“If Fanny had been a man, she would have been one of the greatest composers of the 19th century.” Chen Reiss, Opera Singer
Anyone who has experienced the magnificent works of Fanny Hensel (1805-1847) will have no doubt about this statement! And great news… her splendidly versatile works have just been recorded in their entirety! Browse our sheet music and scores, and explore the wide world of Fanny Hensel with Stretta Music today!
Despite her exceptional musical talent, Fanny Hensel had many obstacles in her way during her lifetime, particularly from her own family. Today she is regarded as one of the most important female composers of all time, and one of the most important composers of the Romantic era.
As the older sister of Felix Mendelssohn, she enjoyed the same excellent piano teachers. Her teacher Carl Friedrich Zelter wrote in a letter to Goethe that she played “like a man”, which was considered great praise at the time, but also exemplified Fanny Hensel’s dilemma.
Since it was not appropriate for women to earn money and composer professionally, both her father and her brother were against her composing. During her lifetime, her works were almost exclusively published under her brother’s name. Her many letters show a special form of sibling love, but also a certain jealousy on the part of her brother. After she died suddenly of a stroke in 1847, Felix Mendelssohn suffered a nervous breakdown and died just six months later.
Fanny Hensel’s Diaries and Fanny Hensel’s Letters to Her Family from Rome, Venice and Paris are well worth a read.
As an outstanding pianist, Fanny Hensel composed a great deal for piano and many art songs.
Musicologist Angela Mace sees Fanny Hensel’s song compositions as much more experimental and “chromatically adventurous” than her brother’s, and found that it enabled her “to deliver the emotional charge of a longer work in a single-sided song”.
In 1965, her complete works were transferred from the family’s property to the Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation. Since then, musicologists have dealt much more intensively with Fanny Hensel, and it is only today that her extraordinary musical work is beginning to be fully recognised.
Both Fanny and her brother Felix were compositional prodigies. In 1819, they both set the same text to music for their father’s birthday - “You tones, sway happily through the strings”. Felix was ten, Fanny fourteen. On comparing the two versions, one gets an impression of their early talents, and they way the two siblings worked. Fanny’s song can be found in the selection Where are you from?, and Felix’s version is included in Mendelssohn Songs: Volume 3.
for: 6 soloists (SSATBB), mixed choir (SATB), piano
Piano reduction
Item no.: 687552
op. 6, No 4 Allegro molto
for: Piano
Sheet music
Item no.: 1357315
für Singstimmen (S/A) (Text: Heinrich Heine)
for: 2 voices
Score, Parts
Item no.: 275812
Erstveröffentlichung
for: 6 soloists (SSATBB), mixed choir (SATB), orchestra
Score
Item no.: 275820
Das Werk
Book (softcover)
Item no.: 214875
für Sopran, Alt, Bariton und Klavier
for: 3 voices, piano
Score
Item no.: 377884
for: Mixed choir a cappella
Score
Item no.: 180972
für Soli, gem Chor und Orchester
Chorpartitur
for: Soloists, mixed choir, orchestra
Item no.: 373935
12 Gesänge op.8 / 12 Lieder op.9
for: Voice (medium), piano
Music score
Item no.: 349295
Weltliche a-cappella Chöre von 1846
for: Mixed choir (SATB) a cappella
Choir score
Item no.: 1672390
für gem Chor a cappella
Partitur
for: Mixed choir a cappella
Score
Item no.: 1546519
Klavier
for: SOLOGESANG (INCL. MEHRERE SOLOSTIMMEN) EINE SINGSTIMME SINGSTIMME MIT TASTENINSTRUMENT
Item no.: 560477
for: Mixed choir (SABar) a cappella
Score
Item no.: 377883
for: Mixed choir (SATB) a cappella
Item no.: 1565740
Seid gegrüßt mit Frühlingswonne
for: Mixed choir (SATB) a cappella
Choir score
Item no.: 781799
Eine Zusammenstellung der Werke, Literatur und Schallplatten
Book (softcover)
Item no.: 130963
gem Chor, Bläser und Streicher
Partitur
for: CHORMUSIK GEMISCHTER CHOR MIT BEGLEITUNG GEISTLICH EINZELN
Score
Item no.: 601582
for: Mixed choir (SATB) a cappella
Choir score
Item no.: 376080
for: Sopran solo, Chor SSATB, Klavier
Score
Item no.: 1337058
for: 3 voices (SAT), piano
Score
Item no.: 775925
op. 2, No 3 Allegretto grazioso
for: Piano
Sheet music
Item no.: 1357310
für Gesang und Klavier
Partitur
for: SOLOGESANG (INCL. MEHRERE SOLOSTIMMEN) EINE SINGSTIMME SINGSTIMME MIT TASTENINSTRUMENT
Score
Item no.: 638367
Möseler Chorreihe
for: Mixed choir (SABar) a cappella
Choir score
Item no.: 179321
Songs by Women Composers of the 18th and 19th Centuries
for: Voice, piano
Music score (anthology), Audio-CD
Item no.: 464161
Soli, gem Chor und Orchester
Chorpartitur
for: CHORMUSIK GEMISCHTER CHOR MIT BEGLEITUNG GEISTLICH EINZELN
Item no.: 373934
Nach den Quellen zum ersten Mal herausgegeben von Hans-Günter Klein
Book (Hardcover)
Item no.: 472517
Book (softcover)
Item no.: 1665005
für gem Chor a cappella
Partitur
for: Mixed choir a cappella
Score
Item no.: 1546520
for: Mixed choir a cappella
Score
Item no.: 180973
Cholera Cantata
for: 4 soloists (SATB), mixed choir (SATB), orchestra
Choir score
Item no.: 194084
Fanny Hensels Sonntagsmusiken
Book (softcover)
Item no.: 472518
für Sopran, Bass, Chor (SATB) und Klavier
for: Soloists, mixed choir (SATB), piano
Score
Item no.: 275819
(Die "Müller-Lieder")
for: Voice (high), piano
Music score
Item no.: 552422
Möseler Chorreihe
for: Mixed choir (SABar) a cappella
Choir score
Item no.: 132296
op. 5/4
for: Piano
Music score
Item no.: 761611
op. 4/2
for: Piano
Music score
Item no.: 733015
Terzett
for: Women's choir (SSA) a cappella
Score
Item no.: 194494
for: Piano, orchestra
Score
Item no.: 555769
op. 8, No 3 Larghetto (Lied)
for: Piano
Sheet music
Item no.: 1357318
op. 6, No 3 Andante cantabile
for: Piano
Sheet music
Item no.: 1357314
und Orchester
Partitur
for: ORCHESTERWERKE GROßES ORCHESTER SOLO-SINGSTIMME
Score
Item no.: 456774
Book (Hardcover)
Item no.: 161087
Ausgewählte Lieder in zwei Bänden
for: Voice, piano
Score
Item no.: 375114
4. Band der Vortragsreihe der Koblenzer Mendelssohn-Tage
Book
Item no.: 372394
für Orgel
for: TASTEN- UND BALGINSTRUMENTE ORGEL ORGEL ZWEIHÄNDIG
Item no.: 393460
Nach den Quellen zum ersten Mal herausgegeben von Hans-Günter Klein
Book (Hardcover)
Item no.: 472516
für gem Chor a cappella
Partitur
for: Mixed choir a cappella
Score
Item no.: 1546514
for: 1–2 trumpets, organ
Score, Parts
Item no.: 772041
There is a separate Stretta website for the country Worldwide. If your order is to be delivered to this country, you can switch, so that delivery times and shipping conditions are displayed correctly. Your shopping cart and your customer account will remain the same.
switch to Stretta Music Worldwidestay on Stretta Music Denmark