Recent Researches in the Music of the Nineteenth and Early Twentieth Centuries

Fanny Hensel
Songs for Pianoforte, 1836-1837
Edited by Camilla Cai
 

N 22	ISBN 0-89579-293-1	(1994) xxi+101 pp.	$42.00
	ISBN 978-0-89579-293-8 (13-digit)

The piano pieces Fanny Hensel composed in 1836 and 1837 represent a landmark in her development as a composer, because for the first and only time she sought to publish a major collection of music under her own name. These pieces are an important type of nineteenth-century music written not for the public concert hall, but for private gatherings of connoisseurs. The expectations of this style are as particular and exacting as those of the concert hall. These fairly short pieces with appealing melodies, but also with sections of sharp contrast and technical display, are intended not only to appeal to the emotions, but to dazzle with their brilliance.

This first edition of Hensel's piano music written in 1836 and 1837 makes available a significant body of her work and thus broadens our knowledge of her style.

"Camilla Cai's edition of Hensel's Songs for Pianoforte, 1836-1837 is nothing short of superb. . . . This publication constitutes a model for scholarly editions . . ." Joan Backus, Notes, September 1995.

Music Sample

Contents 

No. 1 Allegretto grazioso; No. 2 Andante; No. 3 Prestissimo; No. 4 Allegro con brio; No. 5 Allegro con spirito; No. 6 Allegro con brio; No. 7 Allegro agitato; No. 8 Allegro moderato; No. 9 Largo con espressione; No. 10 Capriccio: Allegro ma non troppo; [Unnumbered] Allegro agitato; No. 1 Allegro vivace (Version 1)