The Other Mendelssohn: Composer Fanny Hensel’s Talent Rivaled That of Her Celebrated Brother

In 1842, Felix Mendelssohn — composer of one of the world’s most recognizable pieces, “Wedding March” — arrived at Buckingham Palace to play for Queen Victoria while she sang. As she flipped through his music, the queen stopped at “Italien.” This was the piece she wanted sing.

The only problem was Mendelssohn hadn’t written “Italien.” His older sister, Fanny Mendelssohn Hensel, had, something he embarrassingly had to admit to the queen before playing it for her. Only after singing Hensel’s song did Queen Victoria sing one of his.

Ironically, publishing another artist’s work under your name wasn’t unheard of at the time and likely benefited them both. It took pressure off Mendelssohn to satisfy his publisher’s demand for new material and gave her an outlet at a time when female composers didn’t have one. Likely, it saved her from obscurity, too, even though her music would be forgotten for well over 100 years.

Born in 1805, the eldest child of a successful banker and his wife, Hensel studied music alongside her brother. Both demonstrated incredible talent, but when she turned 14, her father told her that, while her brother could pursue a musical career, she was expected to become a wife and mother.

Sandra Mogensen, a pianist and co-founder of a site dedicated to elevating female composers, clarifies that Hensel’s father didn’t forbid her from composing or performing music, just doing so outside the home. Music couldn’t interfere with her domestic duties.

Wanting to please her family, Hensel resigned herself to her expected role, eventually marrying artist Wilhelm Hensel and having a son, Sebastian. But she never stopped composing, and Wilhelm encouraged her to give in-home performances.

In 1837, Hensel tried for a second child and slipped into a depression when she lost the baby. Hoping to give her purpose, Hensel’s mother wrote to Mendelssohn asking him to support his sister professionally and help her find a publisher. He refused.

“She has neither inclination nor vocation for authorship. She is too much all that a woman ought to be for this,” he wrote in reply.

As Hensel continued to perform in her home, her reputation as a great composer and musician attracted the who’s who of the music world at that time. Her confidence grew, and following her mother’s death, she decided to defy societal norms and, with her husband’s blessing, publish her work anyway.

Natalia Williams-Wandoch, a much sought-after professional pianist who created the Spotify playlist “Music by Women,” describes the approximately 450 pieces Hensel wrote during her lifetime as having a rare emotional depth and sincerity.

“There are no superficial or superfluous ‘tricks’ there,” she says. “Every phrase, every note really, is thought through and meaningful.”

Her music stands out in another way, according to Tim Parker-Langston, a professional tenor who created Hensel Songs Online to share her work. It’s bold and takes risks that Mendelssohn couldn’t because he wrote for a commercial market. Parker-Langston calls her freedom to experiment her “compositional super power.”

That super power is evident in The Year, a masterpiece with 12 movements, each representing a month, that was inspired by a trip she took to Italy with Wilhelm and Sebastian in 1839. Parker-Langston recommends this composition to anyone wanting to sample her work.

“Each movement is so vivid and vibrant, and it captures the brilliance of her piano playing,” he says.

Despite her talent, Parker-Langston points out that we know Hensel today primarily because of her connection to Mendelssohn, one of the greats of classical music. In preserving his legacy, historians discovered her musical talent through her letters to him and other family materials.

Even so, like most female composers that pre-date the modern era, the world forgot her after her death. Stephen Rodgers, a professor of music theory at the University of Oregon School of Music and Dance, attributes this to men deciding whose music to perform and elevate. With the spotlight elsewhere, music by women disappeared until the ’70s and ’80s when historians began to look for it.

Rodgers, who founded Art Song Augmented to promote marginalized composers, admits that we know about Hensel and Clara Schumann, wife of composer Robert Schumann, because of their connection to great composers. However, he believes these women deserve the attention they get because of their talent, not just their family.

“I really think that if Fanny wasn’t related to Felix Mendelssohn, and if we somehow discovered her manuscripts in someone’s old trunk, we would have noticed that these were amazing works on their own,” he says.

In 1847, Hensel felt her arms go numb while preparing for a performance and excused herself from rehearsal. She suffered a stroke later that night and died. She was 41. When Mendelssohn heard the news, he collapsed with grief and struggled to compose until his death the following year. Today, the Leipzig home where he died contains exhibits on his life and Hensel’s.

Although progress has been made, the bias against female composers that Hensel faced in the early 1800s persists even in the 21^st century, according to Williams-Wandoch.

“Prejudice against females in music, and perhaps especially against female creativity, is still very much alive, though more and more people are becoming aware of the myths such as there have been no women composers or there are no good women composers,” she says.

Mogensen agrees, noting that male composers still dominate performances today. To an extent, she understands it.

People recognize Mozart, Beethoven and Tchaikovsky, she explains. They know that if they spend the money on tickets to hear their music, they’ll enjoy the performance. On the other hand, female composers have less demand because the public doesn’t know them. Education can change that, but people have to be willing to take a risk, too.

“It’s time for people to just be open-minded,” Mogensen says. “If they can go to a well-known male composer or a ‘oh, wait, who’s that?’ try the new name. There’s so much good stuff out there.”

You don’t have to buy tickets to a performance, she continues. Just choose a female composer the next time you’re looking for something to listen to. There’s a whole world of Hensels out there waiting to be discovered.

Female Composers You Should Know

Fanny Mendelssohn Hensel and Clara Schumann may be the two most famous female composers, but they’re hardly the only ones. These accomplished women — and so many others — deserve a listen, too.

Lili Boulanger (1893-1918)

Born into a family of talented musicians, Lili Boulanger began singing at the age of two and quickly learned to play piano, violin, cello, and harp. She studied at the Paris Conservatoire and, in 1912, became the first woman to win the prestigious Prix de Rome award. Likened to the impressionist composer Claude Debussy, she garnered praise for works like Faust et Hélène and Pie Jesu, the last piece she wrote before her death at the age of 24.

Amy Beach (1867-1944)

American composer Amy Beach wrote her first three waltzes in her head before her fourth birthday. Although her husband conditioned their marriage in 1885 on her no longer performing or teaching piano, he did encourage her to continue composing, and in 1896, she became the first American woman to write an opera, Gaelic Symphony. Her other notable works include Piano Concerto and Mass in E Flat.

Hildegard von Bingen (1098-1179)

A Benedictine nun, Hildegard von Bingen was a renowned composer of plainchant, also known as Gregorian chant. Unlike most female composers, she didn’t slip into obscurity, thanks to her voluminous writings on science, medicine, and spirituality. A performance of four of her songs to commemorate the 800^th anniversary of her death in 1979 sparked a renewed interest in her music that continues to this day.

Élisabeth Jacquet de la Guerre (1665-1729)

The Baroque composer Élisabeth Jacquet de la Guerre performed harpsichord as a child for the French royal court before embarking on career that made her a musical super star of her day. In 1694, she completed Céphale et Procris, the first opera composed by a woman in France. Her opera was performed only a handful of times and was not well received by the French, who didn’t appreciate her more contemporary style. For the next 35 years, she continued to write for the harpsichord, violin, and voice.

Mélanie “Mel” Bonis (1858-1937)

Mélanie Bonis had to teach herself piano and adopt the name Mel to pursue a career as a composer in late 19^th century France. But just as she stood on the precipice of her dream, her family forced her to marry an older man who didn’t like music. Inspired by a former lover from her days at the Paris Conservatoire, she wrote more than 300 pieces, including Soir et Matin and Cello Sonata.

Kaija Saariaho (1952-2023)

Finnish composer Kaija Saariaho overcame sexism as a music student to become a pioneer, pushing the boundaries of composition by incorporating color, texture, and other sensory elements. In 2016, her opera, L’amour de Loin, became the second opera composed by a woman — and the first in 103 years — to be performed at New York’s Metropolitan Opera. Three years later, a BBC Music Magazine panel of 174 of her peers voted her the greatest living composer in the world.

Rachel Portman (1960-)

Rachel Portman — The Duchess: Piano Suite (Uploaded to YouTube by Rachel Portman)

In 1996, Rachel Portman became the first female composer to win an Academy Award for Best Musical or Comedy Score with her score for the movie Emma. She has since received two more Academy Award nominations and, in 2015, she became the first woman to win a Primetime Emmy Award for the film Bessie. Portman continues to score movies, including most recently We Were the Lucky Ones.