Their letters to each other brim and bubble with musical news and mutual insight. Thus was the stage set for most of Fanny’s life – Felix traveled, gaining experience and connections that furthered his career, while Fanny lived vicariously through his success. This paternal injunction was not long in manifesting itself materially as Felix was packed off to meet and perform for Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, the ultimate arbiter of German culture, while Fanny was left behind. She was to be the light of her family, as was her mother, and to remain at home performing her duty, taking her pride in the development of her brother’s talents while restricting that of her own. She was to continue to play and compose, of course, but never to publish her work or perform in public. Her father wrote to her one day to express his expectations of her role in the family. Unbeknownst to Fanny, there was a firm line set on her musical development which she was to experience with the onset of adolescence. This was a brother and sister who wanted to get into the very guts of the musical craft, and relished the opportunity of doing so together.Įverything was perfect, until it wasn’t. Except for Weber’s Der Freischutz and Beethoven’s Fidelio, the early nineteenth century opera scene with its cultivated showiness passed them entirely by. In an age that would increasingly give itself over to the glitzy showmanship of The Virtuoso, they devoted themselves to studying the deep structures of Bach, the choral works of Handel, and the developing depths of Beethoven. They encouraged each other to develop their gifts to the highest level, and their mutual early love of the great canon of German classical music set its stamp on their unique compositional voices. Fanny’s four year head start made her the natural leader of the duo, Felix’s teacher and role model in all things, and the two developed a sibling bond of such profound and beautiful depth that, reading their letters as a child I used to dream of having a sister whom I could care about, and be cared about, as deeply as Felix did Fanny, and Fanny did Felix. As children, Fanny and Felix were given equal shares of every opportunity to develop themselves. When she was four years of age, however, there was a new addition to the family, a boy named Felix, whose gifts would make the family name while sealing Fanny’s private fate. For four years, Fanny was the sole focus of Lea’s concentrated energies, and under her tutelage developed into a prodigious musical talent whose virtuosity at the keyboard was as astounding to outsiders as it was expected by Lea. Lea in particular believed fiercely in the necessity of intellectual development, and took her children’s education in her own hands, pushing them to always be doing something that improved their minds, be it language acquisition, musical and artistic development, or the refinement of a historical awareness. She was the first child of Abraham and Lea Mendelssohn, both profoundly intelligent individuals of significant wealth who were able to provide every possible educational opportunity for their offspring. Her name was Fanny Cacilie Mendelssohn, later Fanny Hensel (1805-1847), and her story is a profound example of opportunities surrendered at the altar of expectations.
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