Barbara Hamilton-Primus, Viola
Katharine Knight & Jeffrey Watson, CellI

Nanette Shannon, Piano
Daniel Silver, Clarinet
Paul Primus & David Waldman, Violins

Felix & Fanny: 200th Anniversary of Mendelssohn’s Birth

The CCP will celebrate the 200th anniversary of Felix Mendelssohn’s birth in March 2009 with a program devoted to the music of Felix and his sister, Fanny Mendelssohn Hensel. Works will be performed, by the famous siblings Felix and Fanny Mendelssohn for piano, clarinet and string quartet.

Felix Mendelssohn was a highly precocious musical prodigy, who wrote outstanding music from a young age. He composed sonatas, songs, cantatas, organ works, and even a symphony before his sixteenth birthday. At seventeen he produced his first masterpiece, the overture to A Midsummer Night's Dream. Felix’s a minor
String Quartet, op. 13, was written when he was only 18. This quartet is the young composer's tribute to Beethoven. Many features of the quartet were modeled on Beethoven's late quartets, including op. 132 and op. 135.

Throughout their lives, Felix and Fanny had an extremely close personal and musical relationship, Felix often depending on Fanny for advice about his works.

A gifted pianist and composer in her own right, Fanny made her salon the instrument of her talents, welcoming such guests as Niccolò Paganini and Clara Schumann, and premiering new works, including her own compositions. Fanny lived most of her life in the shadow of her brother Felix, whose success as a composer severely limited Fanny’s own development. The Mendelssohn family published her Piano Trio in 1850 after Fanny's death. The piano part illustrates that she must have been a phenomenal pianist. A fascinating program celebrating both composers’ legacies!