Hear Their Music

Guest Post by Kate Jakubowski

There is no doubt that Hildegard of Bingen was a genius. A mystic, writer, and creator of the language lingua ignota,[1] Hildegard was one of the earliest polymaths—a person who is skilled in multiple areas—and is probably most well known for her compositions.[2] The most published composer of sacred monophony (a type of composition that consists of a singular melodic line), she has since been overshadowed by her more famous male counterparts such as Mozart and Beethoven. Unfortunately, this is true for many female prodigies and musicians—and it is time they be recognized for their incredible accomplishments and contributions to music. Take the stories of Clara Schumann and Fanny Mendelssohn. While we’ve all probably heard of Robert Schumann and Felix Mendelssohn, who are two of the most famous Romantic-era composers, most probably haven’t heard of Clara and Fanny, who are most often singled out in music history textbooks as “Robert’s wife” and “Felix’s sister.” These two women were some of the most well-known pianists of their time, revolutionizing how piano is performed and music is composed. While Clara Schumann and Fanny Mendelssohn spent much of their lives being compared to the more famous men in their lives, it’s time to realize that they were geniuses in their own right.

Although they grew up in the same century, Fanny Mendelssohn and Clara Schumann couldn’t have had more different upbringings. Born in 1805, Fanny enjoyed an upper-class lifestyle, surrounded by loving parents who gave all four of their children a well-rounded education. Fanny and her brother Felix quickly became piano and composition prodigies—by the age of 13, Fanny could play all 24 preludes in Bach’s the Well-Tempered Clavier by memory[3]—but only Felix was allowed to use his talents in a public career. Her father, Abraham, told Fanny when she was only 14, “Music will perhaps become his [Felix's] profession, while for you it can and must only be an ornament, never the root of your being and doing.”[4] Meanwhile, Clara Schumann (née Wieck) was born in 1819 to parents on the brink of divorce; when her father gained custody of her, he trained her rigorously to be the Next Great German Prodigy. From birth, Clara was groomed to be a virtuoso pianist—her name was even picked because it means brilliance.[5] At age nine, she made her public debut[6]—and that was only the beginning of her remarkable career.

Clara Schumann in 1853

Clara Schumann was one of the most revolutionary performers of her time, popularizing the memorization of music for performances. She was one of the first female concert pianists to travel around the world and is considered one of the best performers of all-time—male or female. Clara transformed the experience of what a piano performance could be. When we go to see a symphony performance, we don’t give a second thought when hearing Beethoven symphonies or piano concertos. But back in Clara’s day, this was revolutionary. While most performers played their own compositions, Clara played the compositions of others, popularizing Beethoven sonatas and even premiering the works of brand-new artists.[7] Along with Robert, she mentored Johannes Brahms, whose symphonies are some of the most played today.[8] Clara also helped preserve her husband’s legacy by editing many of his most famous works, which she then premiered at her concerts. Clara was also appointed a piano teacher at Dr. Hoch’s Konservatorium in Germany in 1878 and was the only woman on the faculty.[9] Clara was a major influence on every aspect of the piano, from how it’s performed to what music is featured in a concert. In a time when there were so few female role models, Clara Schumann’s dedication to her craft gives aspiring young pianists someone to look up to today. Her passion for performance and true brilliance of her programming shone through—it's no wonder why she was one of the most famous and well-respected pianists of her day. Despite her gender, Clara Schumann persisted, persevered, and had true grit when it mattered most, balancing a career and 8 children as a widow in 19^th-century Europe. As Schumann said herself: “I cannot refrain from my art. If I did, I’d never forgive myself.”[10]

Fanny Mendelssohn in 1829

Though Fanny never had a public debut like Clara—the only time she gave a public performance was in 1838 at the age of thirty-three[11]—she still found ways to foster her passion for music and become one of the foremost piano players in Germany. Fanny held weekly concerts in her home, giving performances to upwards of 200 people.[12] Her husband Wilhelm Hensel left a piece of blank sheet music for her to write on every day, showing his love and support for his talented wife.[13] Though Fanny’s father Abraham and brother Felix discouraged her from pursuing a career in composing, Fanny didn’t listen—the year before her death in 1847, she wrote to Felix, telling him, “Laugh at me or not, as you wish... I'm beginning to publish.”[14] In her short lifetime, Fanny managed to compose upwards of 450 pieces, which is hundreds more than Tchaikovsky’s 169.[15][16] Even when Fanny was forced to publish her own works under her brother’s name, they were singled out as spectacular: when Felix visited Queen Victoria, she told him that her favorite song was his Italien, and he had to admit that it wasn’t his but really his sister’s![17] While her brother is known for pioneering the genre Songs with Words, which are short pieces played on the piano, some suggest that it was really Fanny who inspired his most famous works and composed them first.[18] Through the years, Fanny has sadly been overshadowed by Felix; perhaps if her family’s social attitudes had been more evolved, she wouldn’t be most well known as “Felix’s sister.” But yet, even when her family discouraged her from pursuing music, rather than tell them she disagreed with them, she persevered.

Despite facing barriers and living in the shadows of their more famous counterparts just because of their gender, Clara and Fanny never gave up their love for music—if not for that burning passion inside them, what else would it be? And though they may be singled out for being two of the most famous female musicians in a time when it was all too rare, there are many more out there—including Mozart’s sister Maria Anna and Gustav Mahler’s wife Alma—who deserve our attention. For not only should their voices be silenced no more, but their music demands to be heard.

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[1] Natasha Moura, “Who Was Hildegard of Bingen?” Women’s Art, https://womennart.com/2018/03/07/who-was-hildegard-of-bingen/.

[2] Ian D. Ben, “Hildegard of Bingen,” Grove Music Online, https://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/.

[3] Elizabeth Davis, “Fanny Mendelssohn: Discover Her Biography, Compositions and Other facts,” Classic FM, https://www.classicfm.com/composers/fanny-mendelssohn/fanny-mendelssohn-biography-compositions-facts/.

[4] Fanny Mendelssohn Hensel and Marcia J. Citron, The Letters of Fanny Hensel to Felix Mendelssohn (New York: Pendragon, 1987), preface.

[5] Cait Miller, “200 Years of Clara Schumann,” In the Muse: Performing Arts Blog, https://blogs.loc.gov/music/2019/09/200-years-of-clara-schumann/.

[6] Andrew Ford, “Why Classical Music Today Owes a Lot to Clara Schumann,” ABC News, November 1, 2019, https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-11-02/clara-schumann-invented-classical-recital-changed-music-forever/11645650.

[7] Dale DeBakcsy, “The Woman Who Invented the Modern Concert: Clara Schumann, Master of the Piano,” Women You Should Know, https://womenyoushouldknow.net/clara-schumann-master-piano/.

[8] Debakcsy, “The Woman Who Invented the Modern Concert.”

[9] Julia M. Nauhaus, “1878-1896 Frankfurt,” Schumann Network, https://www.schumann-portal.de/frankfurtmain-1878-1896.html (translated by Katharina Ma).

[10] Rick Fulker, “The Power Woman of Classical Music: Clara Schumann,” The Wire, September 18, 2019, https://thewire.in/the-arts/the-power-woman-of-classical-music-clara-schumann#:~:text=Before%20long%20though%2C%20the%20couple's,forgive%20myself%2C%E2%80%9D%20she%20wrote.

[11] Davis, “Fanny Mendelssohn.”

[12] Janice Kaplan, The Genius of Women (New York: Dutton, 2020), 135.

[13] Dr. Regine Angela Thompson, “A Great Composer Responds to the Pandemic. Fanny Mendelssohn in 1831,” Women’s Philharmonic Advocacy, https://wophil.org/fanny-mendelssohns-response-to-the-epidemic-of-1831/.

[14] Hensel and Citron, Letters, 349.

[15] Davis, “Mendelssohn.”

[16] A&E Networks Television, “Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky,” Biography.com, https://www.biography.com/musician/pyotr-ilyich-tchaikovsky#:~:text=Tchaikovsky%20resigned%20from%20the%20Moscow%20Conservatory%20in%201878%20to%20focus,%2C%20concertos%2C%20cantatas%20and%20songs.

[17] Thea Derks, “How Fanny Mendelssohn Was Eclipsed by Felix,” Medium, https://tdrks.medium.com/fanny-mendelssohn-in-the-shadow-of-felix-4c3782ba8576.

[18] Camilla Cai, “Fanny Hensel’s ‘Songs for Pianoforte’ of 1836–37: Stylistic Interaction with Felix Mendelssohn,” Journal of Musicological Research 14(1) (1994): 55-76, https://doi.org/10.1080/01411899408574700.