Fanny Mendelssohn-Hensel, younger sister of Felix, undeniably shared in the family gift, and just as undeniably had that gift suppressed by the ways of the world she lived in. Her strongest support came not from her brother, who passed off her songs as his own on occasion, but from her husband, artist William Hensel. Mendelssohn-Hensel's songs are simpler than Felix's and have an attractive melodic aspect. There seems to be an undercurrent of tension in some of them, and performers have tried biographical approaches, ...
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Fanny Mendelssohn-Hensel, younger sister of Felix, undeniably shared in the family gift, and just as undeniably had that gift suppressed by the ways of the world she lived in. Her strongest support came not from her brother, who passed off her songs as his own on occasion, but from her husband, artist William Hensel. Mendelssohn-Hensel's songs are simpler than Felix's and have an attractive melodic aspect. There seems to be an undercurrent of tension in some of them, and performers have tried biographical approaches, sometimes pairing Fanny's songs with Felix's, to try to bring out the deeper levels of Fanny's works. German soprano Dorothea Craxton, who has also recorded music of Clara Schumann, offers a more straightforward program. Her rather small voice, which tends toward a very slight vibrato, feels idiomatic to this drawing-room repertory, but sample it to see what you think; it's not to all tastes. Craxton's program highlights Mendelssohn-Hensel's inclination toward texts by the greats of German...
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