass text for the liturgical Feast
of St Cecilia. The visual aspects were handled by Wilhelm and his students, who created a small organ prop
and dressed Decker in robes after Raphael’s altarpiece in the Pinacoteca Nazionale, Bologna, entitled The
Ecstasy of St Cecilia. The performance, as Hensel described it, ‘made a magical, beautiful effect’ (Citron,
E1987, p.114–15). In this way, the two artists lived out their own description of their married life as ‘a
double counterpoint of music and painting’ (S. Hensel, H1879/1882, The Mendelssohn Family, vol.2, p.43).
In 1834, Hensel returned to programming her Sonntagsmusiken regularly; from the surviving
documentation, there is evidence that she hosted at least 13 of these events. Hensel most frequently
programmed music of Bach, Handel, and Beethoven, as well as many works by her brother. She offered the
Berlin premiere of her brother’s Rondo brillante, op.29, while the famed pianist Luise Dulcken performed
Felix’s Piano Concerto in G minor, op.25 with the accompaniment of a string quartet. Hensel does not
appear to have performed her own music as much as the music of others, but she did programme her own
Overture in C on 15 June, performed by the Königstadt Theater orchestra. On this occasion the conductor,
Julius Amadeus Lecerf, insisted on laying down his baton and inviting Hensel herself to the podium. Hensel
often conducted performances of her own and her brother’s choral music in smaller ensembles, but this
marks the only known instance of Hensel conducting an orchestral work. Wilhelm had been busy as well,
and finished his masterpiece, Christus vor Pilatus, by September; it depicts about 50 figures gathered when
Pilatus washes his hands of the blood of Jesus. The painting, measuring around 15 by 19 feet, had occupied
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Wilhelm for almost four years. It was installed in the Garnisonkirche in Berlin after the king purchased it
for 6000 thalers; when the church burnt down in 1908, the painting was destroyed along with it. Wilhelm’s
decision to paint the ‘turba’ crowd from the Passion tradition may have been a response to his wife’s
musical depiction of this scene a few years earlier in the finale of her Easter Sonata, with its intriguing
Allegro con strepito tempo indication, as well as the entire family’s intense involvement with the revival of
the St Matthew Passion in 1829. Wilhelm’s inclusion of Fanny and their son Sebastian as part of the crowd in
the lower right-hand corner of the painting emphasizes the personal involvement of the Mendelssohn
family in this tradition.
Dating from 1834 (though drawing on her unfinished piano sonata from five years earlier) is one of
Hensel’s most ambitious and successful essays in the chamber music genre to date, her String Quartet in
E♭ (H-U277). This is Hensel’s only mature work in that genre (and among the first surviving string
quartets by any woman), and stands alongside her Piano Trio in D minor, op.11, as one of her most
impressive chamber works. Hensel reworked the first two movements of the piano sonata to become the
first two movements of her string quartet, and wrote a new slow movement and finale to complete the
work. While rescoring the first movement of the sonata for quartet, she made several subtle adjustments
for better balance and dramatic progress, giving us a rare opportunity to view how she revised, since many
of her works survive in only one version. The themes bring to mind Beethoven’s ‘Harp’ Quartet in E♭, op.
76. Felix had also responded to the ‘Harp’ quartet in 1829 with his String Quartet in E♭, op.12, another
instance of the siblings’ simultaneous and complementary absorption of models and ideas (Bartsch, 2007).
Hensel changed the ending of the second movement radically: she added a section beginning with a
scampering fugato in all four voices that strongly evokes the trio of Beethoven’s Symphony no.5 in C
minor, op.67, and then developed the motives for some 90 bars before returning to the opening theme to
conclude the movement. Its extended ternary form thus essentially constitutes a Scherzo and Trio. Hensel
disposed of the original third movement of her piano sonata altogether. With its thickly voiced chords and
repetitive march-like rhythms, Hensel may have felt it was too pianistic. Instead, she inserted a ‘Romanze’
in G minor, featuring a cantabile theme in the first violin, and sighing motives that seem to search for a G
minor chord, which is never achieved throughout the entire movement. Each time, the prepared G minor
cadence is foiled by conversion into a seventh chord, or as at the final cadence, a G major chord. The final
movement is a lively Allegro molto vivace in E♭.
When Felix provided his critique of this quartet, he clearly could not come to terms with Hensel’s loose
handling of key areas and what we now consider to be her fantasia-like approach to form. For Felix,
Hensel’s experiments offended his sense of respect for the Classical forms he had been educated to use,
and strayed perhaps from the style the two composers had developed together. After his harsh comments,
although Hensel never wrote another string quartet, nor did she change her score in accordance with her
brother’s criticism. With the exception of a private reading in her home, no record survives of any
performance of the quartet. Hensel had asked her brother if he could arrange a performance, but he never
did so. In a letter to Felix shortly after this episode, Hensel expressed some discouragement as to her
success with large genres, as well as her own view of her inability to escape from under the ‘shadow of
Beethoven’:
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I’ve reflected how I, actually not an eccentric or overly sentimental person, came to write pieces in
a tender style. I believe it derives from the fact that we were young during Beethoven’s last years
and absorbed his style to a considerable degree. But that style is exceedingly moving and
emotional. You’ve gone through it from start to finish and progressed beyond it in your
composing, and I’ve remained stuck in it, not possessing the strength, however, that is necessary
to sustain such tenderness. Therefore I also believe that you haven’t hit upon or voiced the crucial
issue. It’s not so much a certain way of composing that is lacking as it is a certain approach to life,
and as a result of this shortcoming, my lengthy things die in their youth of decrepitude; I lack the
ability to sustain ideas properly and give them the needed consistency. Therefore Lieder suit me
best, in which, if need be, merely a pretty idea without much potential for development can suffice
(Citron, E1987, p.174).
The disappointment in her progress and lack of confidence in her own abilities is palpable here. Hensel had
written only six Lieder in 1834 in addition to her String Quartet; she now ended her trend towards ever
more ambitious chamber and orchestral genres to return to vocal writing in 1835. Although she wrote only
four solo Lieder in that year, she also produced three vocal duets and three vocal trios, a concert aria, and,
quite tellingly, no instrumental works at all. 1835 brought Hensel a rare chance to travel beyond Berlin and
expand her experiences and artistic horizons. The Hensel family journeyed to Paris, with a stop on the way
in Cologne for the Niederrheinisches Musikfestival, which Felix directed that year. There, Hensel
participated in the festival performance of Handel’s Solomon, singing in the alto section under her
brother’s baton. A stop in Düsseldorf, where Felix was then employed, produced an opportunity to
compose for a domestic setting other than her own home; the Hensels’ hosts were the Woringens, and
Hensel composed two vocal trios and possibly a duet for the Woringen siblings. By midsummer, the
Hensels finally arrived in Paris, where they attended opera, mingled with high society, viewed art, and met
Chopin and heard him play on several occasions during their five-week stay. There is no evidence,
however, that Hensel performed in the famous Parisian salons. Departing on 6 August, the Hensels
travelled next to Boulogne sur Mer, then a tiny picturesque seaside town, so that Fanny could ‘take the
cure’, as was commonly prescribed in that era. In Hensel’s case, her difficult pregnancies had affected her
health, thus prompting her visit to the coast. In addition to attending to her health, Hensel was able to
relax and compose, writing two Lieder; one of these was on a text by Heine, who was also in the town
visiting Sarah Austin. Boulogne sur Mer’s position on the English Channel ensured a stream of other
friends as well, including Sophia Horsley, whose family had hosted Felix in London, as well as the much-
loved Mendelssohn family friend, Karl Klingemann. The family travelled slowly back to Berlin via Belgium
and the Netherlands, visited Rebecka and her family in Bonn, and saw Felix in Leipzig, where he had just
accepted his final post at the Gewandhaus. They returned to Berlin just in time to say goodbye to Wilhelm’s
mother, who died only a few days after the Hensels arrived back there. Hensel returned to her
Sonntagsmusiken on 15 November, despite the gruelling travel. However, almost simultaneously, another
event would shock the family: the death of Abraham, who had been gradually going blind for some time,
but suddenly declined after a short illness in mid-November. The impact of his death was felt by all, as
they grieved through Christmas and into 1836. Hensel discontinued her concert series until June 1836 and
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also stopped writing in her diary. Her brother channelled his loss into redoubled efforts to complete his
first oratorio, St Paul, which had been a project his father longed to see completed, and Rebecka and her
husband moved back to Berlin and into the family house to help comfort their widowed mother.
Despite the sorrowful start to 1836, Hensel would return to greater compositional activity in the genres she
had cultivated before her marriage, producing seven Lieder, five vocal duets, two vocal trios, and ten solo
piano pieces. She travelled again, this time with her mother Lea, to Leipzig in March to attend the
conferring of an honorary doctorate from the University of Leipzig on her brother. This time, in contrast to
Paris, Hensel did perform, although still privately, as well as attending her brother’s concert at the
Gewandhaus. Yet another opportunity to participate in her brother’s public triumphs came in May, when
she travelled with her brother Paul and his wife Albertine again to Düsseldorf for the Niederrheinisches
Musikfestival, where Felix’s oratorio Paulus was scheduled to receive its premiere. Once again, Hensel
performed in the alto section; this time, she even had an unexpected solo when one of the soloists lost his
place and Hensel sang the missing notes to guide him back. After returning to Berlin, Hensel produced her
own performance of St Paul for one of her Sonntagsmusiken on 19 June – the first one since her father’s
death – and thereby provided the Berlin premiere of her brother’s oratorio. Hensel’s renewed efforts in
writing piano pieces did not go unrewarded; she received the praise she craved from her brother for several
of these pieces, and apparently was emboldened by it to bring up once again the idea of publishing. A Berlin
publisher – which one is not known – had apparently asked her if she would consider publication, and as
usual, Hensel deferred to the opinion of her brother, even though her husband encouraged her to go ahead.
In a private exchange from June 1837, Lea Mendelssohn tried to convince Felix to help his sister publish her
works, but Felix refused to take the first step:
I hopefully don’t need to say that as soon as she decides to publish I will spare no effort, to the
extent that I can, to find her opportunities. But to encourage her to publish I cannot do, since it
runs counter to my views and convictions
(Wald and Kauba, eds, 2012, p.292).
He went on to say that as a proper wife and mother his sister could not possibly wish to enter the public
world of composing, which would require her to produce ‘a series of works, one after the other’. Felix
seems to have underestimated his sister, who had already expressed to Klingemann in 1836 her
frustrations with working always in a vacuum without access to a broader sounding-board for her
compositions. Just one of the piano pieces she wrote that year would eventually be published: the Andante
in G (H-U301), which appeared as her op.2 no.1 in 1846.
In early 1837, Hensel went ahead with publishing her Lied from 1827, Die Schiffende, in Schlesinger’s Neue
Original-Compositionen für Gesang und Piano, under her own name. The publisher placed her setting
alongside her brother’s Wie kann ich froh und lustig sein. Felix wrote to congratulate his sister, despite his
reservations, and even programmed her Lied on a benefit concert at the Gewandhaus (with himself at the
piano), where he reported it was very well received. Hensel enjoyed another productive year of composing
in 1837, including six Lieder, four vocal duets, a vocal trio, and four piano pieces. The first Lied she wrote in
1837, Warum sind denn die Rosen so blaß? (H-U312) became part of her first published opus in 1846, as op.1
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no.3. This hauntingly beautiful Lied on a text of Heine, its soaring vocal line variously supported by gentle
arpeggios or contrasted with resonant chords in the piano, became her brother’s favourite from Hensel’s
op.1. It also represents the earliest work Hensel chose to publish; once she started publishing, she selected
only newly composed works, or works from her last five or so years of productivity. Thus, we can see that
Hensel started to take her ambitions seriously around this point and to think more concretely about the
possibility of publication. Hensel’s op.9, posthumously assembled and published most probably by Felix,
forms the anomaly among her published works; the Lieder are selected mostly from the 1820s, and are
likely to represent Felix’s favourite Lieder from the happiest years he had spent with his sister, rather than
works that Hensel felt reflected her professional aspirations.
On 28 March, an event the Mendelssohn family had long wished for finally occurred: Felix was married to
Cécile Jeanrenaud, the daughter of a Huguenot minister from Frankfurt. Abraham had once noted that if
Felix were as fastidious about selecting a wife as he were about selecting an opera libretto, he’d never
marry. Felix did not bring his fiancée to meet his family before the wedding, nor did he bring his wife to
Berlin after the wedding, when he travelled for his honeymoon and for his professional work. Finally,
about eight months after the wedding, Hensel travelled to Leipzig herself to meet her sister-in-law. The
lack of introduction caused some tension in the family, who could not attend the wedding due to various
impediments. Lea was becoming more infirm, Fanny and Rebecka were pregnant, and Paul was in
Hamburg acquiring a bank. Indeed, just a few days after the wedding, Hensel had miscarried another
advanced pregnancy. The alienation between brother and sister intensified during that year as Hensel felt
ever more deeply not just the physical but also the spiritual absence of her brother. Increasingly she did not
hear about or see her brother’s compositions until they appeared in print, when she found she was forced
to ‘look at them with the eyes of a stranger, i.e., criticize them without partiality; but it always makes me
sadly recall the time when I used to know his music from its birth’ (Todd, G2010, p.217).
Despite her brother’s lack of presence and the breakdown in communication, Hensel remained devoted to
performing his music in her Sonntagsmusiken, perhaps as a way of feeling she was still involved in his life.
Thus, she organized two impressive concert performances of St Paul in January and June 1837. The first was
for one of her regular audiences of about 100; the second was even larger, for about 300 guests, including a
semi-public audience of friends invited by the performers. Later that same year she programmed more
oratorios, this time by Handel, and hosted the violin virtuoso Henri Vieuxtemps before his Berlin debut, in
one of the most ambitious and successful of her concert seasons.
Hensel’s increasingly important cultural position in Berlin intensified as 1838 dawned with new
opportunities. First, she was invited to rehearsals of Felix’s St Paul at the Singakademie, where none of the
Mendelssohn family had been present since they had cut their ties with that institution in 1832. Her three
performances of St Paul made her the expert on the work locally, and her letters to Felix reporting on the
rehearsals show her to have been a pugnacious and exacting advocate for the correct performance of the
work. A month or so later, on 19 February, Hensel emerged even more openly onto the public stage,
performing in a public concert for the first time in her life with Felix’s Piano Concerto no.1 in G minor, op.
25. The occasion was a benefit concert, however, and so most of the performers’ names, including her
own, did not appear in the reviews. Hensel herself was identified only as an ‘excellent dilettante,
intellectually and naturally related to the composer [of the concerto]’ (Todd, G2010, p.225).
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In April, Felix finally brought his wife to Berlin to visit, with their first child, Carl. The family enjoyed about
two months together until Felix departed with his family to the Niederrheinisches Musikfestival, and
Wilhelm travelled in the opposite direction to London. Hensel would never visit London herself, but
enjoyed her husband’s reports of visiting their London friends, Karl Klingemann, Ignaz Moscheles, and the
Horsleys. Wilhelm attended the coronation of Queen Victoria on 28 June; he had the opportunity to meet
the Queen in August, four years before his brother-in-law would have his first audience. Queen Victoria
and Prince Consort Albert were great patrons of the arts, and provided Wilhelm with the opportunity to
view the artistic treasures at Buckingham Palace; they would become well-known supporters of
Mendelssohn’s music.
Hensel had enjoyed a productive and illustrious year in all aspects of her musical life, but soon had to put
that aside for a time as the Mendelssohn house was once again in mourning; that autumn, measles broke
out in Berlin, and in November claimed the life of Rebecka’s infant son, Felix. Fanny curtailed her
Sonntagsmusiken while the family was mourning and returned instead to composing. She produced several
more solo and ensemble Lieder as well as two new piano pieces at this time. The most striking and
successful of these works is her Notturno in G minor (H-U337), a stormy, passionate barcarole with clear
ties to her brother’s famous Venetianisches Gondellied in G minor, op.19 no.6. Her own composition clearly
only takes her brother’s work as the germ of an idea, however, as the dimensions and thematic
development of her Notturno are notably more ambitious. Her engagement with the genre prefaced a life-
changing event for which she had been yearning since her teenage years: her first trip to Italy.
7. Travels to Italy, 1839–40.
By 1839 Wilhelm’s need to return to Italy finally overruled the family’s objection to the expense. This time
he did not leave Fanny behind. In an era when to reach Italy from Germany took weeks of gruelling travel,
it was not generally the custom to travel to Italy for just a few weeks, but rather to spend the better part of
a year there. The family left Berlin on 27 August 1839, travelling first to Leipzig, where they spent a week
with Felix and his family. On 4 September, they went on to Italy via Erlangen, Nuremburg, Regensburg,
and Munich before finally crossing the Alps – fulfilling Hensel’s dream from about 15 years earlier – and
arriving in Milan on 30 September. Hensel was initially delighted by the lush flora of Italy, but that
impression gave way to disgust when they encountered the decay prevalent in the cities. Her distaste,
however, quickly turned into a ‘mania for antiquities’ as the crumbling sculpture and architecture in Rome
earned her admiration. Venice’s beauty she described as ‘fairy-like’; she revelled in seeing at first hand the
sites and artworks she had known until then only via pictures. Throughout all her explorations she
remained mindful of how she had first encountered these strange new sights through the eyes of Goethe in
his Italienische Reise, and of her brother, who had been there before her and had written home with
colourful reports. Despite lack of regular access to a piano until they reached Rome, this journey inspired
her to compose. Hensel’s Serenata in G minor (H-U345), written shortly before she left Venice, recalls her
earlier Notturno in G minor as well as Felix’s Venetianisches Gondellied op.30 no.6, but recasts the previously
imagined Venetian experience in the light of her direct encounters with the fabled city and its gondoliers.
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Leaving Venice on 4 November, Hensel enjoyed a short stay in Florence, where she spent most of her time
admiring art and the city’s gardens. By 26 November the family had finally reached Rome, where her
brother’s reputation preceded her, and where they would spend the majority of their time in Italy. Hensel
immediately became an active member of the musical scene there, and she found herself a prominent
member of the social circle at the French Academy at Villa Medici. Every Sunday – in what was essentially
an extension of her Sonntagsmusiken – she would perform piano trios semi-publicly with local musicians,
at gatherings hosted by Jean Auguste Dominique Ingres. The adulation she received there for her skills as
both pianist and composer was a new sensation, and one which she appreciated very greatly: ‘I never was
made so much of as I have been here, and that this is very pleasant nobody can deny’ (S. Hensel,
H1879/1882, vol.2, p.120). The young musicians and composers present – including Charles Gounod, who
was there as Prix de Rome winner that year – looked up to her as an authority on German music, much of
which they had never heard before. Gounod had come to Rome to study Palestrina but instead was
completely surprised and enraptured by the German music of Bach, Beethoven, and Mendelssohn
performed by Hensel. Hensel experienced here for the first time her power to affect another composer
deeply, and gained respect for her ability to inspire others (besides Felix) beyond mere admiration for her
talent.
Hensel did not spend her entire visit making music, however much she enjoyed that part of her stay; the
family saw Pope Gregory XVI process into the Sistine Chapel, spent Christmas in Rome, danced in the
streets during Carnaval, and generally absorbed as much as they could of Roman culture, although Fanny
found the desired level of musical performance (especially in the churches and on the streets) severely
lacking. Leaving Rome was difficult after the culturally rich six months she had spent there among an
ever-widening circle of new friends and acquaintances. Ingres threw a farewell party for the family at the
Villa Medici that included all-day chamber music readings outdoors, food, and finally, around midnight,
moonlit improvisations and part songs indoors. Before heading north back to Germany, the Hensel family
journeyed south on 2 June 1840 to complete the ‘Grand Tour’ through Italy. They spent several weeks in
Naples, exploring Vesuvius (they even got to the summit of the still active volcano) and neighbouring
towns and islands, where they enjoyed the rich local culture and summer festivals. While Wilhelm
proceeded southwards, Fanny and Sebastian stayed in Naples to escape the summer heat: there she
entertained Gounod and the painter Bousquet, until Wilhelm returned on 21 July. They started their
journey homewards on 11 August, passing through Milan before crossing the Alps into Switzerland and
heading to Strasbourg, Heidelberg, and Frankfurt before finally arriving back in Leipzig in early September
to visit Felix and his family, almost exactly a year on from their original departure.
For good reason, this journey through Italy is widely regarded as one of the highlights of Hensel’s life,
representing a turning point in her work as a composer. The sights, sounds, smells, and flavours of Italy
had not fallen short of her long-cherished idealization of that country. The artistic community she found
there, and the sense of freedom and spontaneity she observed, helped to challenge her strict Prussian
sensibilities. In terms of her compositional productivity during the Italian trip, we can see how profoundly
this opportunity to travel inspired the somewhat discouraged composer to return to her work. In the 12
months prior to departing for Italy (from August 1838 to August 1839), she completed 11 works: four
Lieder, three vocal duets, and four piano pieces. The opportunity to perform for a group of admiring young
artists and musicians seems to have inspired her to return more prolifically to compositions for the piano.
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During the 12 months that she spent travelling (August 1839 to August 1840), she completed 24 works: five
Lieder, two vocal quartets, four vocal duets, and 13 piano pieces. When she started publishing six years
later, she returned to several of these Italian works as her first selections; her op.1 no.1 is the Schwanenlied
(H-U358), which was among the first works she composed in Italy in autumn 1839. Five of her piano pieces
from this journey appear in her opp.2, 4/5, and 6, four of them taking their inspiration directly from her
favourite haunts and moments she experienced in Italy: Gondelfahrt/Serenata (H-U345), Abschied vom Rom/
Ponte Moll (H-U352), Villa Medicis (H-U353), and Villa Mills (H-U357), op.2 no.3.
8. Return to Berlin, 1840–42.
When Hensel arrived home on 11 September 1840 (at 9.30 p.m., as she related in her diary), she found
everything in good order, just as the family had left it. However, Hensel had returned from sunny, carefree
Italy to the realities of everyday life in northern Germany. Her first full entry a week after returning home,
on 16 September 1840, paints a vivid picture of her depressed mood: ‘Everything looks dreary, gloomy, and
joyless, and to that end it storms, rains, and blows outside, and there is a chill that freezes my fingers’. Her
sister-in-law Albertine lost a baby and her mother broke her arm. Her diary, in which she had written
every few days while travelling, lay neglected except for entries every one to ten weeks. Hensel did remain
musically active, however; she bought a new Viennese piano, composed lightly, and even considered
writing an opera based on Ernst Raupach’s Der Nibelunghort, sharing her idea with Felix, although nothing
came of it. To relive the joys of her journey, she reread her brother’s letters from ten years earlier (as she
told Felix in a letter of 28 September 1840), and took great delight in seeing her brother’s descriptions in a
new light, having seen and experienced the same things.
Through the remainder of the year, Hensel finished three vocal duets (H-U363) and between one and three
piano pieces. The first of these (H-U364) is dated in December, but for the other two (H-U365 and 366)
1840 is the earliest possible known date of their composition as the autograph manuscripts are lost. Since
all three appeared in Hensel’s op.4/5 as nos.3, 5, and 6, it is possible that they were all completed around
the same time if she conceived of them as a set. Indeed, all three works depend heavily on three-hand
technique and rising arpeggio figures. The first, op.4/5 no.3, gives particularly the impression of a fantasia.
Perhaps Hensel, returned to reality in her Berlin home, was reliving her long-anticipated Italian sojourn
through improvisation at the piano in this manner.
1841 was a remarkably productive year for Hensel in contrast to the fallow years before the Italian trip. She
wrote 16 piano pieces (which included the 13 collected under the title Das Jahr), nine Lieder, two vocal
duets, one vocal trio, one vocal quartet, and a tableau vivant. A fragment of a chamber work for violin and
piano also dates from around this time. About half of these works were completed as joint projects with her
husband; the tableau vivant featured Wilhelm’s libretto and his artwork, and he supplied vignettes for each
of the pieces in Das Jahr. She recommenced her Sonntagsmusiken (although she complained to Felix that the
musicians in Berlin didn’t measure up to those in Rome), and appeared in public for the second time on 4
March 1841. The performance took place at the Berlin Schauspielhaus where she played in Felix’s Piano
Trio in D minor, op.49. As a non-professional woman, she was again not referred to by her full name. This
time, rather than being identified as Felix’s sister, she was referred to as her husband’s wife: ‘Frau P.H.
[Professorin Hensel]’. To her delight 1841 brought the return of her beloved brother to the family home in
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Berlin. Felix was less pleased, however; he had been summoned by the newly crowned King Friedrich
Wilhelm IV (reigned 1840–61) to accept an ambiguously worded charge to reinvigorate Berlin as an artistic
centre, but Felix had no desire to give up his post at the Gewandhaus in Leipzig and move his family back to
Berlin to serve the whims of the new King.
Fanny’s piano cycle Das Jahr is generally interpreted as the musical diary of her year in Italy, but another
collection dating from 1841 also bears considerable significance in that regard: the Reisealbum. Fanny and
Wilhelm compiled this album from May to November 1841; it contained works composed between October
1839 and August 1841. As he did with Das Jahr, Wilhelm decorated the multicoloured pages with vignettes
depicting places and memories from their trip, and created a title page with an image of Germany handing
the Reisealbum to Italy (both countries being personified as women). The album contains five Lieder, four
vocal duets, two vocal quartets, and seven piano pieces tracing the beginning of the journey (Nach süden,
H-U373), the musical flavours of Italy (Il saltarello romano/Tarantella, H-U372), favourite haunts (Villa
Medicis, H-U353 and Villa Mills, H-U357), the departure from Rome (Abschied vom Rom/Ponte Moll, H-
U352), and finally the arrival home (Hausgarten, H-U355). The mix of musical genres encapsulates Fanny’s
experience of composing and performing during the Italian sojourn, while Wilhelm’s charming
illustrations complete the concept. The album was never intended for publication; rather, it was a musical
and artistic scrapbook of their memories, meant for domestic consumption only.
The Hensels were evidently so pleased with this joint project that they soon began another: a cycle of
character pieces entitled Das Jahr (‘The Year’, H-U384). In this case Hensel composed all the works newly
and specifically for this project, and they are all for solo piano; she began composing on 28 August (no.2,
Februar), but appears not to have started working seriously on the cycle until 7 October (no.3, April). At this
point, she completed each new piece at steady intervals, from just a day or two up to about two weeks
apart, and devoted her time for composing entirely to this project. We can assume that she started Das Jahr
while Wilhelm finished filling in the illustrations on the Reisealbum, which were not completed until
November. Each of the 13 pieces in Das Jahr (one for each month of the year and a ‘Nachspiel’) illustrates
some characteristic of that month. For example, März includes an Easter chorale (Christ ist erstanden) in
reference to the celebration of Easter around that time, although not necessarily directly to their own
Italian experience. (Easter fell on 31 March in 1839, on 19 April in 1840, and on 11 April in 1841: the Hensels
were still in Berlin to celebrate Easter in March 1839.) Mai is a ‘Frühlingslied’, Oktober a ‘Jägerlied’, and
Dezember includes the Advent chorale Vom Himmel hoch, da komm ich her. The Nachspiel, appropriately, is a
setting of the chorale Das alte Jahr vergangen ist.
The importance of this work in Fanny’s output cannot be over emphasized. The whole takes about 60
minutes in performance and demonstrates a large-scale cyclic concept entirely missing from her brother’s
works in either the genre of character piece or that of Lied. Like the Reisealbum, Das Jahr is neatly copied
onto the multicoloured paper. Wilhelm’s vignettes appear in the upper left-hand corner of the first page of
each work; the staves were custom-drawn to allow for these insertions, which were completed at some
point during the first few months of 1842. One added feature, however, are the epigrams copied into the
album (without attribution to their author) on a blank sheet prior to each piece. There was clearly no
attempt to save space and expense with this album, which was a Christmas present for Wilhelm; the
intended effect was of music, art, and literature combining to create a deeply personal and evocative work
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on a variety of levels. When Hensel published September as her op.2 no.2, she removed all programmatic
and extra-musical elements and presented it as an abstract character piece; perhaps she wanted to conceal
both the personal aspects of the project she shared with her husband and the ‘unfeminine’ qualities
associated with its original place as part of a large-scale cycle.
“The Year – January” [Das Jahr – Januar]. Autograph clean copy by Fanny Hensel with title vignette by Wilhelm Hensel. After 1840.
bpk Bildagentur / Mendelssohn-Archiv, Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin / Art Resource, NY.
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During 1841 Hensel was happily engaged in composing, spending time with her own family, and with Felix
and his family, while neglecting her diary and her letter-writing. Thus, we have little insight into her views
on her compositions, although her higher output this year attests to the continuing inspiration generated
by her Italian trip. Felix’s frequent presence in the family home was also rejuvenating for Hensel (and
mostly explains the lack of letters from this period). Despite the resurgence of her compositional
inspiration, the question of publishing remained taboo; ironically enough, while Felix was still
discouraging his sister from composing, he encouraged Josephine Lang, sending her newly published
Lieder to Fanny in July 1841 (Krebs).
As the year 1842 began, Hensel was occupied in Berlin as hostess; not a single piece survives dated to 1842.
She was still busy with completing Das Jahr, the joint project with Wilhelm, as well as running her
Sonntagsmusiken, and hosting numerous guests including Franz Liszt, who stirred the German capital into
a mania for his pianistic fireworks. Despite their public attempts to appear respectful to Liszt, neither
Fanny nor Felix cared for him or his music. Wilhelm travelled to Dresden for about two weeks in July to
exhibit one of his new paintings, visit galleries, and expand their network (the whole family would return
to Dresden for about nine days in September), and Hensel welcomed both Paul’s family and Felix to the
family home for extended stays (Paul was a refugee from a fire in Hamburg that destroyed a quarter of the
city centre), among numerous other family and friends. Hensel sat for her portrait by Moritz Daniel
Oppenheim, in which she is depicted as a socialite; that is, as a woman of wealth and class dressed in fine
lace, jewellery, and a fashionable hairstyle, but (as R. Larry Todd points out) with no obvious means of
identifying her talents as a musician or intellectual. However, as a hostess she managed to make a
powerful impression; thus William Sterndale Bennett expressed unusual terror at playing in her presence
at her home. On 9 October 1842 Hensel recorded at length in her diary the drought that had plagued the
region since August; several cities, she reported, had burnt, her garden had withered to a crisp, fruit cost
four times as much as usual, and even potatoes were excessively expensive. An event near the end of the
year eclipsed everything else: Lea Mendelssohn suffered a stroke on 11 December 1842, while at a party in
memory of her late husband’s birthday, and died the next morning. Now, with both Mendelssohn parents
gone, the duty to carry on the family as ‘children no longer’ (in Felix’s words) fell to Fanny, as the only
Mendelssohn still in permanent residence at the Berlin family home.
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Moritz Daniel Oppenheim, Portrait of Fanny Mendelssohn Hensel, 1842. The Jewish Museum, New York, NY, U.S.A. Gift of Daniel M.
Friedenberg.
9. Lost illusions, 1843–5.
After the death of her mother (and the ensuing strain of dealing with her estate and personal effects),
Hensel fell into a depression that lasted for much of 1843. Her diary entries until March focus exclusively
on the theme of her mother’s death. Part of the healing process for Hensel included realizing the love and
happiness she still possessed within the family that remained to her, and in late February they spent a
week in Leipzig with Felix’s family. For the first time that year she mentions music; she attended several
concerts at the Gewandhaus and heard the music of Gade, Berlioz, Clara Schumann playing Robert
Schumann, and Felix’s Symphony no.3 in A minor, op.56, the ‘Scottish’, among others. Perhaps as a
reaction to being part of an active musical culture again, Hensel ruminated ruefully on her own lack of
compositional inspiration. Her time at the piano was becoming more rare as she was required to deal with
family crises. On 12 March, the house at Leipzigerstrasse 3 suffered a break-in; Rebecka sounded the alarm
when the thieves entered the bedroom where she and her husband were asleep. Her screams sent them
running and not much was taken, but the incursion deeply upset Fanny and Rebecka. Fanny had mentioned
to Felix in a letter of 17 January that burglaries were common in Berlin that winter and she feared just such
an event, especially as they were occupying solely the Gartenhaus, and the rest of the house was dark and
quiet following Lea’s death. One ambitious project broke her compositional hiatus of over a year and
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occupied Fanny for most of the first half of 1843; begun on 23 March and concluded in early July, this was
her Scenes from Faust, Part II, Scene 1 (H-U389), for soprano, four additional soloists (two sopranos and two
altos), a four-part female choir, and piano. Remarkable here are the exclusively female voices; there is no
male voice to sing the part of Faust. By choosing not to set the character of Faust himself, but rather to
write for the spirits who surround the scene, Fanny approaches Faust from a uniquely feminine perspective
and thereby highlights the ‘eternal feminine’ which plays such an important role in Goethe’s epic play.
Despite the many struggles she had faced in the early part of 1843, Hensel maintained an active social role
and entertained numerous guests. On 23 April, the presence of her dear friends the Woringens
unfortunately prevented her from accepting her brother’s invitation to the unveiling of his Bach-Denkmal
in Leipzig. A few days later, on their way to dinner at Paul’s, the Hensels ran into Gounod (who had just
arrived in Berlin with the express intention of visiting Fanny) and invited him to join them for their
evening plans, which included going to see Devrient perform in Armide. Thereafter, Gounod spent nearly
every afternoon for almost three weeks with Hensel, playing and talking about music. Just as he had in
Rome, Gounod reinvigorated Hensel’s self-confidence, and in this case, also helped to reawaken her
compositional inspiration. She considered his musical style much improved and his artistic judgement
more highly developed. His visit seems to have prompted her to return to composing for the piano, if only
briefly; a piano piece in G minor (H-U391) dates from 20 May, just five days after his departure. Gounod
headed next to Leipzig with a letter of introduction from Fanny to Felix; in this way, Hensel occupied an
unusual position for a female amateur, as letters of introduction were typically written by prominent male
artists to support either younger males or females.
6 June found the Hensel family in Leipzig for a short stay to celebrate the baptism of Felix’s fourth child,
and on 19 June Wilhelm departed for London. There, he had audiences with Queen Victoria and Prince
Albert. She had dreaded her husband’s absence, but found herself pleasantly surprised by how happily she
had been able to fill the time with visiting family and friends in her home and her garden (the drought of
the previous year was now forgotten). A ‘weakness’ in her arms prevented her from engaging in many
musical activities, however; this loss of sensation was a premonition of the stroke that would take her life
in 1847. After anxiously waiting two weeks for Wilhelm to return, with little to no communication between
them, Hensel joyously welcomed him home on 14 September, reporting that his trip was both personally
satisfying and strategically advantageous for his career. His good mood supported her through the
remainder of the year. She attended the premiere of Felix’s incidental music to A Midsummer Night’s
Dream, op.61, on 14 October and described his music as a perfect match for Shakespeare (‘hat er
volkommen auf gleicher Linie mit Shakes.[peare] nach erschaffen’). In late November, letters from family
and friends in Rome prompted her to muse about the possibility of taking Sebastian back in five years
before he began his university studies; this trip, sadly, would never happen, as Hensel only had three years
remaining.
Besides the Scenes from Faust, Hensel’s most striking effort from 1843 is her return to the genre of the
piano sonata. A tour de force in G minor (H-U395), this final piano sonata, like her Easter Sonata,
demonstrates a wide stylistic range and diverse technical challenges. The first movement is the strongest
of the four, with its rumbling tremolo and Beethovenian disjunct groups of threes that give way to a lyrical
theme maintaining a three-against-four pattern. The movement ends in the major mode (G major) and
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employs a common-tone modulation via B♮ to transition directly into the second movement, a Scherzo in B
minor. The B major trio section in the Scherzo features an internal double tremolo with melody and bass
notes articulated by the outside of both hands, a technical challenge that in her teens Fanny had
encountered and mastered in Beethoven’s late sonatas.
The Scherzo also proceeds directly into the slow third movement in D major, via an arpeggiated transition
evoking the story-telling harp that also opens Felix’s Fantasie op.28. Hensel’s Lied style comes to the fore
in this movement, much as it would in her later Piano Trio in D minor op.11. A flowing Finale utilizing the
three-hand technique brings to mind the style of her Lieder for piano (such as the works she published in
her op.4/5). This movement repeats sections several times and hammers the tonic extensively in the final
pages. Because Fanny improvised so much at the keyboard, we can surmise that she didn’t necessarily play
the work with this ending every time; she most probably would have used the harmonic and motivic
framework to extemporize alternate versions. Like many of her written compositions, especially for piano,
the version on the page is only a snapshot in time that represents a captured version of a work which had a
life beyond the documented version. Since the work bears the date ‘Im Herbst 1843’ (‘Autumn 1843’), the
weakness in her arms that had been troubling her all summer must presumably have abated.
The winter of 1844 presented new opportunities to hear some favourite music conducted by her brother;
Beethoven’s Symphony no.9 on 27 March led Hensel to exclaim that the performance made her feel
uncommonly musically happy. Felix spent most of the winter in Berlin with his family, which contributed
to Hensel’s good mood, and produced several other performances of his own music as well as Handel’s
Israel in Egypt. Hensel began her Sonntagsmusiken again and programmed Felix’s Die erste Walpurgisnacht
twice. Her first performance of the work took place on 10 March, with the composer in attendance and
assisting her in the overture at the keyboard. She also programmed her brother’s new Andante and
variations, op.83a, for piano four hands, which she performed with him on 11 February, as well as the
incidental music to A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Three of the four works for piano four hands in Hensel’s
catalogue date from early 1844. Felix’s engagement with the genre at the same time seems to have spurred
Hensel’s interest, in a situation that we see repeatedly throughout the siblings’ lives. Her four piano works
and three firmly dated Lieder from 1844 all date from this same time period – January through March. A
Liederzyklus, which would have been another joint project with her husband, is thought to date from
summer 1844, but the manuscript, if it ever existed, is lost. Felix’s departure from Berlin (which would
become permanent in November, as Felix negotiated reduced duties to the King that didn’t require his
residence in Berlin) seems to have depressed Hensel musically, and another cold, wet summer with much
of her family away served further to dampen her compositional spirits.
Hensel would soon be reunited with some of her family, but under conditions of duress; Rebecka and her
husband, Gustav Dirichlet, had been spending the summer of 1844 in Italy when Rebecka became ill with
jaundice, and then also found out she was pregnant and unable to return to Berlin as planned. The Hensel
family travelled to Italy in January 1845 to join the Dirichlets in Florence. While Wilhelm proceeded to
Rome to paint, Fanny helped her sister with her home and her health and provided much needed support
when Rebecka’s daughter arrived a month early in February. Despite the health concerns, Hensel’s return
to Italy inspired her musically and she hired a piano, although it appears she did not compose while she
was there. She did, however, complete one impressive musical task in 1844, copying out from memory
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selections from Bach’s cantatas BWV106 and BWV229 (H-U II14 and H-U II15, respectively), as well as her
own Abschied vom Rom, and sending them to Julius Elsasser (the painter and brother of August Elsasser,
who had been part of Rebecka’s social circle in Rome when the Dirichlets were there in 1843). After her
sister had returned to health in March, Fanny and Sebastian joined Wilhelm in Rome for another two
months, where they socialized and enjoyed music and art much as they had done in 1839–40. A protracted
journey home commenced in mid-May with stops to visit family in Florence (the Dirichlets), Freiburg im
Breisgau (Felix and Paul), Soden (the Jeanrenauds), Horchheim (Joseph Mendelssohn), and Frankfurt
(joined by Rebecka and family), before finally arriving back in Berlin on 2 August. The family emergencies
and unexpectedly lengthy travel in Italy (with its inevitable relaxation into nostalgia for their 1839–40
sojourn there) conspired to make 1845 the second year (the other was 1842) since she had first started to
compose that Hensel did not create a single new original composition.
August Kaselowsky: Fanny Hensel in Rome (1845).
After the return from Italy in August, life in Berlin throughout the rest of 1845 returned to normal, with the
usual round of social engagements, and excitement over performances of Felix’s Oedipus at Colonos in
Berlin. A combination of spending too much while travelling earlier that year and a lack of sales for
Wilhelm’s paintings put the Hensels into a financial decline which caused the family some worry that
winter. Perhaps as a result, Hensel did not resume her Sonntagsmusiken for the autumn concert season. The
family, including Fanny (uncharacteristically – she was usually helping the rest of the family recover from
severe illness while she tended to report only the occasional cold herself) battled recurrent illness that
winter and into early spring. But spring came early and Hensel felt restored and energized by the natural
beauty that surrounded her in her home, garden, and city. Perhaps this feeling of being ‘newly reborn’, as
she confided to her diary on 17 May, was what prompted Fanny to take a new direction in her life in 1846.
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10. Publication, 1846–7.
1846 began as usual; Hensel reported in her diary on the health of her family and friends and recorded
news from her social circle, the weather, and European politics. She resumed her Sonntagsmusiken in
March, which continued through June. She also started a small choral group that met at her home every
Friday (much like Zelter’s choral group at the Singakademie that Fanny and Felix had sung in as children)
and her catalogue displays 11 new compositions for vocal quartet between May and September. There are
only five other vocal quartets in her catalogue, three of which date to around the Italian journey of 1839–
40. The Hensel family celebrated the confirmation of Sebastian with a ball and welcomed the usual
assortment of family and friends as guests in their home. One guest in particular is first mentioned in
Hensel’s diary on 17 May 1846: Robert von Keudell, a well-connected German diplomat and pianist. At the
end of July, she noted in her diary that Keudell inspired her much as Gounod had done earlier and that he
‘looks with greatest interest at anything new that I write, makes me aware of any shortcomings, and as a
rule he is correct’. In the same breath she continued, ‘Thus I have made up my mind to publish my things’.
Even though Wilhelm had long encouraged her to publish, the arrival of a new source of support in Keudell
cannot be underestimated. Hensel revelled in two competing offers, from Bote und Bock and Schlesinger,
respectively. The only sour note in this account was the observation that she had written earlier to her
brother (on 9 July) to let him know her news and as yet had received no response from him. Felix was at
that time involved in the frantic process of completing and (with William Bartholomew) translating his
oratorio Elijah into English ahead of its premiere at the Birmingham Town Hall on 26 August. Hensel
lamented that she had to learn of the subject of the oratorio from the papers; the disconnection from her
brother, despite being painful for her, was perhaps in part what offered Fanny the freedom to break finally
from the expectations for her life that had held her back from publishing for over 20 years. As she put it, ‘I
am as afraid of my brothers at forty as I was of my father at fourteen’. As Felix had explained privately to
their mother in 1837, he could not encourage Fanny to publish, but would support her if she approached
him. Hensel, unaware of his feelings on that subject, did not approach him for help; as her diary and letters
reveal, she obtained her own contracts (making a point not to publish with Breitkopf und Härtel, which
was Felix’s main publisher) and made her own decisions as to which works would appear first. He finally
wrote shortly before leaving for England and welcomed her to the ‘guild’ just as he had been welcomed by
Zelter and Goethe many years earlier. The combination of her brother’s blessing (even though she knew
his heart was not entirely in it) with the most beautiful summer she had ever experienced in Berlin, and the
return of a happiness that equalled that of her experience in Italy over half a decade previously, along with
the musical companionship and encouragement of Keudell, resulted in one of Hensel’s most prolific years
as a composer since 1823. She wrote around 50 works in each of the years 1823 and 1846, totalling almost a
quarter of her entire output. Evidently the feeling of being ‘newly reborn’ in 1846 indicated a rebirth of the
joy and creative energy she had felt as a young woman in 1823.
Despite the rejuvenation of her compositional inspiration in 1846, Hensel did not select works from that
year for her first publications. Instead, she selected six songs from 1837, 1839, and 1841 for her Sechs Lieder
für eine Stimme mit Begleitung des Pianoforte op.1, and four piano pieces from 1836, 1839–40, 1841, and 1843
for her Vier Lieder für das Pianoforte op.2. Her third publication, however, featured only works newly
composed in 1846: Gartenlieder: Sechs Gesänge für Sopran, Alt, Tenor und Baß op.3. These four-part settings
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reflect her work with her Friday afternoon singing group. In this we can see how the opportunity to hear
her newly completed works inspired her and gave her the confidence to publish immediately; this is the
only situation in which we can draw parallels with the Sunday Musicales hosted by Felix’s parents to give
him a similar opportunity to hear his music: Hensel did not use her own Sonntagsmusiken as a professional
workshop for herself.
Hensel enjoyed the rest of the summer with her family and friends; she describes in her diary one occasion
on which they sailed all day on Lake Treptow, singing and eating grapes. She maintained her Friday
singing group, and resumed her Sonntagsmusiken on 4 October, continuing to spend time with Keudell, and
publishing her Gartenlieder op.3. The entire family dealt with sickness and toothaches, and Wilhelm’s foot
was run over by a hackney cab. Felix came to visit, and for Fanny played selections from his recent triumph
in Birmingham, his oratorio Elias, on 17 December. Fanny and Felix performed more four-hand repertoire,
and all the siblings gathered for dinner and got drunk on wine that Felix had brought back from the Rhine
region before Felix departed on 21 December. Hensel then describes her preparations for Christmas,
blissfully unaware that this had been the last time she would spend any extended time in the company of
her brother.
1847 opened with renewed concerns about income versus expenses, and the question of Sebastian’s future
career, which he asserted would be as a painter, like his father. Hensel wished her son to take the school
finishing exams (the Abitur) which would prepare him instead to attend university. In the end, Sebastian
did paint, but not professionally. He became a rather unlucky businessman, and is best known today as a
writer for his account of the Mendelssohn family history, Die Familie Mendelssohn. Hensel spent an hour in
the afternoons playing and discussing music with Keudell throughout most of the year, and Clara
Schumann visited nearly every day in March. Fanny was also occupied during this time in writing her Piano
Trio, which would be published posthumously as her op.11. Clara Schumann had recently completed her
Piano Trio (op.17, in G minor) and was working on publishing it; it is believed that she had intended to
dedicate it to Hensel before her untimely death. Felix passed through Berlin for a day in late March, which
was the last time the siblings would see each other. Hensel played her op.11 trio at her first
Sonntagsmusiken of the spring on 11 April, which she had rehearsed a few days earlier with Keudell on violin
and her brother Paul on cello. On 12 April, she reported that her last three opuses had appeared, and for
unexplained reasons, that ‘I fear that I stand at the end of my publishing business’. On 26 April, she
complained that she had lost her compositional inspiration and hadn’t written a single note since finishing
her trio. That was her final diary entry. Fanny Hensel passed away on 14 May 1847, after experiencing a
series of strokes. She was seated at her piano in the middle of a rehearsal of Felix’s Die erste Walpurgisnacht
for her Sonntagsmusiken when she felt the first loss of sensation in her arms. She tried to return to her
rehearsal, only to be struck again shortly afterwards. She quickly lost consciousness and died that night.
Hensel had died just as she wished to: with no protracted illness, happy in her home, and surrounded by
her family, friends, and music. We can assume that the one thing missing from Hensel’s last moments was
her beloved brother and that his absence must have been her only regret. She was buried next day, Sunday
15 May, before her brother even knew of her passing. When he received the news, Felix screamed, fainted,
and hit his head on the floor; he would pass away from strokes, just like his sister and mother, about five
months later on 4 November 1847. Before he did so, however, he spent a summer in Switzerland painting
and composing his String Quartet in F minor. He returned to Berlin to view his beloved sister’s music
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room, and her grave, and experienced another nervous breakdown. Several of Hensel’s last publications
appeared with Breitkopf und Härtel, which was Felix’s usual publisher, so it seems that when he visited
Berlin, he selected several of her songs to publish himself. Perhaps this was his way of making amends to
his sister for resisting her desire to publish and become a professional musician.
The day before she died, Hensel broke her last compositional silence with her final Lied, Bergeslust (H-
U466), in which she set text from Eichendorff’s Song of Travel. The lively setting betrays not the slightest
premonition of her unexpected death, but the words she set were prophetic. The poem ends: ‘Our fantasies
as well as our songs rise up until they reach heaven’ (‘Gedanken gehn und Lieder fort bis ins
Himmelreich’). This portion of her final song was later engraved on her tombstone, where it can be viewed
today in the Mendelssohn family plot in the cemetery of the Dreifaltigkeitskirche (Church of the Holy
Trinity) in Kreuzberg, Berlin. Hensel’s final Lied is a joyous ode to music, nature, and the Romantic
imagination: the perfect summation of a life well lived.
The Music Room of Fanny Hensel (nee Mendelssohn), 1849. By Julius Helfft, painted the way it had been preserved after her death.
Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum / Art Resource, NY
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Fanny Hensel’s Published Works
Op. No. Title Publisher and Date
1 Sechs Lieder für eine Stimme mit Begleitung des Pianoforte Berlin: Bote & Bock, 1846
1 ‘Schwanenlied’ (Heine) Fall 1839
2 ‘Wanderlied’ (Goethe) Summer 1837
3 ‘Warum sind denn die Rosen so blaß?’ (Heine) 26 January 1837
4 ‘Maienlied’ (Eichendorff) 1841 or later
5 ‘Morgenständchen’ (Eichendorff) 1841 or later
6 ‘Gondollied’ (Geibel) June 4, 1841
2 Vier Lieder für das Pianoforte Berlin: Bote & Bock, 1846
1 Andante 19 July 1836
2 Andante con moto (‘September’ from Das Jahr) 15 November 1841
3 Allegretto grazioso (‘Villa Mills’) Fall 1839 – Summer 1840
4 Allegro molto vivace 28 October 1843
3 Gartenlieder: Sechs Gesänge für Sopran, Alt, Tenor und Baß Berlin: Bote & Bock, 1846
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1 ‘Hörst du nicht die Bäume rauschen’ (Eichendorff) 3 May 1846
2 ‘Schöne Fremde’ (Eichendorff) 22 July 1846
3 ‘Im Herbste’ (Uhland) 14 June 1846
4 ‘Morgengruß’ (Wilhelm Hensel) 24 June 1846
5 ‘Abendlich schon rauscht der Wald’ (Eichendorff) 7 May 1846
6 ‘Im Wald’ (Geibel) 9 February 1846
4/5 Six melodies pour le piano Berlin: A. M. Schlesinger, 1847
1 Allegro assai 5 April 1839
2 Allegretto 21 March – 3 May 1846
3 Allegro molto quasi Presto December 1840
4 Lento appassionato 27 July 1846
5 Allegro molto vivace 1840 or later
6 Andante soave 1840 or later
6 Vier Lieder für das Pianoforte Berlin: Bote & Bock, 1847
1 Andante espressivo 11 November 1846
Page 40 of 81

2 Allegro vivace Fall 1839 – Summer 1840
3 Andante cantabile (‘O Traum der Jugend, o goldner Stern’) 16 May 1846
4 Allegro molto (‘Il Saltarello Romano/Tarentella’) 26–30 March 1841
7 Sechs Lieder für eine Stimme mit Begleitung des Pianoforte Berlin: Bote & Bock, 1847
1 ‘Nachtwanderer’ (Eichendorff) 1843 or earlier
2 ‘Erwin’ (Goethe) 4 October 1846
3 ‘Frühling’ (Eichendorff) 1846 or earlier
4 ‘Du bist die Ruh’’ (Rückert) 4 May 1839
5 ‘Bitte’ (Lenau) 7 August 1846
6 ‘Dein ist mein Herz’ (Lenau) 11 July 1846
8 Vier Lieder für das Pianoforte Leipzig: Breitkopf & Härtel, 1850
1 Allegro moderato 14 May 1846
2 Andante con espressione 1846 or earlier
3 Lied (Lenau) 1846 or earlier
4 Wanderlied 4 December 1846
Page 41 of 81

9 Sechs Lieder mit Begleitung der Pianoforte Leipzig: Breitkopf & Härtel, 1850
1 ‘Die Ersehnte’ (Hölty) 26 February 1827
2 ‘Ferne’ (Tieck) 29 October 1823
3 ‘Der Rosenkranz’ (Voß) 3 March 1826
4 ‘Die frühen Graber’ (Klopstock) 8 October 1828
5 ‘Der Maiabend’ (Voß) 30 August 1827
6 ‘Die Mainacht’ (Hölty) 24 June 1838
10 Fünf Lieder mit Begleitung der Pianoforte Leipzig: Breitkopf & Härtel, 1850
1 ‘Nach Süden’ (Wilhelm Hensel) April or May 1841
2 ‘Vorwurf’ (Lenau) 1846 or earlier
3 ‘Abendbild’ (Lenau) 2 September 1846
4 ‘Im Herbste’ (Geibel) 23 January 1846
5 ‘Bergeslust’ (Eichendorff) 13 May 1847
11 Trio für Violine, Violoncello und Klavier in d-Moll Leipzig: Breitkopf & Härtel, 1850 April 1847
Page 42 of 81

Works
Editions
Anon. [F. Hensel]: Die Schwalbe in Rheinblüthen 1825 (April 1824)
F. Mendelssohn: Zwölf Gesänge mit Begleitung des Pianoforte, op.8 (Berlin, 1827)
F. Mendelssohn: Zwölf Lieder mit Begleitung des Pianoforte (Erstes Heft: Der Jüngling. Zweites Heft: Das Mädchen) in
Musik gesetzt von Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy. Heft II. op.9 (Berlin, 1830)
F. Hensel: Album: Neue Original-Compositionen für Gesang und Piano (Berlin, 1836)
F. Hensel: ‘Schloß Liebeneck’, Rhein-Sagen und Lieder (Köln and Bonn, 1839)
F. Hensel: Gartenlieder: Sechs Gesänge für Sopran, Alt, Tenor und Bass componirt von Fanny Hensel geb. Mendelssohn-
Bartholdy, op.3 (Berlin and Breslau, 1846)
F. Hensel: Sechs Lieder für eine Stimme mit Begleitung des Pianoforte von Fanny Hensel geb. Mendelssohn Bartholdy,
op.1 (Berlin, 1846)
F. Hensel: Vier Lieder für das Pianofort von Fanny Hensel geb. Mendelssohn-Bartholdy, op.2 (Berlin and Breslau, 1846)
F. Hensel: Sechs Lieder für eine Stimme mit Begleitung des Pianoforte componirt und ihrer Schwester Frau R. Lejeune
Dirichlet zugeeignet von Fanny Hensel geb. Mendelssohn Bartholdy, 2tes Heft, op.7 (Berlin and Breslau, 1847)
F. Hensel: Six melodies pour le piano composées par Fanny Hensel née Mendelssohn- Bartholdy, op.4 livre I and op.5
livre II (Berlin, 1847)
F. Hensel: Vier Lieder für das Pianofort von Fanny Hensel geb. Mendelssohn-Bartholdy, II. Heft, op.6 (Berlin and
Breslau, 1847)
F. Hensel: Album zum Besten des Frauenvereins zur Erwerbung eines Kriegsfahrzeuges (Berlin, 1848)
F. Hensel: Zwei Bagatellen für die Schüler des Schindelmeisser’schen Musik-Institutes componirt von Fanny Hensel
(Berlin, 1848)
F. Hensel: Fünf Lieder mit Begleitung des Pianoforte componirt von Fanny Cäcilia Hensel geb. Mendelssohn Bartholdy,
op.10 (Leipzig, 1850)
F. Hensel: Sechs Lieder mit Begleitung des Pianoforte componirt von Fanny Cäcilia Hensel geb. Mendelssohn Bartholdy,
F. Hensel: Trio für Pianoforte, Violine und Violoncello componirt von Fanny Cäcilia Hensel geb. Mendelssohn Bartholdy,
F. Hensel: Vier Lieder für das Pianoforte componirt von Fanny Cäcilia Hensel geb. Mendelssohn Bartholdy op.8 (Leipzig,
1850)
F. Hensel: Pastorella composé pour le Piano par Fanny Hensel née Mendelssohn-Bartholdy. (Berlin, 1852)
Page 43 of 81

F. Hensel: Ave Maria, arr. as a unison song by J. Werner (London, 1934)
F. Hensel: The Spinning Girl (Die Spinnerin), ed. J. Werner (London, c. 1959)
F. Hensel: Trio für Violine, Violoncello und Klavier, Opus 11 (Munich, 1984)
F. Hensel: Ausgewählte Klavierwerke (Munich, 1986) [1st ed. from the autograph ed. by F. Kistner-Hensel, with a
foreword by R. Elvers]
F. Hensel and F. Mendelssohn: At the Piano with Felix and Fanny Mendelssohn, ed. M. Hinson (Van Nuys, CA,
1988)
F. Hensel: Prelude für Orgel, ed. E. Mascha Blankenburg (Kassel, 1988)
F. Hensel: Streichquartett Es-Dur, ed. G. Marx (Wiesbaden, 1988)
F. Hensel: Weltliche a-cappella-Chöre von 1846, Heft 1, ed. E. Mascha Blankenburg (Kassel, 1988) 1988a
F. Hensel: Weltliche a-cappella-Chöre von 1846, Heft 2, ed. E. Mascha Blankenburg (Kassel, 1988) 1988b
F. Hensel: Weltliche a-cappella-Chöre von 1846, Heft 3, ed. E. Mascha Blankenburg (Kassel, 1988) 1988c
F. Hensel: Weltliche a-cappella-Chöre von 1846, Heft 4, ed. E. Mascha Blankenburg (Kassel, 1988) 1988d
F. Hensel: Zwei Bagatellen für Klavier, ed. B. Heller (Kassel, 1988)
F. Hensel: Adagio für Violine und Klavier, ed. R. Marcian (Kassel, 1989)
F. Hensel: Frühzeitiger Frühling, ed. J. Draheim and G. Heinz (Wiesbaden, 1989) 1989a
F. Hensel: Unter des Laubdachs Hut, ed. J. Draheim and G. Heinz (Wiesbaden, 1989) 1989b
F. Hensel: Das Jahr: 12 Charackterstücke für das Forte-Piano, ed. L. Gavrila Serbescu and B. Heller, 2 vols (Kassel,
1989)
F. Hensel: Prélude für Klavier, ed. R. Marciano (Kassel, 1989)
F. Hensel: Streichquartett Es-Dur, ed. R. Eggebrecht-Kupsa (Kassel, 1989)
F. Hensel: Drei Stücke zu vier Händen, ed. B. Gabler (Kassel, 1990)
F. Hensel: Io d’amor, oh Dio, mi moro, concert aria for Soprano and Orchestra, facsimile, ed. H.-G. Klein (Berlin,
1990)
F. Hensel: Klavierquartett As-Dur, ed. R. Eggebrecht-Kupsa (Kassel, 1990)
F. Hensel: Ausgewählte Lieder für Singstimme und Klavier, ed. A. Assenbaum (Düsseldorf, 1991)
F. Hensel: Ouvertüre C-Dur, ed. E. Mascha Blankenburg (Kassel, 1991)
F. Hensel: Sonate c-Moll. Sonatensatz E-Dur, ed. L. Gavrila Serbescu and B. Heller (Kassel, 1991) 1991a
F. Hensel: Sonate g-Moll für Klavier, ed. L. Gavrila Serbescu and B. Heller (Kassel, 1991) 1991b
F. Hensel: Two Duets on Texts by Heinrich Heine, ed. S. Summerville (Fairbanks, 1991) 1991a
Page 44 of 81

F. Hensel: Three Duets on Texts by Heinrich Heine, ed. S. Summerville (Fairbanks, 1991) 1991b
F. Hensel: Three Duets on Texts of Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, ed. S. Summerville (Fairbanks, 1991) 1991c
F. Hensel: Lobgesang, ed. C. Misch (Kassel, 1992) 1992a
F. Hensel: Hiob, ed. C. Misch (Kassel, 1992) 1992b
F. Hensel: Io d’amor, oh Dio, mi moro, facsimile, ed. W. Gottschalk (Berlin, 1992)
F. Hensel: Two Piano Sonatas, ed. J. Radell (Bryn Mawr, 1992).
E. Rieger and K. Walter, eds: Frauen Komponieren: 25 Lieder für Singstimme und Klavier (Mainz, 1992)
F. Hensel: Ausgewählte Leider für Singstimme und Klavier, Bd. 2, ed. A. Maurer (Wiesbaden, 1993)
F. Hensel: Prelude for Organ, ed. B. Harbach (Washington, 1993)
F. Hensel: Ausgewählte Leider für Singstimme und Klavier, Bd. 1, ed. A. Maurer (Wiesbaden, 1994)
F. Hensel: Faust, Part II of the Tragedy, Act I, for Soprano and Piano with SSAA Soli and Chorus, ed. S. Summerville
(Fairbanks, 1994)
F. Hensel: Songs for Pianoforte, 1836–1837, ed. C. Cai (Madison: A-R Editions, 1994)
F. Hensel: Three Songs by Fanny Hensel for Voice and Piano, on Texts by Lord Byron, ed. S. Summerville (Fairbanks,
1994)
F. Hensel: Waldruhe, Terzett für Sopran, Alt, Tenor und Klavier, ed. B. Gabler and T. Stöhr (Kassel, 1994)
F. Hensel: Zwei Stücke für Violoncello und Klavier, ed. C. Lambour (Wiesbaden, 1994)
F. Hensel: Fünf Terzette, ed. B Gabler and T. Stöhr (Kassel, 1995)
F. Hensel: Hero und Leander, ed. E. Mascha Blankenburg (Kassel, 1995)
F. Hensel: Six Piano Pieces from the 1820s, ed. J. Radell (Bryn Mawr, 1995)
F. Hensel: 16 Songs, ed. J.G. Paton (Van Nuys, 1995)
F. Hensel: Three Poems from Wilhelm Müller’s ‘Die schöne Müllerin’ by Fanny Hensel for Voice and Piano, ed. S.
Summerville (Fairbanks, 1995) 1995a
F. Hensel: Three Romances on Texts by Jean Pierre Claris de Florian, ed. S. Summerville (Fairbanks, 1995) 1995b
F. Hensel: Liederkreis, An Felix: während seiner ersten Abwesenheit in England 1829, ed. S. Summerville (Fairbanks,
1995) 1995c
F. Hensel: Three Poems by Heinrich Heine in the Translation of Mary Alexander, ed. S. Summerville (Fairbanks, 1995)
1995d
F. Hensel: Altes Lied: The Spinstress’ Song: a poem by Clemens Brentano for High Voice and Piano, ed. S.
Summerville (Fairbanks, 1995) 1995e
F. Hensel: Festspiel ‘Die Hochzeit kommt’, ed. M. Vana (Kassel, 1996)

Page 45 of 81

F. Hensel: Frühe Klavierstücke, Heft I: Leichte Stücke (1823/24), ed. B. Heller (Kassel, 1996) 1996a
F. Hensel: Frühe Klavierstücke, Heft II: Mittelschwere Stücke (1824), ed. B. Heller (Kassel, 1996) 1996b
F. Hensel: Music for Piano 4 Hands, ed. J. Radell (Bryn Mawr, 1996)
F. Hensel: Oratorium nach Bildern der Bible: Musik für die Toten der Cholera-Epidimie, ed. E. Mascha Blankenburg
(Kassel, 1996)
F. Hensel: Übungsstücke und Etüden, Book 1, ed. A. Huber (Kassel, 1996) 1996a
F. Hensel: Übungsstücke und Etüden, Book 2, ed. A. Huber (Kassel, 1996) 1996b
F. Hensel: Lyrische Klavierstücke (1836–1839), ed. A. Huber (Kassel, 1996) 1996c
F. Hensel: Virtuose Klavierstücke (1838), ed. A. Huber (Kassel, 1996) 1996d
F. Hensel: Charakterstücke (1846), ed. A. Huber (Kassel, 1996) 1996e
F. Hensel: Vier Klavierstücke zu vier Händen, ed. I. Patay (Adliswil, 1996)
F. Hensel: Zum Fest der heiligen Caecilia, ed. S. Summerville (Fairbanks, 1996)
F. Hensel: Five Songs for Voice and Piano by Fanny Hensel on Texts by Wilhelm Müller, ed. S. Summerville
(Fairbanks, 1997) 1997a
F. Hensel: Three Romances on Texts by Jean Pierre Claris de Florian, ed. S. Summerville (Fairbanks, 1997) 1997b
F. Hensel: Eight Songs for Voice and Piano by Fanny Hensel on Texts by L. H. Chr. Hölty, ed. S. Summerville
(Fairbanks, 1997) 1997c
F. Hensel: 5 Klavierstücke aus der Sammlung ‘Zwölf Clavierstücke von Fanny Hensel geb. Mendelssohn Bartholdy. Für
Felix 1843’, ed. R. Hellwig-Unruh (Frankfurt, 1997) 1997a
F. Hensel: Klavierstücke 1843–44, ed. R. Hellwig-Unruh (Frankfurt, 1997) 1997b
F. Hensel: Prelude F-Dur für Orgel und 1–2 Trompeten, arr. and ed. H. Pfeiffer (Kassel, 1997)
F. Hensel: Präludium G-Dur für Orgel, ed. and completion of the fragments by R. Herrmann-Lubin (Kassel, 1997)
F. Hensel: Traum: Lied auf einen Text von Joseph von Eichendorff, F-Dur, 1844, für Singstimme und Klavier, ed. H.-G.
Klein (Wiesbaden, 1997) [facs. of autograph]
F. Hensel: Eine musikalische Italienreise: Ausgewählte Lieder für mittlere Singstimme und Klavier, ed. A. Assenbaum
(Kamen, 1998)
F. Hensel: Die späten Lieder, für mittlere Stimme und Klavier, ed. A. Assenbaum (Kamen, 1998).
F. Hensel: Das Jahr: Zwölf Charakterstücke (1841) für das Fortepiano (Kassel, 2000) [incl. introduction by B. Borchard,
A. Suga-Maack, and C. Thorau]
Page 46 of 81

Stage
H-U
248 Die Hochzeit kommt (Festspiel, W. Hensel), Dec 1829, 3 S, T, 2 B, SATB, orch (2 fl, 2 ob, 2 cl, 2 bn, 3 tpt, str), in Hensel
ed. Vana, 1996
371 Einleitung zu lebenden Bildern (W. Hensel), SATB, pf, Feb–early March 1841, D-B*
389 Scenes from Faust, Part II, Scene 1 (Goethe), S, S, S, A, A, SSAA, pf, 23 March–early July 1843, D-B*, ed. in Hensel ed.
Summerville, 1994
* = autograph
Cantatas
H-
U
257 Lobgesang (‘Song of Praise’ the Bible and J. Mentzer), S, A, SATB, orch (2 fl, 2 ob, 2 cl, 2bn, 2 hn, 2 tpt, str), 6 Feb–14
June 1831, D-B* (Klein, Das verborgene Band, 185); in Hensel ed. Misch, 1992a
258 Hiob (‘Job’; on texts from the Bible), S, A, T, B, SATB, orch (2 fl, 2 ob, 2 cl, 2 bn, 2 hn, 2 trp, 2 timp, str), 1 July–1 Oct
1831, D-B*; ed. in Hensel ed. Misch, 1992b
260 Höret zu, merket auf (Choleramusik, the Bible), S, A, T, B, SSAATTBB, orch (2 fl, 2 ob, 2 cl, 2 bn, 2 hn, 2 tpt, 2 timp, 3
trbn, str), 9 Oct–20 Nov 1831, D-B*, GB-Ob; ed. in Hensel ed. Blankenburg, 1996
272 Zum Fest der heiligen Cäcilia (the Mass for St Cecilia), S, A, T, B, SATB, pf, 22–23 Nov 1833, D-B*, inc.; ed. in Hensel ed.
Summerville, 1996
Orchestral
H-U
265 Overture, C, 2 fl, 2 ob, 2 cl, 2bn, 4 hn, 2 tpt, timp, str, 29 March–April or May 1832, D-B*; ed. in Hensel ed. Blankenburg,
1991
Chamber
H-U
Page 47 of 81

Opus Title
55 Pf Qt, A♭, 1 May–23 Nov 1822, D-B* (facs. in Weissweiler, 189, and Cadenbach, 82); ed. in Hensel ed. Eggebrecht-
Kupsa, 1990
72 Adagio, vn, pf, E, 28 May 1823, D-B*; ed. in Hensel ed. Marciano, 1989
238 Sonata o Fantasia, vc, pf, , g, 19–20 Aug [1829], dedicated to Paul Mendelssohn-Bartholdy, D-B*; ed. in Hensel ed.
Lambour, 1994
247 Capriccio, vc, pf, A♭, Autumn 1829, dedicated to Paul Mendelssohn-Bartholdy, D-B*; ed. in Hensel ed. Lambour,
1994
277 Str Qt, E♭, 26 Aug–23 Oct 1834, D-B* (facs. in Klein, Das verborgene Band, 187); ed. in Hensel ed. Marx, 1988; Hensel
ed. Eggebrecht-Kupsa, 1989 [reworking of 1829 Sonata for Piano, see H-U246]
386 Piece, vn(?), pf, g, c. 1841, D-B*, fragment
465/ Pf Trio, April 1847, (1850), autograph lost: ed. in Hensel, 1984
op.
11
Piano Solo
H-U/op. Title
1 12 Gavotten für Klavier, Summer 1819, lost
4 Pf piece, d, 17 March 1820, D-B*
29 Pf piece, e, 27 Jan–3 March 1821, D-B*
30 Pf piece, E, 27 Jan–3 March 1821, D-B*
37 Pf piece, g, 18 May 1821, D-B*
39 Pf piece, B♭, 16 June 1821, D-B*
40 Etude, g, 16–18 June 1821, D-B*
41 Pf piece, A♭, 27 June 1821, D-B*
42 Pf piece, a, fragment, Summer 1821, D-B*
43 Sonata, F, Autumn 1821, lost
Page 48 of 81

44 Sonata movement, E, 29 Jan–19 Feb 1822, D-B* (facs. in Hensel ed. Gavrila Servescu and Heller, 1991)
53 Etude, C, 6 Nov 1822, D-B*; ed. in Hensel ed. Kistner-Hensel, 1986
67 Etude, C, 30 April 1823, D-B*; ed. in Hensel ed. Huber, 1996a
69 Etude, g, 16 May 1823, D-B*; ed. in Hensel ed. Huber, 1996a
71 Etude, g, 23/24 May 1823, D-B*; ed. in Hensel ed. Kistner-Hensel, 1986
74 Etude, e♭, 5 June 1823, D-B*; ed. in Hensel ed. Huber, 1996a
79 Etude, G, 9 July 1823, D-B*; ed. in Hensel ed. Huber, 1996a
84 Etude, G, 6 Aug 1823, D-B*; ed. in Hensel ed. Huber, 1996a
86 Etude, C, 2 Sept 1823, D-B*; ed. in Hensel ed. Huber, 1996a
88 Etude, C, 12 Sept 1823, D-B*; ed. in Hensel ed. Huber, 1996a
92 Etude, b, 23 Sept 1823, D-B*; ed. in Hensel ed. Heller, 1996b
96 Etude, g, 24 Oct 1823, D-B*; ed. in Hensel ed. Heller, 1996b
99 Pf piece, C, 6 Nov 1823, D-B*; ed. in Hensel ed. Heller, 1996b
102 Pf piece, B♭, 24 Nov 1823, D-B*; ed. in Hensel ed. Heller, 1996b
103 Etude, d, 3 Dec 1823, D-B*; ed. in Hensel ed. Heller, 1996b
108 Etude, C, c. 1823, D-B*
113 Sonata o Capriccio, f, 5–14 Feb 1824, D-B*; ed. in Hensel ed. Heller, 1996c
114 Toccata, 5/13 March 1823, D-B*; ed. in Hensel ed. Heller, 1996c
116 Pf piece, c, 27 March 1824, D-B*
123 Etude, g, 5 May 1824, D-B*; ed. in Hensel ed. Heller, 1996b
127 Gigue, e, 28 June 1824, D-B*
128 Sonata, c, 3 July–c. 19 July 1824, D-B*; ed. Hensel ed. Serbescu and Heller, 1991a, and Hensel ed. Radell, 1992
130 Pf piece, g, 23 July 1824, D-B*
132 Pf piece, f, 3 Sept 1824, D-B*
136 Etude, c, 7 Oct 1824, D-B*
Page 49 of 81

139 Pf piece, c, 13 Nov 1824, D-B*; ed in Hensel ed. Radell, 1995
140 32 Fugues, pf, c. late 1824, lost
144 Pf piece, g, 5 Feb 1825, D-B*; ed. in Hensel ed. Kistner-Hensel, 1986
145 Pf piece, f, 26 Feb 1825, D-B*; ed. in Hensel ed. Kistner-Hensel, 1986; ed. in Hinson, 1988.
146 Pf piece, c, 12 March 1825, D-B*; ed. in Hensel ed. Radell, 1995
165 Capriccio, F♯, 8 Feb 1826, D-B*; ed. in Hensel ed. Radell, 1995
166 Etude, F, 20 Feb 1826, D-B*
167 Pf piece, f, 20/21 Feb 1826, D-B*; ed. in Hensel ed. Radell, 1995
177 Pf piece, d, 12 July 1826, D-B*
181 Pf piece, c, 23 Aug 1826, D-B*; ed. in Hensel ed. Radell, 1995
183 Pf piece, c, fragment, 29 Aug 1826, D-B*
184 Waltz, F♯, 13 Sept 1826, D-B*
187 Pf piece, lost, c. Oct 1826; see Elvers, B1975, p.217
193 Fugata, E♭, 26 Jan 1827, D-B*; ed. in Hensel ed. Radell, 1995
200 Pf piece, b, 29 March 1827, D-B*
202 Pf piece, f, c. March 1827, D-B*
214 Pf book, e, by 1827, D-B*; Prelude, Fugue, Allegro di molto, Largo, Prelude, Toccata; fugue fragment, first
Prelude ed. in Hensel ed. Marciano, 1989
216 Pf piece, e, 24 Jan 1828, D-B*
223 Fugue, late Oct 1828, lost; see Citron, E1987, p. 384
229 Pf piece, E, 7 Feb 1829, D-B*
231 Prelude, a, 14 March 1829, frag., D-B*
235 Sonata (Ostersonate), A, 7 April–10 May 1828 (previously thought April 1829); see Mace [Christian], I(iii)2013
and Mace Christian I(i)forthcoming 2018
239 Pf piece, a, 31 Aug 1829, D-B*
246 Sonata, E♭, Oct–Nov1829, unfinished, D-B*; reused as Str Qt, see H-U277
Page 50 of 81

251 Prelude, a, 30 March 1830, D-B*
253 Fantasy, A♭, 29 Oct 1830, S-Smf
263 Das Nordlicht, 24 Jan 1832, frag., D-B*
267 Pf piece, c, 22 Dec 1832, frag.
269 Duet, A, c. 1832, D-B* (facs. in Klein, B1997, p.203)
273 Fugue, E♭, 29 Aug 1833–16 March 1834, D-B*
294 Pf piece, B♭, 13 March–25 April 1836, D-B*; ed. in Hensel ed. Cai, 1994
299 Pf piece, C, 17 June 1836, D-B*; ed. in Hensel ed. Cai, 1994
300 Pf piece, g, 8 July 1836, D-B*; ed. in Hensel ed. Cai, 1994
301/op.2 Pf piece, G, 19 July 1836, (1846) D-B*; ed. in Hensel ed. Cai, 1994
no.1
302 Pf piece, f, 15 Aug 1836, D-B*; ed. in Hensel ed. Cai, 1994
303 Pf piece, F, 1 Sept 1836, D-B*; ed. in Hensel ed. Cai, 1994
304 Pf piece, f, 8 Oct 1836, D-B*; GB-Ob, ed. in Hensel ed. Cai, 1994
308 Capriccio, f♯, 1836/7, D-B*; ed. Hensel in Cai, 1994
310 Bagatelle, F, 1836 or later, autograph lost; ed. in Hensel, 1848; ed. in Hensel ed. Heller, 1988
311 Bagatelle, D, 1836 or later, autograph lost; ed. in Hensel ed. Heller, 1988
313 Pf piece, B, 4 March 1837, D-B*; ed. Hensel in Cai, 1994
314 Pf piece, B♭, 28 March 1837, private collection, Berlin*, D-B; ed. in Hensel-Mendelssohn, 1996
321 Pf piece, c, 5 Oct 1837, D-B*; ed. in Hensel ed. Cai, 1994
322 Pf piece, e, 25 Nov 1837, D-B*; ed. in Hensel ed. Cai, 1994
330 Pf piece, E, 16 June [1838], D-B*; ed. in Hensel ed. Huber, 1996a
332 Pf piece, E♭, 28 June 1838, D-B*, GB-Ob; ed. in Hensel ed. Huber, 1996a
333 Etude, g, 19 July 1838, D-B*; ed. in Hensel ed. Huber, 1996d
337 Notturno, g, 15 Oct 1838, D-B*; ed. in Hensel ed. Kistner-Hensel, 1986; ed. in Hinson, 1988
Page 51 of 81

338 Pf piece, d, 8 Dec 1838, D-B*; ed. in Hensel ed. Huber, 1995
339 Pf piece, B♭, 7 Jan 1839, D-B*; ed. in Hensel ed. Huber, 1996a
342/op. Pf piece, A♭, 5 April 1839, (1847), D-B*, GB-Ob

4/5 no.1
345 Gondelfahrt (Serenata), g, 26 Oct 1839, D-B*, GB-Ob; ed. in Hensel ed. Hellwig-Unruh, 1997a
346 Pf piece, A♭, 22 Feb 1840, D-B*
349 Pf piece, b, 19 March 1840, D-B*
350 Pf piece, g, 29 March 1840, D-B*
352 Abschied von Rom (Ponte Molle), a, 22 April 1840, D-B*; ed. in Hensel ed. Kistner-Hensel, 1986; ed. Hinson,
1988
353 Pf piece (Villa Medicis), A♭, 3–11 May 1840, D-B*, GB-Ob; ed. in Hensel ed. Hellwig-Unruh, 1997a
356/op.6 Pf piece, B, Fall 1839–Spring 1840, (1847), D-B*, GB-Ob

no.2
357/op.2 Pf piece (Villa Mills), E, Fall 1839–Spring 1840, (1846), D-B*, GB-Ob
no.3
364/op. Pf piece, E, Dec 1840, (1847), D-B*, GB-Ob

4/5 no.3
365/op. Pf piece, G, 1840 or later, (1847), autograph lost

4/5 no.5
366/op. Pf piece, E♭, 1840 or later, (1847), autograph lost

4/5 no.6
368 Pf piece, G, 1840–43, autograph lost, copy in GB-Ob; ed. in Hensel ed. Hellwig-Unruh, 1997a
369 Pf piece, A♭, 1840–43, autograph lost, copy in GB-Ob; ed. in Hensel ed. Hellwig-Unruh, 1997a
372/op.6 Il saltarello romano (Tarantella), 26–30 March 1841, (1847), D-B*, GB-Ob; ed. Hinson, 1988
no.4
376 Pf piece, a, 1 June 1841, D-B*
381 Pf piece, F♯, 6 Aug 1841, frag., D-B*
385 Das Jahr, 12 character pieces, pf, 28 Aug–23 Dec 1841, D-B*; facs. ed. Hensel ed. Borchard et. al., 2000
1. Januar, ein Traum, 11 Dec 1841
Page 52 of 81

2. Februar, Scherzo, 28 Aug 1841
3. März, 17 Nov 1841
4. April, Capriccioso, 7 Oct 1841
5. Mai, Frühlingslied, 16 Oct 1841
6. Juni, Serenade (Niederschrift), 29 Oct 1841
6. Juni, Serenade (Reinschrift)
7. Juli, 9 Nov 1841
8. August, 27 Nov 1841
9. September, am Flusse, 15 Nov 1841, (1846) as op.2 no.2; ed. in Hensel ed. Serbescu and Heller, 1989
10. Oktober, 1 Dec 1841
11. November, 4–8 Dec 1841
12. Dezember, 16–23 Dec 1841
13. Nachspiel, Chorale (Das alte Jahr vergangen ist), 15 Dec 1841
391 Pf piece, g, 20 May 1843, D-B*; ed. in Hensel ed. Hellwig-Unruh, 1997b
393 Pf piece, e, 6 Oct 1843, D-B*; ed. in Hensel ed. Hellwig-Unruh, 1997b
394/op.2 Pf piece, A, 28 Oct 1843, (1846), D-B

no.4
395 Sonata, g, Fall 1843, D-B*; ed. in Hensel ed. Serbescu and Heller, 1991b; Hensel ed. Radell, 1992
396 Pf piece, E♭, 1843 or earlier, D-B*, GB-Ob; ed. in Hensel ed. Hellwig-Unruh, 1997a
403 Pf piece, g, 27 Jan 1844, D-B*; ed. Hensel ed. Hellwig-Unruh, 1997b
404 Pf piece, E♭, 27 Jan 1844, frag., D-B*
405 Pf piece, a, 27 Jan 1844, D-B*; ed. in Hensel ed. Hellwig-Unruh, 1997b
410 Pf piece, e, 14 March 1844, D-B*; ed. in Hensel ed. Hellwig-Unruh, 1997b
413 Pf piece, c, 20 Jan 1846, D-B*; ed. in Hensel ed. Kistner-Hensel, 1986
414 Pf piece, B, 21/2 January 1846, D-B*; ed. in Hensel ed. Huber, 1996e
Page 53 of 81

417 Pf piece, D♭, 4 Feb 1846, D-B*; ed. in Hensel ed. Kistner-Hensel, 1986
420/op. Pf piece, c♯, 21 March–3 May 1846, (1847), D-B*

4/5 no.2
423/op.8 Pf piece, b, 14 May 1846, (1850), D-B*

no.1
424/op.6 Pf piece (O Traum der Jugend, o goldner Stern), f♯, 16 May 1846, (1847), D-B
no.3
425 Pastorella, A, 25 May 1846, (1848 and 1852), D-B*
426 Pf piece, d, May 1846, D-B*; ed. in Hensel ed. Kistner-Hensel, 1986
427 Pf piece, f♯, late May–early June 1846, frag., D-B*
438/op. Pf piece, B, 27 July 1846, (1847), D-B*

4/5 no.4
442 Pf piece, C, 15 Aug 1846, D-B*; ed. in Hensel ed. Huber, 1996a
443 Pf piece, e, 19 Aug 1846, D-B*
452 Pf piece, E, 13 Oct 1846, D-B*; ed. in Hensel ed. Huber, 1996a
454/op.6 Pf piece, A♭, 11 Nov 1846, (1847), D-B*

no.1
456 Lied, pf, E♭, 24 Nov 1846, D-B*; ed. in Hensel ed. Huber, 1996a
458/op.8 Wanderlied, E, 4 Dec 1846, (1850), D-B*

no.4
459 Lied, pf, A, 8 December 1846, D-B*, S-sm; ed. in Hensel, ed. Kistner-Hensel, 1986
461/op.8 Lied (Lenau), piano, D♭, 1846 or earlier, (1850), autograph lost
no.3
463/op.8 Pf piece, a, 1846 or earlier, (1850), autograph lost

no.2
Piano Four-Hands
H-U/op. Title
Page 54 of 81

81 Walzer für den Herzog von Rovigo, C, 25 July 1823, D-B*; ed. in Hensel ed. Radell, 1996; Hensel ed. Patay, 1996.
406 Piece, pf 4 hands, E♭, before 27 January 1844, D-B*; ed. in Hensel ed. Gabler, 1990; Hensel ed. Patay, 1996
408 Piece, pf 4 hands, c, Feb–early March 1844, D-B*; ed. in Hensel ed. Gabler, 1990; Hensel ed. Patay, 1996
409 Piece, pf 4 hands, A♭, Feb–early March 1844, D-B*; ed. in Hensel ed. Gabler, 1990; Hensel ed. Patay, 1996
Organ
H-U
242 Prelude, F, 28 Sep 1829, US-Wc, D-B; ed. in Hensel ed. Blankenburg, 1988; Harbach, 1993; Pfeiffer, 1997
243 Prelude, G, 2 Oct 1829, D-B*; ed. in Hensel ed. Blankenburg, 1988
244 Prelude, G, 22 Oct [1829], frag., D-B*; ed. in Hensel ed. Herrmann-Lubin, 1997
Choral Songs
H-U/op. Title
25 Ist uns der Sünden Last zu schwer (Chorale, recitative, and arioso), late Dec 1820, D-B*
28 Ob deiner Wunderzeichen staunen (S, pf, mid-Jan 1821, arr. S, choir, pf, 27 Jan 1821, D-B*
100 Pilgerspruch (P. Flemming), S, A, T, B, SATB, 11 Nov 1823, D-B
237 Nachtreigen (W. Hensel), 8-pt mixed choir, 29 June 1829, D-B*
268 Dem unendlichen (Klopstock), TTBB, pf, 31 Dec 1832, frag., D-B*
Concert Arias
262 Hero und Leander (dramatic scene, W. Hensel after Schiller), (S, pf, 21–3 Dec 1831)/(S, orch (2 fl, 2 cl, 2bn, 2hn, 2tpt,
serpent, timp, str, 4–21 Jan 1832)), D-B* ed. in Hensel-Mendelssohn ed. Blankenburg, 1995
279 Io d’amor, oh Dio, mi moro, (S, pf)/(S, orch (2 fl, 2 cl, 2 bn, 2 hn, str)), Jan 1835, D-B* (facs. in Hensel ed. Klein, 1990);
ed. in Hensel ed. Gottschalk, 1992
Page 55 of 81

Solo Songs
All for solo voice and piano
H-U/op. Title
2 Lied zum Geburtstag des Vaters’, Ihr Töne schwingt euch fröhlich, 11 Dec 1819, D-B* (facs. in Maurer, A1997, p.
16)
3 Lied des Schäfers (J.L. Casper), 4 March 1820, D-B*
5 Romance de Claudine (J.P. Claris de Florian), 22 March 1820, D-B*; ed. in Hensel ed. Summerville, 1997b
6 Chanson des bergères (Florian), 5 April 1820, D-B*
7 Romance de Galatée (Florian), 8 April 1820, D-B*; ed. in Hensel ed. Summerville, 1997b
8 Romance de Célestine (Florian), 17 April 1820, D-B*, ed. in Hensel ed. Summerville, 1997b
9 Isidore (Florian), 26 April 1820, D-B*; ed. in Hensel ed. Summerville, 1995b
10 Die Schönheit nicht, o Mädchen (J.G. Herder), 29 April 1820, D-B*
11 Némorin I (Florian), 10 May 1820, D-B*; ed. in Hensel ed. Summerville, 1995b
12 Zoraide (Florian), 16 May 1820, D-B*
13 C’en est fait (Florian), 27 May 1820, D-B*
14 Annette (Florian), 3 June 1820, D-B*
15 Sérénade de Cortez (Florian), 3 and 17 June 1820, D-B*; ed. in Hensel ed. Summerville, 1995b
16 Unique objet de ma tendresse (Florian), 17 June 1820, D-B*
17 Wenn ich ihn nur habe (Novalis), c. June or July 1820, D-B*
18 Erster Verlust I (Goethe), July 1820, D-B*, D-DÜk
19 Füllest wieder Busch und Tal (Goethe), Summer 1820, D-B*
20 Ave Maria (W. Scott), 27 July–27 Sept 1820, D-B*, and private collection (Maurer, A1997, p.57); first ed. The
Harmonicon, vol.10/2 (1832): 54ff; arr. J. Werner, 1934
21 L’Amitié, 27 Sept 1820, D-B*
22 Schwarz ihre Brauen (F. Grillparzer), 6 Oct 1820, D-B*
23 C’est une larme, 29 Nov 1820, D-B*
Page 56 of 81

24 So mußt’ ich von dir scheiden (Scott), 13 Dec 1820, D-B*
26 Wohl deinem Liebling, late Dec 1820, D-B*
27 Du stillst der Meere Brausen, early Jan 1821, D-B*
31 Némorin II (Florian), 3 March 1821, D-B*
32 Le rocher des deux amants (Florian), 9 March 1821, D-B*
33 Das stille Fleh’n, 9–21 March 1821, D-B*
34 La fuite inutile (probably C.J. Begas), 21 March 1821, D-B*
35 An bord d’une fontaine (J. Bertaut), 21 March–11 May 1821, D-B*
36 Nähe des Geliebten I (Goethe), 11 May 1821, D-B*
38 Frühlingserinnerung (F. Robert), 25 May 1821, D-B*, D-Mbs
45 Fischers Klage (J.L. Casper), March 1822, GB-Ob, PL-Kj, D-DS
46 Die Nonne (L. Uhland), May 1822, (1830, as Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy op.9), D-B*
47 Lauf der Welt (Uhland), May or June 1822, D-B*
48 Lebewohl (W. Hensel), 15 June 1822, D-B*
49 Der Blumenstrauß (Uhland), 19–25 July 1822, D-B*
50 Sehnsucht nach Italien (Goethe), 16 Aug 1822, D-B*; ed. in Hensel ed. Assenbaum (1991); Hensel ed. Assenbaum
(1998)
51 Du hast mein Gott (M. Saaling), early Oct 1822, D-B*
52 Mon coeur soupire, 14 Oct 1822, D-B*
54 Im Herbste I (Uhland), 9 Nov 1822, D-B*
56 Die Linde (L. Hensel), 28 Nov 1822, D-B*
57 Die Somerrosen blühen (L. Hensel), December 1822, D-B*
58 Schlaflied (L. Tieck), Dec 1822, D-B*
59 Der Neugierige (W. Müller), 10 Jan 1823, D-B*; ed. in Hensel ed. Summerville, 1995a
60 Des Müllers Blumen (Müller), 14 Jan 1823, D-B*; ed. in Hensel ed. Summerville, 1995a
Page 57 of 81

61 Das Ständchen (Uhland), 22 Jan 1823, D-B*
62 Die liebe Farbe (Müller), Jan 1823, D-B*; ed. in Hensel ed. Summerville, 1995a
63 Gebet in der Christnacht (Müller), 1 Feb 1823, D-B*; ed. in Hensel ed. Summerville, 1997a
64 Das Ruhetal (Uhland), Feb 1823, D-B*, private collection, Berlin (Maurer, A1997, Verzeichnis, 24)
65 Wiegenlied I (H.R. Schick), March 1823, D-B*
66 Die furchtsame Träne (Schick), 16 April 1823, D-B*
68 Erinnerung (Grillparzer), 2 May 1823, D-B*
70 Der Abendstern (J.N. von Mailáth), 18 May 1823, D-B*; ed. in Hensel ed. Paton 1995.
73 Lied der Fee (F. Casper), 30 May 1823, D-B*
75 Die sanften Tage (Uhland), 15 June 1823, D-B*
76 Der Sänger (Novalis), 18 June 1823, D-B*
77 Die Schwalbe (F. Robert), 20 June 1823, D-B*, private collection, Berlin (Maurer, A1997, Verzeichnis, 24 and 86);
ed. in Rheinblüthen, 1825
78 Schäfers Sonntagslied (Uhland), 29 June 1823, D-B*
80 Einsamkeit (Müller), 12 July 1823, D-B*; ed. in Hensel ed. Summerville, 1997a
82 Abendreihn (Müller), 4 July–1 August 1823, D-B*; ed. in Hensel ed. Summerville, 1997a; arr. 2 T, 2 B, and Male
Choir, arranger and date unknown, D-B*
83 Seefahrers Abschied (Müller), 1 Aug 1823, D-B*; ed. in Hensel ed. Summerville, 1997b
85 Der Fischer (Goethe), 29 Aug 1823, D-B*; arr. for Male Choir, arranger and date unknown, D-B*
87 Die Kapelle (Uhland), 6 Sep 1823, D-B*; arr. for Male Choir, arranger and date unknown, D-B*
89 Am Morgen nach einer Sturm – Im Molo di Gaeta (Grillparzer), 15 Sept 1823, D-B*
90 Frühe Sorge (L. Tieck), 20 Sept 1823, D-B*
91 Wanderlied I (F. Robert), 22 Sept 1823, D-B*
93 Die Spinnerin (Tieck), 30 Sept 1823, D-B*, GB-Ob; ed. in Hensel ed. Werner, 1959
94 Wonne der Einsamkeit (Tieck), 12 Oct 1823, D-B*
95 Erster Verlust II (Goethe), 17 Oct 1823, D-B*
Page 58 of 81

97/op.9 Ferne (Tieck), 29 Oct 1823, (1850), D-B*

no.2
98 Die Liebende (Tieck), Oct 1823, D-B*, private collection, Berlin (Maurer, A1997, Verzeichnis, 81)
101 Vereinigung (Müller), 22 Nov 1823, D-B*; ed. in Hensel ed. Summerville, 1997b
104 Canzonetta (I. Pindemonte), 11 Dec 1823, D-B*
105 An die Entfernte (Goethe), 13 Dec 1823, D-B*
106 Ohne sie (H.W. von Gerstenberg), 26 Dec 1823, D-B*
107 Mein Herz das ist begraben (Gerstenberg), 31 Dec 1823, D-B*
109 Die glückliche Fischerin (Müller), c. 1823, lost, (facs. in Todd, I(iii)2007, p. 255
110 Wo kommst du her? (Gerstenberg), 2 Jan 1824, D-B*
111 Auf der Wanderung (Tieck), 17 Jan 1824, D-B*: ed. in Hensel ed. Paton, 1995
112 Klage (Tieck), 24 Jan 1824, D-B*
115 Abschied I (Tieck), 24 March 1824, D-B*
117 Sehnsucht I (F. von Schiller), 3 April 1824, D-B*
118 Frage (Tieck), 6 April 1824, D-B*
119 Herbstlied (Tieck), 10 April 1824, D-B*
120 Frühlingsnähe (F. Robert), 17 April 1824, D-B*, S-sm
121 An einen Liebenden im Frühling (Tieck), 24 April 1824, D-B*
122 Mailied (Goethe), 28 April 1824, D-B*; ed in Hensel ed Paton, 1995
124 Jägers Abendlied (Goethe), 13 May 1824, D-B*
125 Glück (Tieck), 10 June 1824, D-B*
126 Leben (Tieck), 24 June 1824, D-B*
129 Das Heimweh (F. Robert), 19 July 1824, (1827, as Felix Mendelssohn op.8), D-B*
131 Eilig zieh’n in weiter Ferne (S. Dellevie a.k.a. L. Romainville), 2 Aug 1824, D-B*
133 Nacht I (L. Tieck), 12 Sept 1824, D-B*
Page 59 of 81

134 Leiden (J.P. Eckermann), 16 Sept 1824, D-B*
135 Verlor’nes Glück (Eckermann), 24 Sept [1824], D-B*
137 Sonnenuntergang (Eckermann), 21 Oct [1824], D-B*
138 Am stillen Hain, 5 Nov 1824, D-B*
141 Sehnsucht II (Eckermann), 3 Jan 1825, D-B*, private collection, Berlin
142 Verloren (Eckermann), 19 Jan 1825, D-B*
143 Der Einsamwandelnde (Eckermann), 29 Jan 1825, D-B*
147 Wandrers Nachtlied I (Goethe), 23 March 1825, D-B*
148 An Suleika (Goethe), 25 April 1825, D-B*; ed. in Hensel ed. Maurer, 1993
150 Suleika I (M. von Willemer), 5 May 1825, D-B*
151 Deinem Blick mich zu bequemen (Goethe), 3 June 1825, D-B*
152 Sonnett aus dem 13. Jahrhundert (J.G. Herder, after Thibaut IV), 10 June 1825, D-B*
153 Das holde Tal I (Goethe), 16 June 1825, frag., D-B*
154 Mond (L. Hölty), 20 June 1825, D-B*, private collection, Berlin; ed. in Hensel ed. Summerville, 1997c
155 Ecco quell fiero istante (Metastasio), 29 June [1825], D-B*
156 Ist es möglich, Stern der Sterne (Goethe), 13 July 1825, D-B*
157 Italien (Grillparzer), summer 1825 or earlier, (1827, as Felix Mendelssohn op.8) D-B*, private collection, Berlin
158 Dir zu eröffnen mein Herz (Goethe), 5 Sept 1825, D-B*
159 Recitative and Aria ‘Numi clementi – Chi puo dire’ (Metastasio), 5–29 Sept 1825, D-B*
162 Harfners Lied (Goethe), 5 Nov 1825, D-B*, private collection, Berlin, F-Pn; ed. in Hensel ed. Maurer, 1993
163 Erinnerungen in die Heimat (M. Saaling), 8 Nov 1825, D-B*
164 Die Schläferin (J.H. Voß), Winter 1825/26, D-B*, private collection, Berlin
168/op. Der Rosenkranz (Voß), 3 March 1826, D-B*

9 no.3
169 Feldlied (Voß), S, A, T, B, 4-part mixed choir, 4 March 1826, D-B*
Page 60 of 81

170 Der Eichwald brauset (Schiller), 4 March–6 May 1826, D-B*; ed. in Hensel ed. Maurer, 1994
171 Am Grabe (Voß), 6 May 1826, D-B*, private collection, Berlin; arr. S, A, T, B, a cappella, 17 Oct 1826, D-B*
172 Sie liebt, mich liebt die Auserwählte (Voß), 17 May 1826, D-B*
173 Abendlandschaft (F. von Matthisson), 10 June 1826, D-B*
174 Erwachen (F. Voigts), 19 June 1826, D-B*
175 Waldlied (Voigts), 3 July 1826, D-B*, private collection, Berlin (dated 24 Dec 1826)
176 Mignon (Goethe), 12 July 1826, D-B*; ed. in Hensel ed. Assenbaum, 1991; Rieger and Walter, 1992; Assenbaum,
1998
178 Geheimnis (Voigts), 12 July 1826, D-B*, private collection, Berlin
179 Die Äolsharfe auf dem Schlosse zu Baden/Schloß Liebeneck (F. Robert), 15 July 1826, (1839, in Rhein-Sagen und
Lieder), D-B*, private collection, Berlin, D-KNmi
180 Der Sprosser (Selt), 24 July 1826, D-B*
182 An einem Herbstabende (G. Schulz), 23 Aug 1826, D-B*
185 Der Frühlingsabend (Voß), 29 Aug–26 Oct 1826, D-B*
188 Marias Klage (Voß), 14 Nov 1826, D-B*, private collection, Berlin
189 Nähe des Geliebten II (Goethe), 18 Nov 1826, D-B*; ed. in Hensel ed. Paton, 1995
190 Sehnsucht III (Voß), 23 Nov 1826, D-B*, private collection, Berlin; ed. in Hensel ed. Paton, 1995
191 Neujahrslied (Voß), 22 December 1826, D-B*
192 Sehnsucht IV (Hölty), 24 Jan 1827, D-B*; ed. in Hensel ed. Summerville, 1997c
194 Maigesang (Hölty), 4 Feb 1827, D-B*; ed. in Hensel ed. Summerville, 1997c
195 Seufzer (Hölty), 14 Feb 1827, D-B*, private collection, Berlin; ed. in Hensel ed. Summerville, 1997c
196/op. Die Ersehnte (Hölty), 26 Feb 1827, (1850), D-B*; ed. in Rieger, 1992
9 no.1
197 Kein Blick der Hoffnung (Hölty), 4 March 1827, D-B*; ed. in Maurer, 1994
198 An den Mond (Hölty), 16 March 1827, D-B*; ed. in Hensel ed. Summerville, 1997c
199 Die Schiffende (Hölty), 27 March 1827, D-B*, private collection, Berlin, GB-Ob (facs. in Maurer, A1997, p.84); first
ed. Hensel, Schlesinger, 1836; ed. in Hensel ed. Maurer, 1994
Page 61 of 81

201 An die Ruhe (Hölty), 30 March 1827, D-B*, (facs. in Maurer, A1997, Verzeichnis); private collection, Berlin; ed. in
Hensel ed. Summerville, 1997c
203 Sehnsucht V (Hölty), 2 May 1827, D-B*; ed. in Hensel ed. Summerville, 1997c
204 Am Flusse (Goethe), 27 May 1827, D-B*
205 Sehnsucht VI (Voß) 4–22 July 1827, D-B*
206 Umsonst (Voß), 24 July 1827, D-B*
207 Was will die einsame Träne (Heine), 5 Aug 1827, D-B*
208/op. Der Maiabend (Voß), 30 Aug 1827, (1850), D-B*, GB-Ob (facs. Citron, E1987, p.98, Maurer, A1997, Verzeichnis, 72);
9 no.5 ed. in Rieger, 1992
209 Die Sommernacht (Klopstock), 12 Sept 1827, D-B*, private collection, Berlin; ed. in Hensel ed. Paton, 1995
210 Suleika II (Willemer), 4 Oct 1827, D-B*
211 Achmed an Irza (H. Stieglitz), 16 Nov 1827, D-B*
212 Am leuchtenden Sommermorgen (Heine), 14 Dec 1827, D-B*
213 Verlust (Heine), 28 Dec 1827, (1830, as Felix Mendelssohn op.9 no.10), D-B*, private collection, Berlin
215 Wenn ich mir in stiller Seele (Goethe), 19 Jan 1828, D-B* (facs. in Klein, B1997, p.89)
217 Sehnsucht VII (F.A. Märcker), 17 Feb 1828, D-B*
218 Abendluft (Hölty), mid-June 1828, D-B*: ed. in Hensel ed. Summerville, 1997c
219 Sehnsucht VIII (Droysen), 24 June 1828, (1830 as Felix Mendelssohn op.9 no.7), D-B*, private collection, Berlin
220 Allnächtlich in Traume (Heine), 21 July 1828, D-B*
221 Heut’ in dieser Nacht (Droysen), 5 Aug 1828, D-B*
222/op. Die frühen Gräber (Klopstock), 9 Oct 1828, (1850), D-B*, private collection, Berlin; ed. in Hensel ed. Maurer,
9 no. 4 1994; arr. B, va, 2 vc, lost, see Citron, E1987, p.392
224 Über die Berge steigt schon die Sonne (Heine), 20 Nov 1828, D-B*
225 Nacht II (Heine), 20 Nov 1828, D-B*, GB-Ob; version for SATB, Fall 1846, D-B
226 Aglae (Goethe), 30 Dec 1828, D-B*
227 Wonne der Wehmut (Goethe), c. 1828, D-B*
Page 62 of 81

228 Gram (Droysen), 6 Jan 1829, D-B*
230 Selmar und Selma (Klopstock), 4 March 1829, D-B*
232 Durch zartes Mailaub blinckt die Abendröte (Voß), 26 March 1829, D-B*
234 Lied (Droysen), 20 May 1829, lost: see Citron, E1987, p.396
236 Liederkreis (Droysen), 25 May–6 June 1829, dedicated to Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy, D-B*, GB-Ob; (facs. of no.
1 in Citron, E1987, Maurer, A1997, Verzeichnis, Klein, B1997, Das verborgene Band); ed. in Hensel ed.
Summerville, 1995c
no.1: Lebewohl
no.2: Grüner Frühling, süße Mailuft!
no.3: Nun ist’s nicht öd in meiner Brust
no.4: O sprich, wo blieb dein heit’rer Sinn?
no.5: Im Hochland Bruder da schweifst du umher
no.6: Wiedersehn (S, A, T)
240 Lieder cycle (W. Hensel and Droysen), c. Augt–Sept 1829, lost or never written: see Citron, E1987, p.420
241 Schlafe, schlaf! (W. Hensel), 21 Sept 1829, D-B*
245 Zu deines Lagers Füßen (W. Hensel), Oct 1829, D-B*
249 Wie dunkel die Nacht, 19 Jan 1830, D-B*
250 Lied, G, 18 March 1830, draft, D-B*
252 Genesungsfeier (W. Hensel), 10/11 April 1830, D-B*
254 Minnelied des Grafen Peter von Provence (Tieck), 16 Nov 1830, D-B*
255 Frühlingslied (W. Hensel), 19 Nov 1830, D-B*
256 Der Schnee der ist geschmolzen (possibly W. Hensel), early 1831, D-B*
259 Nacht III (F. Robert), 1 Oct 1831, D-B*
261 O wie beseeligend gehen und kommen die Stunden (possibly W. Hensel), 21 Dec 1831, D-B*
266 Wiegenlied II (possibly W. Hensel), 14 Sept 1832, D-B*
270 Gegenwart (Goethe), 1 Aug 1833, D-B*; ed. in Hensel ed. Maurer, 1994
Page 63 of 81

271 In die Ferne (Hölty), 29 Aug 1833, D-B*; ed. in Hensel ed. Assenbaum, 1991; Hensel geb. Mendelssohn ed.
Assenbaum, 1998
274 Drei Lieder nach Heine von Mary Alexander (Heine), 16 March 1834, D-B* (facs. in Alexander, E1979, p.17);
private collection, England; ed. in Hensel ed. Summerville, 1995d
1. Once o’er my Dark and Troubled Life
2. I Wander through the Wood and Weep
3. What Means the Lonely Tear?
275 Der Pilgrim vor St Just (A.G. von Platen), 18 May 1834, D-B*
276 Wo sich gatten jene Schatten (Platen), 29 May 1834, D-B*
278 Ich ging lustig durch den grünen Wald (from Des Knaben Wunderhorn), June 1834–early 1835, D-B*
281 An Cidli (Klopstock), 22 May 1835, frag., D-B*
285 Über allen Gipfeln ist Ruh’ (Goethe), 22 Aug 1835, D-B*; Hensel ed. in Maurer, 1993
286 Wenn der Frühling kommt (Heine), 24 Aug 1835, D-B*
292 Wie dich die warme Luft unscherzt (Platen), 26 Feb 1836, D-B*
293 Gleich Merlin (Heine), 13 March 1836, D-B*; ed. in Hensel ed. Paton, 1995
298 Neue Liebe, neues Leben (Goethe), 3 May 1836, D-B*; ed. in Rieger and Walter, 1992
305 Das Meeresleuchten, 21 Nov 1836, D-B*
306 Suleika III (Willemer), 4 Dec 1836, D-B* (facs. Citron, E1897, p.200); GB-Ob Maurer, A1997, Verzeichnis, 156); ed. in
Hensel ed. Maurer, 1993
307 There Be None of Beauty’s Daughters (Byron), 29 Dec 1836, D-B* (facs. in Klein, B1997, p.201); ed. in Hensel ed.
Summerville, 1994
312/op. Warum sind denn die Rosen so blaß? (Heine), 26 Jan 1837, (1846, R1983, 1985), D-B*, GB-Ob (facs. in Citron,
1 no.3 E1987, p.354); ed. in Hensel ed. Maurer, 1994
315 Altes Lied (C. Brentano), 26 May 1837, D-B*; ed. in Hensel ed. Summerville, 1995e
316 Farewell! (Byron), 1 June 1837, D-B*; ed. in Hensel ed. Summerville, 1994
317/op. Wanderlied II (Goethe), Summer 1837 (1946, R1983, 1985), D-B

1 no.2
318 Bright be the Place of Thy Soul (Byron), Summer 1837, D-B*; ed. in Hensel ed. Summerville, 1994
Page 64 of 81

325 Ach, die Augen sind es wieder (Heine), 20 Dec 1837, D-B*; ed. in Hensel ed. Maurer, 1993
328 Fichtenbaum und Palme (Heine), 30 March 1838, D-B*; ed. in Hensel ed. Maurer, 1993
331/op. Die Mainacht (Hölty), 24 June 1838 (1850), D-B*; ed. in Hensel ed. Maurer, 1994
9 no.6
334 Ich wandelte unter den Bäumen (Heine), 7 Augt 1838, D-B*; ed. in Hensel ed. Paton, 1995
335 Das Meer erglänzte weit hinaus (Heine), 6 Sept 1838, D-B*; ed. in Hensel ed. Paton, 1995
340 Sehnsucht IX (Goethe), 2 Feb 1839, D-B*; ed. in Henseled. Assenbaum, 1991; Hensel geb. Mendelssohn ed.
Assenbaum, 1998
343/op. Du bist die Ruh’ (Rückert), 4 May 1839, (1847), D-B*

7 no.4
348 Deh torna a me (L. Ariosto), 14 March 1840, D-B*
355 Hausgarten (Goethe), early 1840, D-B* (facs. in Weissweiler, Komponistinnen aus 500 Jahren, 198–201), D-DÜk
358/op. Schwanenlied (Heine), Fall 1839–Summer 1840, (1846), D-B

1 no.1
359 Der Fürst vom Berge (W. Hensel), Fall 1839–Summer 1840, D-B*
367 Wanderers Nachtlied II (Goethe), after 1840, D-DÜk*; ed. in Hensel ed. Maurer, 1993
373/op. Nach Süden (W. Hensel), April or May 1841, (1850), D-B* (facs. in Maurer, A1997, Verzeichnis, 134); ed. in Hensel
10 no.1 ed. Maurer, 1994
374 Von dir, mein Lieb, ich scheiden muß (P. Kaufmann after R. Burns), 30 March–31 May 1841, D-B*; ed. in Hensel
ed. Paton, 1995
377/op. Gondellied (Geibel), 4 June 1841, (1846), D-B*, D-F

1 no.6
378 Anklänge, Drei Lieder (Eichendorff), 7 June 1841, D-B*; ed. in Henseled. Assenbaum, 1991; ed. in Hensel ed.
Maurer, 1993; ed. in Hensel ed. Assenbaum, 1998
1. Vöglein in den sonn’gen Tagen
2. Ach! Wie ist es doch gekommen
3. Könnt’ ich zu den Wäldern flüchten
380 Traurige Wege (Lenau), 28 July 1841, D-B*; ed. in Henseled. Assenbaum, 1991; ed. in Hensel ed. Maurer, 1993;
ed. in Hensel ed. Assenbaum, 1998
Page 65 of 81

382 Auf dem See von Como (Goethe), 11 Aug 1841, D-B*; ed. in Henseled. Assenbaum, 1991 and 1998
384 Totenklage (J. Kerner), 14 Aug 1841, D-B*; ed. in Hensel ed. Paton, 1995
387/op. Maienlied (Eichendorff), 1841 or later, (1846), autograph lost

1 no.4
388/op. Morgenständchen (Eichendorff), 1841 or later, (1846), autograph lost

1 no.5
390 Wer dich gesehn (W. or F. Hensel), 15 May 1843, private collection, Berlin
392 Dämmrung senkte sich von oben (Goethe), 28 Aug 1843, D-B*; ed. in Hensel ed. Maurer, 1993
397/op. Nachtwanderer (Eichendorff), 1843 or earlier, (1847), D-B*, D-DÜhh, S-sm; ed. in Hensel ed. Maurer, 1994
7 no.1
399 Zauberkreis (Rückert), late 1843/early Jan 1844, D-B*
400 Mutter, o sing mich zur Ruh’ (F.D. Hemans), late 1843/early 1844, D-B*
401 Die Stille (Eichendorff), 5 Jan 1844, D-B*
402 Liebe in der Fremde (Eichendorff), 6 Jan 1844, D-B*; ed. in Hensel geb. Mendelssohn ed. Assenbaum, 1991;
Hensel geb. Mendelssohn ed. Assenbaum, 1998
407 Im Herbst (Eichendorff), 27 Jan 1844, D-B*; ed. in Hensel ed. Maurer, 1993
411 Liederzyklus (W. Hensel), Summer 1844, lost
412 Traum (Eichendorff), 1844 or earlier, D-B* (facs. ed. in Hensel ed. Klein, 1997)
415 Das Veilchen, 23 Jan 1846, D-B*; ed. in Hensel ed. Paton, 1995; Henseled. Assenbaum, 1998
416/op. Im Herbste II (Geibel), 23 Jan 1846, (1850), D-B; ed. in Hensel ed. Assenbaum, 1998
10 no.4
419 Es rauscht das rote Laub (Geibel), 21 March 1846, D-B*; ed. in Hensel ed. Paton, 1995; Hensel ed. Assenbaum,
1998
431 Erwache Knab’ erwache (W. Hensel), 16 June 1846, D-B*; ed. in Hensel ed. Assenbaum, 1998
434/op. Dein ist mein Herz (Lenau), 11 July 1846, (1847), D-B*
7 no.6
440/op. Bitte (Lenau), 7 Aug 1846, (1847), D-B*

7 no.5
444 Stimme der Glocken (Lenau), 28 Aug 1846, D-B*; ed. in Hensel ed. Paton, 1995; Hensel ed. Assenbaum, 1998
Page 66 of 81

446/op. Abendbild I (Lenau), 2 Sept 1846, (1850), D-B*; ed. in Hensel ed. Maurer, 1994; Hensel ed. Assenbaum, 1998
10 no.3
450/op. Erwin (Goethe), 4 October 1846, (1847), D-B*

7 no.2
451 Ich kann wohl manchmal singen (Eichendorff), 5 Oct 1846, D-B*; ed. in Hensel ed. Maurer, 1993; Hensel ed.
Assenbaum, 1998
453 Nacht ist wie ein stilles Meer (Eichendorff), 22 Oct 1846, D-B*; ed. in Hensel ed. Maurer, 1993; Hensel ed.
Assenbaum, 1998
455 Abendbild II (Lenau), 21 Nov 1846, D-B*; ed. in Henseled. Assenbaum, 1998
457 Beharre (H. von Chézy), 27 Nov 1846, D-B*; ed. in Hensel ed. Paton, 1995; Hensel ed. Assenbaum, 1998
460 Kommen und Scheiden (Lenau), 27 Dec 1846, D-B*; ed. in Hensel ed. Paton, 1985; Hensel ed. Assenbaum, 1998
462/op. Vorwurf (Lenau), 1846 or earlier, (1850), autograph lost

10 no.2
464/op. Frühling (Eichendorff), 1846 or earlier, (1847), autograph lost; ed. in Hensel ed. Maurer, 1994
7 no.3
466/op. Bergeslust (Eichendorff), 13 May 1847, (1850), autograph lost, GB-Ob (facs. in Citron, E1987, p.364, and Maurer,
10 no.5 A1997, Verzeichnis, 60)
Vocal Duets
H-U
149 Suleika und Hatem (Goethe), 28 April 1825, (1827 as Felix Mendelssohn, op.8), D-B*, GB-Ob, private collection, Berlin,
D-F
160 Schäfergesang (Tieck), 29 Sept 1825, D-B*
186 Ich hab’ ihn gesehen (Goethe), 26 Oct 1826, D-B*
233 Schlafe du, schlafe du süß (Droysen), 11 April 1829, D-B*
264 So soll ich dich verlassen (W. Hensel), 30 Jan 1832, D-B*
280 In der stillen Mitternacht (Herder), S, Bar (B), 26 Feb 1835, D-B
284 Ich stand gelehnet an den Mast (Heine), 2 S, 20 June–22 August 1835, D-B*; ed. in Hensel ed. Summerville, 1991a
Page 67 of 81

287 Der Strauß (Goethe), 2 S, Summer 1835, D-B*
290 Ein Hochzeitbitter (A.G. von Platen), 2 S, 7–15 Feb 1836, D-B*
295 März (Goethe), 2 S, pf, 25 April 1836, D-B*; ed. in Hensel ed. Summerville, 1991c
296 April (Goethe), 2 S, pf, 25–8 April 1836, D-B*; ed. in Hensel ed. Summerville, 1991c
297 Mai (Goethe), 2 S, 28 April 1836, D-B*; ed. in Hensel ed. Summerville, 1991c
309 Die Mitternacht war kalt (Heine), 2 S, 1836/7, D-B*; ed. in Hensel ed. Summerville 1991a
320 Sprich, o sprich, wird Liebe mahnen, S, T, pf, 15 Sept 1837, D-B*
323 Im wunderschönen Monat Mai (Heine), 2S/(S, A), pf, Fall 1837, D-B*; ed. in Hensel ed. Summerville, 1991b
324 So hast du ganz und gar vergessen (Heine), 2 S, 16 Dec 1837, D-B*
326 Hör’ ich das Liedchen klingen (Heine), S, A, pf, 1837/8, frag., autograph lost, D-B
327 Aus meinen Tränen sprießen (Heine), 2 S, pf, 4 Jan 1838, D-B*; ed. in Hensel ed. Summerville, 1991b
329 Wenn ich in deine Augen sehe (Heine), 2 S, 6 June 1838, D-B*; ed. in Hensel ed. Summerville, 1991b
336 Blumenlied (Hölty), 2 S/(S, A), pf, 8 Sept 1838, D-B
341 Verschiedene Trauer (Anastasius Grün), S, A, pf, 23–5 March 1839, D-B*
344 Strahlende Ostsee (A.H. Niemeyer), S, A, 20 July 1839, D-B*
351 Das holde Tal II (Goethe), S, T, pf, 10–11 April 1840, D-B*, S-Smf
354 L’Âme triste (Lamartine), S, T, pf, mid-May 1840, D-B
362 Mein Liebchen, wir saßen beisammen (Heine), 2 S, pf, Fall 1839–Summer 1840, D-B*
363 Drei Duette (Otto IV ‘mit dem Pfeil’–M. von Brandenburg), 12 Dec 1840, D-B*
1. Wiederkehrt ein lichter Mai nach der langen Winternacht
2. Winter, was hat dir getan?
3. Zeigt mir den Weg, zu meiner lieben Frauen
375 Der Winterwind entflieht, S, A, 31 May 1841, D-B*
383 Die Sennin (Lenau), S, T, pf, 11 Aug 1841, D-B*, GB-Ob
Page 68 of 81

Vocal Trios
H-U
282 Abschied II (Heine), 2 S, T, 15 June 1835, D-B*; ed. in Hensel ed. Gabler and Stöhr, 1995
283 Wandl’ ich in dem Wald des Abends (Heine), 20 June 1835, D-B*, GB-Ob ed. in Hensel ed. Gabler and Stöhr, 1995
288 Wie Feld und Au (Goethe), 2 S, T, Summer 1835, D-B*
289 Frühzeitiger Frühling (Goethe), 2 S, T, 7 Feb 1836, D-B*; ed. in Hensel ed. Draheim and Heinz, 1989a; ed. Hensel ed.
Gabler and Stöhr, 1995
291 Winterseufzer, 2S, T, 15 Feb 1836, D-B*; ed. in Hensel ed. Gabler and Stöhr, 1995
319 Komm mit (F. von Woringen), S, A, T, pf, Aug/Sept 1837, D-B*
347 Sage mir, was mein Herz begehrt (Goethe), 2 S, A, Feb 1840
379 Waldruhe (A. Rolein), S, A, T, pf, 22 June 1841, D-B; ed. in Hensel ed. Gabler and Stöhr, 1994
447 Wer will mir wehren zu singen (Goethe), S, A, B, 3 Sept 1846, D-B*; ed. in Hensel ed. Blankenburg, 1988d
Vocal Quartets
H-U
161 Laß dich nur nichts nicht dauern (Paul Flemming), 29 Sept–5 Nov 1825, D-B*
360 Laß fahren hin (Goethe), 2 T, 2 B, Fall 1839–Summer 1840, D-B*
361 Dämmernd liegt der Sommerabend (Heine), S, A, T, B, Fall 1839–Summer 1840, D-B*
370 Unter des Laubdachs Hut (Shakespeare), 27 Jan 1841, D-B*; ed. in Hensel ed. Draheim and Heinz, 1989b
398 Wenn wir durch die Dörfer ziehen, 2 T, 2 B, c. 1843, D-B*
418/op.3 Im Wald (Geibel), 9 Feb 1846, D-B*

no.6
421/op.3 Hörst du nicht die Bäume rauschen (Eichendorff), 3 May 1846, (1846), D-B*
no.1
422/op.3 Abendlich schon rauscht der Wald (Eichendorff), 7 May 1846, (1846), D-B*
no.5
Page 69 of 81

430/op.3 Im Herbste III (Uhland), 14 June 1846, (1846), D-B*

no.3
432/op.3 Morgengruß I (W. Hensel), 24 June 1846, (1846), D-B*

no.4
433 Morgengruß II (W. Hensel), S, A, T, B, 29 June 1846 (first version)–early July (second version), D-B*; ed. in
Hensel ed. Blankenburg, 1988b
435 Ariel from Faust Part I, Walpurgisnachtstraum (Goethe), S, A, T, B, 18 July 1846, D-B*; ed. in Hensel ed.
Blankenburg, 1988b
436 Abend (Eichendorff), S, A, T, B, 20 July 1846, D-B*; ed. in Hensel ed. Blankenburg, 1988b
437/op.3 Schöne Fremde (Eichendorff), 22 July 1846, (1846), D-B*

no.2
441 Lust’ge Vögel (Eichendorff), 2 S, A, Bar, 14 Aug 1846, D-B*
445 Schilflied (Lenau), S, A, T, B, 29 Aug 1846, D-B*; ed. in Hensel-Mendelssohn ed. Blankenburg, 1988d
448 O Herbst, in linden Tagen (Eichendorff), S, A, T, B, 16 Sept 1846, D-B*; ed. in Hensel-Mendelssohn ed.
Blankenburg, 1988d
449 Schon kehren die Vögel wieder ein (Eichendorff), S, A, T, B, Sept 1846, D-B*; ed. in Hensel-Mendelssohn ed.
Blankenburg, 1988d
Secular Choral Works
H-U
428 Waldeinsam (W. Hensel), S, A, T, B, SATB, 6 June 1846, D-B*; ed in Hensel-Mendelssohn ed. Blankenburg, 1988a
429 Morgenwanderung (Geibel), S, A, T, B, SATB, 10 June 1846, D-B*; ed in Hensel-Mendelssohn ed. Blankenburg, 1988a
439 Schweigend sinkt die Nacht hernieder (W. Hensel), S, A, T, B, SATB, 29 July 1846, D-B*; ed in Hensel-Mendelssohn ed.
Blankenburg, 1988c
Composition Exercises
H-U
I,6 6 Counterpoint Exercises, pf, C, G, F, Dec 1820, D-B*
Page 70 of 81

I,12 Beginning of a fugue, pf, B♭, Jan 1821, D-B*
I,14 11 Counterpoint Exercises in minuet form, pf, D, D, g, g, D, C, C, a, C, F, F, early 1821, D-B*
Chorale Arrangements
H-U
I,7 2 chorale arrs. on ‘Machs mit mir, Gott, nach deiner Güt’, pf, F, Dec 1820, D-B*
I,8 Chorale arr., pf, E♭, Dec 1820, D-B*
I,9 Chorale arr., pf, C, Dec 1820, D-B*
I,10 Chorale arr. on ‘Der Seelen Ruhe ist es, Gott’, 4-part mixed choir, A♭, Dec 1820, D-B*
I,11 Chorale arr. on ‘Dein Drohen selbst, O Gott des Heils!’, 4-part mixed choir, b, 31 Dec 1820, D-B*
I,13 Chorale arr., pf, d, early 1821, D-B*
Cadenzas, arrangements, and transcriptions
Johann Sebastian Bach
H-U
II,10 Transcr. of Cantata, Herr, deine Augen sehen nach dem Glauben BWV102, before 1838, GB-Ob
II,11 Transcr. of 4 Preludes and Fugues for the Organ BWV541, 578, 566, and 549, possibly 1830s, GB-Ob
II,9 Transcr. of Cantata, Aus tiefer Not schrei ich zu dir BWV38, before 1838, GB-Ob*
II,14 Pf arr. of Sonatina from the cantata Gottes Zeit ist die allerbeste Zeit BWV106, E♭June 1845, D-B*
II,15 Pf arr. of Aria, Drauf schließ ich mich in deine Hände from the motet Komm, Jesu, komm mein Leib ist müde
BWV229, g, June 1845, D-B*
II,20 Transcr of selected voice parts of Liebster Gott, wann wird’ ich sterben BWV483 (Bach), GB-Ob
Page 71 of 81

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
H-U
II,2 Transcr. of Menuett from Don Giovanni, Act I, Finale, pf, early 1821, F, D-B*
II,8 Transcr. of Aria for soprano, Fra l’oscure ombre funeste, from Davidde penitente K469, 1837, D-B*, transposed from C
to B♭ with added cadenza
Ludwig van Beethoven
H-U
II,3 Cadenza to Pf Conc. op.15, 1st movt, 11 April 1823, D-B*
II,4 Transcr. from Leonore Ov. no.2, op.72, c. 1824, D-B*
II,5 Transcr. of the Cadenza to Pf Conc. op.58, 1st movt, D-B
Franz Joseph Haydn
II,16 Transcr. of S part to Betrachtung des Todes (C.F. Gellert), D-B
II,17 Transcr. of S part to Aus dem Danklied zu Gott (Gellert), D-B
II,18 Transcr. of A part to Abendlied zu Gott (Gellert), frag., D-B
Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy
H-U
II,12 Transcr., 8-part mixed choir, Mitten wir im Leben sind, op.23 no.3, c. 1840
II,13 Vocal transcr. of Athalie op.74, 1843 or later, GB-Ob
Page 72 of 81

Other
H-U
II,1 Arr. of J’ai perdu tout mon bonheur from Le Devin du village (Rousseau), S, 2 vn, va, db, f, 1 May 1821 D-B*
II,6 Instrumentation of a Handel aria, early 1829, lost
II,7 Transcr. of B part of Final chorus from Iphigenie in Aulis (Gluck), mid-1830s, GB-Ob*
II,19 Arr. of Schwäbisches Tanzlied, Jähns No. 135 (Carl Maria von Weber), 4 vv, , D-B*
Bibliography
A. Catalogues of works
P.-A. Koch: Fanny Hensel geb. Mendelssohn: (1805–1847): Kompositionen: eine Zusammenstellung der Werke, Literatur
und Schallplatten (Frankfurt, 1993)
H.-G. Klein: Die Kompositionen Fanny Hensels in autographen und abschriften aus dem Besitz der Staatsbibliothek zu
Berlin, Preussischer Kulturbesitz: Katalog (Tutzing, 1995)
A. Maurer: Thematisches Verzeichnis der klavierbegleiteten Sololieder Fanny Hensels (Kassel, 1997)
R. Hellwig-Unruh: Fanny Hensel geb. Mendelssohn Bartholdy: thematisches Verzeichnis der Kompositionen (Adliswil,
2000)
B. Collections and exhibitions

R. Elvers: ‘Verzeichnis der Musik-Autographen von Fanny Hensel im Mendelssohn Archiv Berlin’, Mendelssohn-Studien,
vol.1 (Berlin, 1972), 169–74
R. Elvers: ‘Weitere Quellen zu den Werken von Fanny Hensel’, Mendelssohn-Studien, vol.2 (Berlin, 1975), 215–20
H.-G. Klein: ‘Autographe und Abschriften von Werken Fanny Hensels im Mendelssohn-Archiv zu Berlin’, Mendelssohn-
Studien, vol.7 (Berlin, 1990), 343–5
H.-G. Klein: Die Kompositionen Fanny Hensels in Autographen und Abschriften aus dem Besitz der Staatsbibliothek zu
Berlin-Preußischer Kulturbesitz (Tutzing, 1995)
H.-G. Klein: Das verborgene Band: Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy und seine Schwester Fanny Hensel: Ausstellung der
Musikabteilung der Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin– Preussischer Kulturbesitz zum 150. Todestag der beiden Geschwister, 15.
Mai bis 12. Juli 1997 (Wiesbaden, 1997)
H.-G. Klein: Die Mendelssohns in Italien: Ausstellung des Mendelssohns-Archivs der Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin-Preußischer
Kulturbesitz (Wiesbaden, 2002)
Page 73 of 81

C. Bibliographies
J.M. Cooper: Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy: a Guide to Research: With an Introduction to Research Concerning Fanny
Hensel (New York, 2001)
L. Stokes: Fanny Hensel: a Research and Information Guide (New York, forthcoming)
D. Iconography
C. Lowenthal-Hensel: ‘Wilhelm Hensel: Fanny und Felix im Porträt’, Mendelssohn-Studien, vol.10 (Berlin, 1997), 9–24
J. Wasserman: ‘Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy and Fanny Mendelssohn Hensel: Portrait Iconographies’, Music in Art, vol.
33/1–2 (2008), 317–71
E. Letters
B. Alexander: ‘Some Unpublished Letters of Abraham Mendelssohn and Fanny Hensel’, Mendelssohn-Studien, vol.3
(Berlin, 1979), 9–50
M. Citron: ‘Fanny Hensel’s Letters to Felix Mendelssohn in the Green-Books Collection at Oxford’, Mendelssohn and
Schumann: Essays on their Music and its Context, ed. J.W. Finson and R.L. Todd (Durham, 1984), 99–108
R. Elvers: ‘Fanny Hensel’s Briefe aus München 1839’, Ars iocundissima: Festschrift Kurt Dorfmüller zum 60. Geburtstag,
ed. H. Leuchtmann and R. Münster (Tutzing, 1984), 65–8
M. Citron: The Letters of Fanny Hensel to Felix Mendelssohn (Stuyvesant, NY, 1987)
E. Weissweiler: Fanny und Felix Mendelssohn: ‘Die Musik will gar nicht rutschen ohne Dich’: Briefwechsel 1821 bis 1846
(Berlin, 1997)
H.-G. Klein, ed.: F. Hensel: Briefe aus Rom an ihre Familie in Berlin, 1839/40 (Wiesbaden, 2002)
H.-G. Klein, ed.: F. Hensel: Briefe aus Paris an ihre Familie, 1835 (Wiesbaden, 2007)
H.-G. Klein: ‘Die Mendelssohns auf der Flucht: Abraham Mendelssohn Bartholdy und seine Familie 1813 in Wien’,
Mendelssohn-Studien vol.15 (2007), 199–206
J. Appold and R. Back, eds: Felix Mendelssohn: Sämtliche Briefe, vol.1 (2008)
U. Wald and T. Kauba, eds: Felix Mendelsshon: Sämtliche Briefe, vol.5 (2012)
F. Facsimile reprints of documents

B. Borchard, ed.: F. Hensel: Das Jahr, zwölf Charakterstücke (1841) für das Fortepiano, illustrierte Reinschrift mit
Zeichnungen von Wilhelm Hensel: Faksimile nach dem Autograph aus dem Besitz des Mendelssohn-Archivs der
Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin (Kassel, 2000)
H.-G. Klein, ed. ‘O glückliche, reiche, einzige Tage’: Fanny und Wilhelm Hensels italienische Reise; mit einem Faksimile
der 18 Bildseiten aus dem ‘Reise-Album 1839-1840 (Wiesbaden, 2006)
Page 74 of 81

G. Life and works

MGGO (M. Schwarz-Danuser)
V. Sirota: The Life and Works of Fanny Mendelssohn Hensel (diss., Boston U., 1981)
F. Tillard: Fanny Mendelssohn (Paris, 1992; Eng. trans., C. Naish, 1996)
U. Büchter-Römer: Fanny Mendelssohn-Hensel (Reinbek bei Hamburg, 2001)
C. Bartsch: Fanny Hensel, geb. Mendelssohn Bartholdy: Musik als Korrespondenz (Kassel, 2007)
P. Schleuning: Fanny Hensel geb. Mendelssohn: Musikerin der Romantik (Vienna, 2007)
R.L. Todd: Fanny Hensel: the Other Mendelssohn (Oxford, 2010)
H. Memoirs, recollections, diaries

S. Hensel: Die Familie Mendelssohn (1729–1847) nach Briefen und Tagebüchern (Berlin, 1879; Eng. trans., C. Klingemann
[Jr.], London, 1882)
E. Weissweiler, ed.: F. Hensel: Italienisches Tagebuch (Frankfurt, 1982)
H.-G. Klein and R. Elvers, eds.: F. Hensel: Tagebücher (Wiesbaden, 2002)
W. Dinglinger, ed.: S. Hensel: Hier fiel Mutter vom Esel: Reisen nach Italien mit den Eltern Wilhelm Hensel und Fanny, geb.
Mendelssohn Bartholdy: das Tagebuch von 1839/40 und die Zeichnungen von 1845 (Hannover, 2011)
I. Works
(i) Instrumental
J.E. Toews: ‘Memory and Gender in the Remaking of Fanny Mendelssohn’s Musical Identity: the Chorale in “Das Jahr”’,
MQ, vol.77 (1993), 727–48
C. Cai: ‘Fanny Hensel’s Songs for Pianoforte of 1836–37: Stylistic Interaction with Felix Mendelssohn’, JMR, vol.14
(1994), 55–76
C. Cai: ‘Texture and Gender: New Prisms for Understanding Hensel’s and Mendelssohn’s Music Piano Pieces’,
Nineteenth-Century Piano Music: Essays in Performance and Analysis, ed. D. Witten (New York, 1997), 53–93
B. Borchard and M. Schwarz-Danuser, eds.: Fanny Hensel, geb. Mendelssohn Bartholdy: komponieren zwischen
Geselligkeitsideal und romantischer Musikästhetik (Stuttgart, 1999) [incl. C. Bartsch: ‘Das Lied ohne Worte op. 6,1 als
offener Brief’, 55–72; R. Hellwig-Unruh: ‘Zur Entstehung von Fanny Hensels Streichquartett in Es-Dur (1829/34)’, 121–
40; C. Thorau: ‘“Das spielende Bild des Jahres”: Fanny Hensels Klavierzyklus Das Jahr’, 73–8]
C. Cai: ‘Virtuoso Texture in Fanny Hensel’s Piano Music’, The Mendelssohns: their Music in History, ed. J.M. Cooper and
J.D. Prandi (Oxford, 2003), 263–78
Page 75 of 81

M. Bar-Shany: ‘The Roman Holiday of Fanny Mendelssohn Hensel’, Min-Ad: Israel Studies in Musicology Online (2006),
http://www.biu.ac.il/hu/mu/min-ad/06/Fanny_Mendelssohn.pdf <http://www.biu.ac.il/hu/mu/min-ad/06/
Fanny_Mendelssohn.pdf>
A. Huber: Das ‘Lied ohne Worte’ als kunstbegreifendes Experiment: Eine komparatistische Studie zur Intermedialität des
Instrumentalliedes 1830–1850 (Tutzing, 2006)
R.L. Todd: ‘Fanny Hensel’s Op. 6 No. 1 and the Art of Musical Reminiscence’, Nineteenth- Century Music Review, vol.4/2
(2007), 89–100
M. Wilson Kimber: ‘Fanny Hensel’s Seasons of Life: Poetic Epigrams, Vignettes, and Meaning in Das Jahr’, JMR, vol.27
(2008), 17–36
A. Huber: ‘“Lieder, die vom Weiten wie Klavierstücke aussehen”: Die Verwirklichung einer Utopie durch die
Geschwister Mendelssohn-Bartholdy’, Mendelssohn- Interpretationen: Der unbekannte Mendelssohn: Das Liedschaffen,
ed. D. Sackmann (Bern, 2011), 141–72
A.R. Mace [Christian]: ‘Improvisation, Elaboration, Composition: the Mendelssohns and the Classical Cadenza’,
Mendelssohn Perspectives, ed. N. Grimes and A.R. Mace [Christian] (Aldershot, 2012), 223–48
A. Mace Christian: ‘Authorship, Attribution, and the Historical Record: Solving the Mystery of the Easter Sonata by
Fanny Hensel geb. Mendelssohn Bartholdy’, MQ, (forthcoming 2018)
(ii) Vocal
R. Hellwig-Unruh: ‘Die “Cholerakantate” von Fanny Hensel’, Musica, vol.50 (1996), 121–3
G. Eberle: ‘Eroberung des Dramatischen: Fanny Hensels Hero und Leander’, Fanny Hensel, geb. Mendelssohn Bartholdy:
das Werk, ed. M. Helmig (Munich, 1997), 131–8
W. Gundlach: ‘Fanny Hensels geistliche Kantaten’, Forum Kirchenmusik, vol.6 (1997), 219–24
A. Maurer: ‘Biographische Einflüsse auf das Liedschaffen Fanny Hensel’, Fanny Hensel, geb. Mendelssohn Bartholdy:
das Werk, ed. M. Helmig (Munich, 1997), 33–41
W. Gundlach: ‘Die Chorlieder von Fanny Hensel: eine späte Liebe?’, Mendelssohn-Studien, vol.11 (1999), 105–30
M. Wilson Kimber: ‘Zur frühen Wirkungsgeschichte Fanny Hensels’, Fanny Hensel, geb. Mendelssohn Bartholdy:
komponieren zwischen Geselligkeitsideal und romantischer Musikästhetik, ed. B. Borchard and M. Schwarz-Danuser
(Stuttgart, 1999), 248–62
D. Seaton: ‘Mendelssohn’s Cycles of Songs’, The Mendelssohns: their Music in History, ed. J.M. Cooper and J.D. Prandi
(New York, 2003), 203–29
C. Fontijn: ‘Bach-Rezeption und Lutherischer Choral in der Musik von Fanny Hensel und Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy’,
‘Zu groß, zu Unerreichbar’: Bach-Rezeption im Zeitalter Mendelssohns und Schumanns, ed. A. Hartinger, C. Wolff, and P.
Wollny (Leipzig, 2007), 255–77
S. Wolitz: Fanny Hensels Chorwerke (Tutzing, 2007)
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Y. Malin: ‘Hensel: Lyrical Expansions, Elisions, and Rhythmic Flow’, Songs in Motion: Rhythm and Meter in the German
Lied (Oxford, 2010), 69–94
S. Rodgers: ‘Fanny Hensel’s Lied Aesthetic’, Journal of Musicological Research, vol.30/3 (2011), 175–201
S. Rodgers: ‘Thinking (and Singing) in Threes: Triple Hypermeter and the Songs of Fanny Hensel’, Music Theory Online,
vol.17/1 (2011)
A. Mace Christian: ‘“Der Jüngling und das Mädchen”: Fanny Hensel, Felix Mendelssohn and the Zwölf Lieder, op. 9’,
Women and the Nineteenth-Century Lied, ed. A. Kenny and S. Wollenberg (Aldershot, 2015), 63–84
S. Rodgers, ed.: The Songs of Fanny Hensel (Oxford, forthcoming 2020)
(iii) Miscellaneous topics

A.B. Marx: Berliner allgemeine musikalische Zeitung, vol.4 (June 6, 1827), 179
J. Thomson: Harmonicon, vol.8 (1839), 99
K.V. von Ense: Denkwürdigkeiten und vermischte Schriften, Leipzig 1843–1859, Bd. 9 (Leipzig, 1859), 614–15
M. Citron: ‘Gender, Professionalism and the Musical Canon’, JM, vol.8 (1990), 102–17
N. Reich: ‘The Power of Class: Fanny Hensel’, Mendelssohn and his World, ed. R.L. Todd (Princeton, 1991), 86–99
S. Rothenberg: ‘Thus Far, but No Further: Fanny Mendelssohn-Hensel’s Unfinished Journey’, MQ, vol.77/4 (1993), 689–
708
R. Elvers: ‘Frühe Quellen zur Biographie Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdys’, Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy: Kongreß-Bericht
Berlin 1994, ed. C.M. Schmidt (Wiesbaden, 1997), 17–22
M. Helmig, ed.: Fanny Hensel, geb. Mendelssohn Bartholdy: das Werk (Munich, 1997)
B. Borchard and M. Schwarz-Danuser, eds.: Fanny Hensel, geb. Mendelssohn Bartholdy: komponieren zwischen
Geselligkeitsideal und romantischer Musikästhetik (Stuttgart, 1999)
B. Brand and M. Helmig, eds.: Maßstab Beethoven? Komponistinnen im Schatten des Geniekults (Munich, 2001)
M. Wilson-Kimber: ‘The ‘Suppression’ of Fanny Mendelssohn: Rethinking Feminist Biography’, 19CM, vol.26 (2002),
113–29
H.-G. Klein: ‘…mit obligater Nachtigallen- und Fliederblütenbegleitung’: Fanny Hensels Sonntagsmusiken (Wiesbaden,
2005)
J.S. Sposato: The Price of Assimilation: Felix Mendelssohn and the Nineteenth-Century Anti-Semitic Tradition (Oxford,
2005)
H.-G. Klein, ed.: Die Musikveranstaltungen bei den Mendelssohns: ein ‘musikalischer Salon’?: Leipzig 2006, (Leipzig, 2006)
Page 77 of 81

M. Helmig: ‘Die Mendelssohns auf der Flucht: Abraham Mendelssohn Bartholdy und seine Familie 1813 in Wien’,
Mendelssohn-Studien, vol.15 (2007), 199–206
R.L. Todd: Mendelssohn Essays (New York, 2007)
S. Wollenberg, ed.: ‘Fanny Hensel (née Mendelssohn Bartholdy) and her Circle: Proceedings of the Bicentenary
Conference, Oxford, July 2005’, 19CM, vol.4/2 (2007)
R.L. Todd and A.R. Mace [Christian]: ‘Mendelssohn and the Free Chorale’, American Choral Journal, vol.49/9 (March
2009), 49–69
A.R. Mace [Christian]: Fanny Hensel, Felix Mendelssohn, and the Formation of the ‘Mendelssohnian’ Style (diss., Duke U.,
2013)
B. Borchard: ‘Gemeinsame Ausbildung? Verschiedene Perspektiven die musikalische Erziehung der Geschwister Fanny
Hensel und Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy’, Mendelssohn-Studien, Sonderband 3 (2014), 109–30
A. Mace Christian: ‘“Der sauersten Apfel”: Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy und die Familie in Berlin’, Mendelssohn-
Studien, Sonderband 3 (2014), 131–42
L.B. Bodley: ‘In Pursuit of a Single Flame: Fanny Hensel’s “Musical Salon”’, Women and the Nineteenth-Century Lied, ed.
A. Kenny and S. Wollenberg (Aldershot, 2015), 45–62
A. Mace Christian: ‘Fanny Hensel geb. Mendelssohn Bartholdy: Amateur or Professional? A Closer Look at the
Chronology of her Compositional Output’, Mendelssohn-Studien, vol.20 (2017), 153–73
B. Taylor, ed.: Rethinking Mendelssohn (Oxford, forthcoming 2019)
Multimedia Links
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Sehnsucht nach Italien. Fanny Mendelssohn-Hensel, composer. Dorothea Craxton, soprano & Babette Dorn, piano.
MENDELSSOHN-HENSEL, F.: Lieder, Vol. 2 (Craxton, Dorn), (Naxos: 2013). Audio. http://www.naxosmusiclibrary.com/
catalogue/item.asp?cid=8.572781 <http://www.naxosmusiclibrary.com/catalogue/item.asp?cid=8.572781>
Italien (Italy). Fanny Mendelssohn-Hensel, composer. Lauralyn Kolb & Arlene Shrut, voice. MENDELSSOHN, Fanny:
Lieder (Kolb, Shrut), (Centaur: 1992). Audio. http://www.naxosmusiclibrary.com/catalogue/item.asp?
cid=CRC2120 <http://www.naxosmusiclibrary.com/catalogue/item.asp?cid=CRC2120>
Die Liebe Farbe. Fanny Mendelssohn-Hensel, composer. Grimm et. al., voice. MENDELSSOHN-HENSEL, F.: Lied Edition,
Vol. 1 (Grimm, Muller, Rensburg, Koningsberger), (Troubadisc: 2001). Audio. http://www.naxosmusiclibrary.com/
catalogue/item.asp?cid=TRO-CD01420 <http://www.naxosmusiclibrary.com/catalogue/item.asp?cid=TRO-CD01420>
Page 78 of 81

Piano Quartet in A♭ Major: No. 1. Fanny Mendelssohn-Hensel, composer. Eggebrecht et. al., chamber music.
MENDELSSOHN-HENSEL, F.: Chamber Music with Piano (Eggebrecht, Kupsa, Dutilly, Fanny Mendelssohn Quartet),
(Troubadisc: 2004). Audio. http://www.naxosmusiclibrary.com/catalogue/item.asp?cid=TRO-CD01428 <http://
www.naxosmusiclibrary.com/catalogue/item.asp?cid=TRO-CD01428>
Sonata o Capriccio. Fanny Mendelssohn-Hensel, composer. Heather Schmidt, piano. MENDELSSOHN-HENSEL, F.: Piano
Sonatas/Lied/Sonata o Capriccio (H. Schmidt), (Naxos: 2010). Audio. http://www.naxosmusiclibrary.com/catalogue/
item.asp?cid=8.570825 <http://www.naxosmusiclibrary.com/catalogue/item.asp?cid=8.570825>
Piano Sonata in C minor: No. 1. Fanny Mendelssohn-Hensel, composer. Heather Schmidt, piano. MENDELSSOHN-
HENSEL, F.: Piano Sonatas/Lied/Sonata o Capriccio (H. Schmidt), (Naxos: 2010). Audio. http://
www.naxosmusiclibrary.com/catalogue/item.asp?cid=8.570825 <http://www.naxosmusiclibrary.com/catalogue/
item.asp?cid=8.570825>
Schlafe du, schlafe du süss. Fanny Mendelssohn-Hensel, composer. Gundlach, et al., voice. MENDELSSOHN-HENSEL, F.:
Zum Fest der heiligen Cacilia/Faust/3 Duette/6 Goethe Lieder/Gartenlieder/Lustge Vogel/Liederzyklus (Gundlach),
(Thorofon: 1998). Audio. http://www.naxosmusiclibrary.com/catalogue/item.asp?cid=CTH2398 <http://
www.naxosmusiclibrary.com/catalogue/item.asp?cid=CTH2398>
Prelude in F Major. Fanny Mendelssohn-Hensel, composer. Gundlach, et al., voice. MENDELSSOHN-HENSEL, F.: Hiob/
Lobgesang/Organ Music/MENDELSSOHN, Felix: Psalm 115/Verleih’ uns Frieden (Gundlach), (Thorofon: 1997). Audio.
http://www.naxosmusiclibrary.com/catalogue/item.asp?cid=CTH2346 <http://www.naxosmusiclibrary.com/
catalogue/item.asp?cid=CTH2346>
Die Nonne. Fanny Mendelssohn-Hensel, composer. Lauralyn Kolb & Arlene Shrut, voice. MENDELSSOHN, Fanny: Lieder
(Kolb, Shrut), (Centaur: 1992). Audio. http://www.naxosmusiclibrary.com/catalogue/item.asp?cid=CRC2120 <http://
www.naxosmusiclibrary.com/catalogue/item.asp?cid=CRC2120>
Oratorium nach den Bildern der Bibel (Oratorio based on stories from the Bible), No. 12: Ich habe einen guten Kampf
gekampfet (Choir, Soprano, Bass). Fanny Mendelssohn-Hensel, composer. Gundlach, et al., voice. MENDELSSOHN-
HENSEL, F.: Oratorium nach den Bildern der Bibel (Gundlach), (Thorofon: 2000). Audio. http://
www.naxosmusiclibrary.com/catalogue/item.asp?cid=CTH2451 <http://www.naxosmusiclibrary.com/catalogue/
item.asp?cid=CTH2451>
Oratorium nach den Bildern der Bibel (Oratorio based on stories from the Bible), No. 15: Singet Gott, lobsinget dem
Herrn (Choir). Fanny Mendelssohn-Hensel, composer. Gundlach, et al., voice. MENDELSSOHN-HENSEL, F.: Oratorium
nach den Bildern der Bibel (Gundlach), (Thorofon: 2000). Audio. http://www.naxosmusiclibrary.com/catalogue/
item.asp?cid=CTH2451 <http://www.naxosmusiclibrary.com/catalogue/item.asp?cid=CTH2451>
String Quartet in E♭ Major: I. Adagio ma non troppo. Fanny Mendelssohn-Hensel, composer. Quatuor Ebène, chamber.
MENDELSSOHN, Felix: String Quartets Nos. 2 and 6/MENDELSSOHN-HENSEL, F.: String Quartet in E♭ Major (Quatuor
Ebene), (Erato – Parlophone: 2013). Audio. http://www.naxosmusiclibrary.com/catalogue/item.asp?
cid=5099946454652 <http://www.naxosmusiclibrary.com/catalogue/item.asp?cid=5099946454652>
Lieder, Op. 1 No. 3: Warum sind denn die Rosen. Fanny Mendelssohn-Hensel, composer. Dorothea Craxton & Babette
Dorn, vocal. MENDELSSOHN-HENSEL, F.: Lieder, Vol. 1 (Craxton, Dorn) – Opp. 1, 7, 10, (Naxos: 2009). Audio. http://
Page 79 of 81

Notturno in G Minor. Fanny Mendelssohn-Hensel, composer. Heather Schmidt, piano. MENDELSSOHN-HENSEL, F.:
Piano Sonatas/Lied/Sonata o Capriccio (H. Schmidt), (Naxos: 2010). Audio. http://www.naxosmusiclibrary.com/
catalogue/item.asp?cid=8.570825 <http://www.naxosmusiclibrary.com/catalogue/item.asp?cid=8.570825>
Gondelfahrt in G Minor. Fanny Mendelssohn-Hensel, composer. Lary et. al., voice and instrumental. MENDELSSOHN-
HENSEL, F.: Vocal Music (Lary, Jerilyn Chou, Jagodic, Soobin Kim, Jestaedt, Czernin, Ovalles, Volkova, Fietzek), (Gramola
Records: 2015). Audio. http://www.naxosmusiclibrary.com/catalogue/item.asp?cid=Gramola99094 <http://
www.naxosmusiclibrary.com/catalogue/item.asp?cid=Gramola99094>
Abschied vom Rom. Fanny Mendelssohn-Hensel, composer. Lary et. al., voice and instrumental. MENDELSSOHN-
HENSEL, F.: Vocal Music (Lary, Jerilyn Chou, Jagodic, Soobin Kim, Jestaedt, Czernin, Ovalles, Volkova, Fietzek), (Gramola
Records: 2015). Audio. http://www.naxosmusiclibrary.com/catalogue/item.asp?cid=Gramola99094 <http://
www.naxosmusiclibrary.com/catalogue/item.asp?cid=Gramola99094>
Villa Medicis in A♭ Major: Allegro maestoso. Fanny Mendelssohn-Hensel, composer. Lary et. al., voice and instrumental.
MENDELSSOHN-HENSEL, F.: Vocal Music (Lary, Jerilyn Chou, Jagodic, Soobin Kim, Jestaedt, Czernin, Ovalles, Volkova,
Fietzek), (Gramola Records: 2015). Audio. http://www.naxosmusiclibrary.com/catalogue/item.asp?
cid=Gramola99094 <http://www.naxosmusiclibrary.com/catalogue/item.asp?cid=Gramola99094>
Lieder, Op. 2 No. 3. Villa Mills: Allegretto grazioso. Fanny Mendelssohn-Hensel, composer. Lary et. al., voice and
instrumental. MENDELSSOHN-HENSEL, F.: Vocal Music (Lary, Jerilyn Chou, Jagodic, Soobin Kim, Jestaedt, Czernin,
Ovalles, Volkova, Fietzek), (Gramola Records: 2015). Audio. http://www.naxosmusiclibrary.com/catalogue/item.asp?
cid=Gramola99094 <http://www.naxosmusiclibrary.com/catalogue/item.asp?cid=Gramola99094>
Das Jahr: 12 Characterstücke, No. 1: January. Fanny Mendelssohn-Hensel, composer. Els Biesemans, instrumental.
MENDELSSOHN, Fanny: Jahr (Das) (Biesemans), (Genuin: 2012). Audio. http://www.naxosmusiclibrary.com/catalogue/
item.asp?cid=GEN12244 <http://www.naxosmusiclibrary.com/catalogue/item.asp?cid=GEN12244>
Sonata in G Minor, No. 1: Allegro molto agitato. Fanny Mendelssohn-Hensel, composer. Heather Schmidt, piano.
MENDELSSOHN-HENSEL, F.: Piano Sonatas/Lied/Sonata o Capriccio (H. Schmidt), (Naxos: 2010). Audio. http://
Lieder, Op. 1 No. 1: Schwanenlied. Fanny Mendelssohn-Hensel, composer. Dorothea Craxton & Babette Dorn, vocal.
MENDELSSOHN-HENSEL, F.: Lieder, Vol. 1 (Craxton, Dorn) – Opp. 1, 7, 10, (Naxos: 2009). Audio. http://
Lieder, Op. 2 No. 1: Andante. Fanny Mendelssohn-Hensel, composer. Matthias Kirschnereit, instrumental.
MENDELSSOHN, Felix: Lieder ohne Worte/MENDELSSOHN-HENSEL, F.: 4 Lieder/4 Songs for Piano (Kirschnereit), (Berlin
Classics: 2015). Audio. http://www.naxosmusiclibrary.com/catalogue/item.asp?cid=0300639BC <http://
www.naxosmusiclibrary.com/catalogue/item.asp?cid=0300639BC>
Lieder, Op. 41 No. 1: Im Walde. Fanny Mendelssohn-Hensel, composer. Hans Christoph-Rademann & RIAS Chamber
Chorus, choral. MENDELSSOHN, Felix: Lieder – Opp. 41, 48, 59, 88, 100 (RIAS Chamber Chorus, Rademann), (Harmonia
Mundi: 2008). Audio. http://www.naxosmusiclibrary.com/catalogue/item.asp?cid=HMC901992 <http://
www.naxosmusiclibrary.com/catalogue/item.asp?cid=HMC901992>
Page 80 of 81

Piano Trio in D Minor, Op. 11 No. 1: Allegro molto vivace. Fanny Mendelssohn-Hensel, composer. Atlantis Trio,
chamber music. MENDELSSOHN, Felix: Piano Trio No. 2/MENDELSSOHN, Fanny: Piano Trio in D Minor (Atlantis Trio),
(Musica Omnia: 2001). Audio. http://www.naxosmusiclibrary.com/catalogue/item.asp?cid=MO-0105 <http://
www.naxosmusiclibrary.com/catalogue/item.asp?cid=MO-0105>
Lieder, Op. 10 No. 5: Bergeslust. Fanny Mendelssohn-Hensel, composer. Lauralyn Kolb & Arlene Shrut, voice.
MENDELSSOHN, Fanny: Lieder (Kolb, Shrut), (Centaur: 1992). Audio. http://www.naxosmusiclibrary.com/catalogue/
item.asp?cid=CRC2120 <http://www.naxosmusiclibrary.com/catalogue/item.asp?cid=CRC2120>
This article supersedes an older article.
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Grove Music Online Fanny Mendelssohn

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Hensel [née Mendelssohn (-Bartholdy)], Fanny Cäcilie

Hensel [née Mendelssohn (-Bartholdy)], Fanny Cäcilie

1. Childhood and religion.

Subscriber: Gheorghe Dima Music Academy of Cluj-Napoca; date: 28 May 2022

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2. Early education, 1816–20.

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3. Changing priorities, 1821–3.

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4. A developing composer, 1824–8.

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Photo: Ruth Schacht / Art Resource, NY.

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Subscriber: Gheorghe Dima Music Academy of Cluj-Napoca; date: 28 May 2022

Subscriber: Gheorghe Dima Music Academy of Cluj-Napoca; date: 28 May 2022

Subscriber: Gheorghe Dima Music Academy of Cluj-Napoca; date: 28 May 2022

5. Engagement and marriage, 1829.

(Citron, E1987, p.60).

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Photo: Jörg P. Anders / Art Resource, NY.

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(Citron, E1987, p.90).

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Subscriber: Gheorghe Dima Music Academy of Cluj-Napoca; date: 28 May 2022

6. Sonntagsmusiken and early maturity, 1830–38.

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Subscriber: Gheorghe Dima Music Academy of Cluj-Napoca; date: 28 May 2022

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Subscriber: Gheorghe Dima Music Academy of Cluj-Napoca; date: 28 May 2022

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(Citron, E1987, p.174).

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(Wald and Kauba, eds, 2012, p.292).

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7. Travels to Italy, 1839–40.

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8. Return to Berlin, 1840–42.

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9. Lost illusions, 1843–5.

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August Kaselowsky: Fanny Hensel in Rome (1845).

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10. Publication, 1846–7.

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Fanny Hensel’s Published Works

Op. No. Title Publisher and Date

1 ‘Schwanenlied’ (Heine) Fall 1839