We mark the anniversary of the death of the composer Fanny Hensel, née Mendelssohn Bartholdy, who died on 14 May 1847. A central figure in Berlin’s cultural life, Hensel composed over 450 works, encompassing lieder, piano pieces, and chamber music.
Hensel’s life was characterised by a close musical partnership with her brother, Felix Mendelssohn, whom she described as her ‘right hand and my eyesight’. Despite nineteenth-century social constraints that restricted her public career, her Sunday musicales on Leipzigerstrasse provided a vital space for the city’s highest musical achievements. Contemporaries recorded that she conducted and performed with a force and depth that commanded the room.
Her dedication continued until her final hours. Hensel completed her last work, Bergeslust, on the day she died. Its closing line stands as a fitting reflection of her creative output: ‘Gedanken gehn und Lieder fort bis ins Himmelreich’ (‘Thoughts and songs are borne heavenward’).
