Clara vs. Fanny

[contrapunctus]

Which do you like the most? Missus Mendelssohn's music or Missus Schumann's music? Why?


Also on the whole do you like the Mendelssohns' or the Schumanns' music? and Why?

My vote would have to go to the Menelssohns because I like their restrained-romantic style. I never really got into the Schumanns' music.

[arensky]

To be brief (students coming soon) I feel that Fanny has the spark of genius, while Clara's music (though not terrible) is very pro forma in an 1820's sort of way. It got better later, under her husband's and Brahms' influence, but it has never set me on fire.

They both excelled at lieder, particularly Fanny, whose art songs are among the best ever written.

Rumour has it that some of Felix Mendelsohn's pieces are actually by Fanny, as she was not permitted by the family to engage in professional musical activity, so her brother allowed her to publish some works under his name. Maybe some of you have more specific informaion about this intriguing subject....

[contrapunctus]

Do you people not know who these ladies are? How come there is only one response.

[mrchops10]

I think everyone knows who they are, but most people haven't heard their music. I completely agree with Arensky that Fanny had a spark of genius, whereas Clara's music is mostly derivative of her husband's. I find it difficult to believe that any of Mendelssohn's accepted music was written by Fanny because their geniuses were so different--her sense of form is much more elusive, almost Chopinesque. Mendelssohn's form is more like Beethoven's, where you always know precisely where you are.

This thread doesn't make clear that Fanny was Mendelssohn's sister, not his wife. He was extremely devoted to her, and died only months after she did.

[apion]

I'd like to slap Clara's Fanny!  (does that answer your question?)

[arensky]

I find it difficult to believe that any of Mendelssohn's accepted music was written by Fanny because their geniuses were so different--her sense of form is much more elusive, almost Chopinesque. Mendelssohn's form is more like Beethoven's, where you always know precisely where you are.

That's a good point and very well put; never quite thought about it like that....

[jas]

Rumour has it that some of Felix Mendelsohn's pieces are actually by Fanny, as she was not permitted by the family to engage in professional musical activity, so her brother allowed her to publish some works under her name. Maybe some of you have more specific informaion about this intriguing subject....

She wasn't really permitted by the time, either. She was a woman from an upper-middle class family. Composing was a man's thing then, so it's possible that some of the pieces published under Felix's name are actually her's.

I find it difficult to believe that any of Mendelssohn's accepted music was written by Fanny because their geniuses were so different--her sense of form is much more elusive, almost Chopinesque. Mendelssohn's form is more like Beethoven's, where you always know precisely where you are.

That's quite interesting, because their musical education was extensive and identical when they were young. It wasn't until Felix was allowed the privileges associated with being male, when they were older, that it changed. She was actually the better musician (or so I've read); she just had less opportunity.

Clara was a different case - she started concertising when she was a child, and she was the daughter of a highly respected music teacher, Friedrich Wieck, so by the time she reached womanhood she'd already made her name as a pianist, so it wasn't seen as inappropriate, as it might otherwise have been.

Some of Clara's pieces (though I don't know many of them) have a Chopin-ish feel to them. I'm thinking of one in particular -- it's a Romance, I think. I don't know any of Fanny's pieces. I might try to get my hands on some of it, though.

Jas

[shasta]

They are both extraordinary musicians.  I love both their piano trios, and Fanny's Das Jahr cycle is exquisite.

[stevie]

I'd like to slap Clara's Fanny!  (does that answer your question?)

in british slang, fanny means vagina, so i find your comment absurdly amuning and disgusting.

i havent heard anything of fanny, but i really love some of clara's piece, i think it was a nocturne or romance, sounded great.

[arensky]

A recently discovered daguerrotype of Clara Schumann and her oldest daughter Marie, circa 1844, when Clara was about 25 years old....

                       

[jas]

That's a nice picture. I remember reading somewhere that one of the reasons it wasn't as much of a problem for her to be performing on a stage, apart from the fact that she started so young, was that she wasn't considered very pretty. I think she is in that picture, anyway.

Jas

[Jacey1973]

It was Miss Mendelssohn wasn't it? Not Mrs....

Anyway, funny you should mention Fanny and Clara as on radio 3 last week (i think) they had an afternoon programme about the music Clara and Fanny composed - how much of it wasn't published for many years, and how they were both good friends.

In fact there was a woman on the show talking about a book she read - i think based on Clara Schumann's life, (and Fanny is one of the characters in it)  it might have been called "Clara" - has anyone heard of this or read it? I would love to get hold of it...will go and look on google...!

[bernhard]

In fact there was a woman on the show talking about a book she read - i think based on Clara Schumann's life, (and Fanny is one of the characters in it)  it might have been called "Clara" - has anyone heard of this or read it? I would love to get hold of it...will go and look on google...!

Janice Galloway - "Clara" - Jonathan Cape

(It is a good read, but Ms. Galloway's prose can be convoluted at time, and she falls into the - absurd - feminist trap of suggesting that Robert somehow dominated Clara - in fact for the standards of the time, he was if anything a completely liberal husband).

Best wishes,
Bernhard.