Composer: Fanny Caecilie Mendelssohn Hensel, Clara Schumann
Performer: Bettina Pahn, Christine Schornsheim
Format: FLAC (tracks)
Label: Hänssler
Catalogue: HC20026
Release: 2022
Size: 537 MB
Recovery: +3%
Scan: yes
01. Mendelssohn: Ave Maria
Schumann: Lieder, Op. 13
02. No. 3, Die Liebe sass als Nachtigall
03. Mendelssohn: Was will die einsame Trane
04. Mendelssohn: Zauberkreis
Schumann: Lieder, Op. 13
05. No. 6, Die stille Lotosblume
06. Mendelssohn: Zwischen Capua und Gaeta
07. Schumann: Lorelei
Mendelssohn: Vier Lieder, Op. 2
08. No. 3 in E Major, Allegretto grazioso
09. Schumann: Oh weh des Scheidens das er tat
Mendelssohn: Lieder, Op. 1
10. No. 1, Schwanenlied
11. Mendelssohn: Wanderlied
12. Mendelssohn: Lebewohl
13. Schumann: Am Strande
Mendelssohn: 4 Songs for Piano, Op. 2
14. No. 1 in G Major, Andante
15. Mendelssohn: Frühlingslied
Schumann: 3 Lieder Op. 12
16. No. 2, Liebst Du um Schönheit
17. Mendelssohn: Die furchtsame Träne, H-U 66
18. Mendelssohn: O, wie beseligend
19. Mendelssohn: Nacht
Schumann: Soirées musicales, Op. 6
20. No. 2 in F Major, Notturno
Schumann: 3 Lieder Op. 12
21. No. 1, Er ist gekommen
Schumann: Lieder, Op. 13
22. No. 5, Ich hab in Deinem Auge
23. Mendelssohn: Am Leuchtenden Sommermorgen
24. Mendelssohn: Lied der Fee, H-U 73
25. Mendelssohn: Gebet in der Christnacht, H-U 63
26. Schumann: Die gute Nacht, die ich dir sage
“Oh, do it Clara darling!” said Robert Schumann to his bride Clara, strongly encouraging her to pursue composing. Although the pianist had always composed, when she married in 1840 – without being asked to – she was immediately willing to dispense with this part of her musical output: “A woman does not have to desire to compose – so far not one has been able to do so; should that be what I am destined to do?” Clara is caught up in a crisis and feels resigned: “But I cannot compose … I lack all talent for it”.
Only after the wedding did Clara return to composing. As long as her father or husband encouraged her to do so, in her consummate adaptability she did so with joy. But after Robert’s death in 1856, Clara stopped composing entirely.
It does not appear that the Mendelssohns were able to enjoy Heine’s kinder side. Although Heine was sometimes a visitor at their home in Berlin, somehow friendly relations did not develop. However, the poet Heine held Fanny in high regard. She had already set his poems Was will die einsame Trane and Am I euchtenden Sommermorgen to music in 1827/28. Her song setting of Heine’s Schwanenlied – was her first published work, but this only happened in 1846. At first Fanny chose to set poems by her bridegroom WiIhelm to music, of which she had already composed Lebewohl the same year they met and before the wedded couple were separated for a long period. Upon getting married she, too, began a busy and fruitful artistic colIaboration that involved the daily morning ritual of Wilhelm leaving poems on the piano for her to set to music.