That until the 20th Century, women in the music world were mostly known for supporting the musical dreams of others, as wife, teacher, hostess, or diarist. However, during the Romantic era, a handful of celebrated female composers and performers emerged.
A comparison of brother and sister Felix & fanny Mendelssohn (1805-47) illustrates the limitations experienced by women musicians.
Fanny was a talented pianist and composer from Germany, both siblings were talented pianists and received similar training, Felix readily admitted that his sister played the piano better than he did, and Fanny remained his chief musical adviser until he left home.
But their father was keen to suppress his daughter’s ambition, in a letter to Fanny in 1820 he said, “ Perhaps music will be Felix’s profession, whereas for you it will always remain just an ornament; it can and never should become the foundation of your existence”.
Fanny rarely performed in public, but she successfully wrote more than 500 works, including around 120 pieces for piano, chamber music and oratorios.
Her family initially prevented her from publishing her works, so they published six of her songs under her brother’s name. Most of her compositions had to remain in manuscript.
When a small number finally reached print, they did it in a music magazine co funded by Robert Schumann, husband of Clara Schumann, another talented musician and one of the first female pianist celebrated on her own time.
Fanny Mendelssohn’s piano pieces, particularly the sonatas and shorter flamboyant showpieces are occasionally heard in recitals today.
She is even more impressive when you realice that she wasn’t married to a musician or any man in the musical environment, her husband was the artist Wilhelm Hansen, who occasionally would draw vignette’s in his wife’s travel journal to illustrate her pieces.