Fanny Mendelssohn

Fanny Mendelssohn was born in Hamburg in 1805, the elder sister of Felix Mendelssohn, and grew up in Berlin in a cultured, prosperous family. She received the same musical training as her brother and was an able pianist and composer by her teens, but her family considered publishing unsuitable for a woman of her class, so her music circulated privately for decades. A few early songs appeared under Felix's name; when Queen Victoria picked Italien as her favorite of his songs, Felix had to admit it was Fanny's.

In 1829 she married the painter Wilhelm Hensel, who encouraged her to keep composing. At the family home in Berlin she ran a Sunday concert series, performing and conducting her own music for invited audiences. In 1846 she began publishing under her own name at last. She died of a stroke in May 1847, at 41, leaving over 400 works.

Start with the Piano Trio in D minor, op. 11, her last major chamber work, then Das Jahr, twelve piano pieces that trace the course of a year.