Fanny Hensel ─ The Other Mendelssohn

Granddaughter of the philosopher Moses Mendelssohn and sister of the composer Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy, Fanny Hensel (1805-1847) was an extraordinary musician who left well over four hundred compositions, most of which fell into oblivion until their rediscovery late in the twentieth century. In Fanny Hensel: The Other Mendelssohn, R. Larry Todd offers a compelling, authoritative account of Hensel's life and music, and her struggle to emerge as a publicly recognized composer.

Recognized in the New Yorker as "Mendelssohn's most authoritative biographer," R. Larry Todd is Arts and Sciences Professor at Duke University. A Guggenheim Fellow and Fellow of the National Humanities Center, he is the author of Mendelssohn: A Life in Music, named Best Biography in 2003 by the Association of American Publishers. He has recently returned to his pianist roots and released his first CD, of Mendelssohn's complete cello works, with internationally acclaimed cellist Nancy Green for JRI Recordings.