Book contents
- Fanny Hensel and Felix Mendelssohn in Context
- Composers in Context
- Fanny Hensel and Felix Mendelssohn in Context
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Figures
- Tables
- Contributors
- Preface
- Abbreviations
- Part I Family and Upbringing
- Chapter 1 Berlin Jews in the Long Eighteenth Century
- Chapter 2 Family Background
- Chapter 3 Education
- Chapter 4 The Family Cosmos
- Chapter 5 Fanny and Felix’s Personal Relationship
- Chapter 6 Fanny and Felix’s Musical Relationship
- Part II Friends and Colleagues
- Part III Cultural and Intellectual Worlds
- Part IV Environments and Institutions
- Part V Musical Activities
- Part VI Reception and Legacies
- Epilogue: A Future for Mendelssohn and Hensel Studies
- Index
Chapter 3 - Education
from Part I - Family and Upbringing
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 19 December 2025
Book contents
- Fanny Hensel and Felix Mendelssohn in Context
- Composers in Context
- Fanny Hensel and Felix Mendelssohn in Context
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Figures
- Tables
- Contributors
- Preface
- Abbreviations
- Part I Family and Upbringing
- Chapter 1 Berlin Jews in the Long Eighteenth Century
- Chapter 2 Family Background
- Chapter 3 Education
- Chapter 4 The Family Cosmos
- Chapter 5 Fanny and Felix’s Personal Relationship
- Chapter 6 Fanny and Felix’s Musical Relationship
- Part II Friends and Colleagues
- Part III Cultural and Intellectual Worlds
- Part IV Environments and Institutions
- Part V Musical Activities
- Part VI Reception and Legacies
- Epilogue: A Future for Mendelssohn and Hensel Studies
- Index
Summary
This chapter explores the “joint” musical education of the two siblings Fanny and Felix, taking as its point of departure the educational backgrounds of the parents which differentiated little by gender in terms of approach and content, but certainly in the intended paths for the two children. Felix was destined to become a professional composer, and the genres in which he was groomed were thus the “public” ones (opera in particular) while Fanny was expected to excel in the “small” genres: piano pieces and songs.
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- Fanny Hensel and Felix Mendelssohn in Context , pp. 18 - 25Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2026
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