I am working up a Mozart piano trio right now, for the Meetinghouse concert in July...
Tuesday, July 5, 7:30
Heather Goodchild Wade, violin; Laura Manko Sahin, viola; Bo Ericsson, cello Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart – Piano Quartet in E Flat, K. 493 Frank Bridge – Phantasy for violin, viola, cello and piano Robert Schumann – Piano Quartet in E Flat, Op. 47
and increasingly, when I play Mozart, or Mendelssohn, both of whom I adore, I think of the sisters of Wolfgang and Felix. Nannerl Mozart and Fanny Mendelssohn were musical prodigies of the same degree as their brothers, and thankfully, they both received the same musical education as their brothers when they were kids. What happened to them after that, though, is probably exactly what you would expect...

Nannerl Mozart toured as a pianist with her brother Wolfgang when they were very young, achieving the same level of fame, and arguably the same exploitation by their father. When she turned "of marriageable age", (at 18), she was not allowed to travel any more - she had to stay at home, where she remained for the rest of her life (totally NOT boring...), first with her mother, and then with her husband. She taught piano, and through her teaching managed to further her father's career quite a bit, (yay Leopold), and she continued to practice for her own pleasure for hours a day. There is evidence that she also composed, but those compositions have been "lost".
Fanny Mendelssohn received the same outstanding education as her brother Felix. She fared slightly better than Nannerl at building a career, one of the comments made by her composition teacher (I'm sure it was intended as a compliment of the highest order), was that
"she plays like a man..."
Fanny wrote quite a bit of music - lots of pieces for solo piano, lots of lieder (a type of song for voice and piano), a piano trio and a quartet, some cantatas...but this work was for the most part unpublished in her lifetime. Her father tolerated her "career", although he certainly was a bit of a wet blanket (to put it nicely). Here's what he thought of his incredibly accomplished daughter,
"Music will perhaps become his [i.e. Felix's] profession, while for you it can and must be only an ornament"
It must have been lovely to be so favorably compared to her famous brother!
Fanny had to wait until she was 41 to publish any of her music under her own name. Before then, some of her music was published, but it was published under her brother's name. Of course, Felix must have assumed that she wouldn't mind that he stole her work - after all, he said this...
"From my knowledge of Fanny I should say that she has neither inclination nor vocation for authorship. She is too much all that a woman ought to be for this. She regulates her house, and neither thinks of the public nor of the musical world, nor even of music at all, until her first duties are fulfilled. Publishing would only disturb her in these, and I cannot say that I approve of it."
Yay Felix!
And now I'm going to go and practice my Mozart. Insert Beethoven's unimpressed face here.

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