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Chapter 30
Fanny Mendelssohn Hensel
Song
Chapter at a Glance
Listen to This First
The Timbre of the Piano Trio
Profile: Fanny Mendelssohn Hensel (1805 1847)
Expand Your Playlist: Fanny Mendelssohn Hensel
A Song Without Words
Connect Your Playlist: Trochaic Meter
Melodic Metamorphosis
Chapter Objectives
After reading this chapter and listening to the work, students should be able to:
30.1 Define and describe a piano trio.
30.4 Listen for the trochaic tetrameter rhythm used throughout the movement.
op. 11.
30.6 Name other women composers of the nineteenth century.
Key Concepts
chamber music, song without words, modified strophic form
Chapter Highlight: Songs Without Words
Conveying ideas through instrumental music was so powerful in the nineteenth century
that Mendelssohn Hensel called the third movement of this work a Lied
title suggests that even though this music has no words, there is a hidden text behind the
regular metric pattern of the music.
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Chapter Summary
and pianist who was not taken seriously as a composer because of her gender. Her
the nineteenth century. This group consisted of a pianist, a violinist and a cellist. They
played newly composed music and arrangements of orchestra works. Many people had
access to concert hall music only through chamber music or music heard in home
Listening Guide
The timbre is the clue to which strophe is playing at any given time. The piano begins
MyMusicLab Resources
Automated Listening Guide: Fanny Mendelssohn Hensel: Piano Trio in D Minor, op. 11,
third movement
Discussion Topics and Critical Thinking Questions
1.
unusual one for the period. If you were a talented and inspired young composer, how
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2. How does the piano trio suit the atmosphere of entertainment at home? What other
examples that you have studied also fit the needs and situations of home
performance?
Activities and Exercises
1.
Journaling Prompt
applying it to practically any
musical work, regardless of any connection to a text. Now that you understand what