Fanny Hensel (1805–1847)

Fanny Hensel was a prolific German composer, scholar and pianist. Her brilliance was evident to many of her contemporaries including her brother Felix Mendelssohn to whom she was close, but her work remained largely unknown outside small circles of admirers and was often erroneously attributed to her brother. This song, ‘Die Schiffende’, written in Fanny’s own hand, was decorated with silhouettes by her sister-in-law, Luise Hensel.