Music 271 2/16/07 II: The emerging role of women composers in the 19th Century: Fanny Mendelssohn Hensel (1805-1847): All central European Romantic composers born within a decade of each other • Composed over 400 compositions at best guess • Primarily songs and piano works, as well as choral and other orchestral music • Organized and presided over concerts in Berlin (began in 1831) • Was principal pianist and conductor at these concerts (Sunday afternoons) Mendelssohns were wealthiest Jewish family in Berlin Mendelssohns owned a concert hall on their estate that sat 100 people • Her husband (Wilhelm Hensel) encouraged her to publish her own music III: Louis Moreau Gottschalk: • Born 1829 • Wrote primarily keyboard character pieces • Lived in New Orleans (spoke French and Spanish) • Began to play piano at age 3, and sent to study music in Paris at 13 and was performing in public by 16 • Returned to New York in 1856 Early works showed the influence of Chopin, but later works showed influence of New Orleans culture • Went to the Place Congo to absorb the African musical sound • 1851 - Berlioz commented on Gottschalk’s music • Compositions include Bomboula, and The Banjo