Romantic Era:Important Composers, Theorists, and Performers
Felix Mendelssohn (1809-1847) and Fanny Mendelssohn (1805-1847)
Listen to the example below:
German composer Felix Mendelssohn (1809-1847) was encouraged by his family to focus on music studies in order to make it his career. He showed incredible talent at a very young age. By 17, he began composing music based on Shakespeare’s "A Midsummer Night’s Dream." He inadvertently created a new form of composition called incidental music, which is basically background music, adding atmosphere to the action. He also incorporated the feelings of nature in his compositions as well as the national folk music of various countries into his symphonies that represented those nations.
While most of the musicians and composers who gained fame during this era were men, a number of female composers and women were highly talented composers in their own right. However, women were not encouraged to become musicians during this time period, and sometimes had their works published under a pseudonym (a fake name) or by a male musician or relative. A female composer who was extremely talented and prolific is Felix Mendelssohn’s sister, Fanny Mendelssohn Hensel (1805-1847). A talented pianist, Fanny Mendelssohn wrote over 460 pieces of music, most of them for solo piano. Her pieces were often performed alongside her brother’s during her lifetime. Had she been born in a different era, Mendelssohn would have perhaps been famous in her own right.
Listen to the exampls below:
Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy, Songs Without Words, Book 2, Op. 30, No. 6, Allegretto tranquillo in F-sharp minor ("Venetian Gondola Song No. 2") (2 minute clip)
Attribution: Date - 8 December 2011, Source - Own work, Author - Membeth, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Mendelssohn.Venetianisches.Gondellied.opus.30.6.ogg
Symphony No. 3 in A minor (Op. 56), 1st movement, Andante con moto ("Schottische Symphonie")
Attribution: Composer - Felix Mendelssohn (1809–1847) Performance artist - Fuldaer Symphonisches Orchester Conductor - Simon Schindler Title - Symphony No. 3 in A minor (Op. 56), 1st movement, Andante con moto ("Schottische Symphonie") Performance date - 9 March 2003 Source - http://www-plan.cs.colorado.edu/henkel/fso/index-en.html
