After his highly acclaimed novels about the lives of Hölderlin, Schubert, Hoffmann and Schumann, Härtling now turns his attention to a woman who lived in the shadow of her famous brother: Fanny Hensel-Mendelssohn, sister of Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy.
We are introduced to a nineteenth century family in the middle of German Romanticism: Fanny’s grandfather Moses Mendelssohn was one of the eminent figures of the Enlightenment, her father Abraham Mendelssohn a town councillor in Berlin and a driving force behind the city’s advancement to Germany’s artistic and intellectual capital; a cosmopolitan, assimilated man, who was keen to promote the musical talent of his four children.
And they inspired great hope: while Fanny, the eldest, was an accomplished pianist and singer, Felix, four years her junior, soon developed a reputation as a child prodigy, thanks in part to the support of his sister with whom he started composing at an early age.
Härtling describes their joint discovery of the fascinating, uplifting world of music from Fanny’s perspective, intimately, knowledgeably and with a subtle understanding of the complex emotions of two highly talented siblings who were destined to pursue different paths. Felix became a public figure while Fanny worked within the constraints of family life. With references to the many famous personalities with whom the family kept company, Heine, Kleist, the Varnhagens and Goethe, the novel is also a portrait of society at the time.
