Page 14 - Phil 22-23 PROGRAM BOOK Nov5 digital proof_Neat

Program Notes

Various intersections can be represented in a program of music — and this concert program
has several. The most obvious one is the pairing of two sibling composers who are important
and cherished musical figures in music, Fanny and Felix Mendelssohn. Another intersection
is a sonic junction, where established symphonic music of the 19th century is bridged to the
21st century by a visceral and expressive new concerto by Simón García. And, for me, the
most meaningful intersection embodied in this concert is the privilege to cross paths again with
our concerto soloist, Susan Hagen. Not only is she an expert artist on her instrument and the
first-ever female principal bassist of the Boston Pops Esplanade Orchestra, she is also a former
principal bassist of our own Plymouth Philharmonic. This is a point of pride we can all share.
-- Steven Karidoyanes

The following program notes are by Laura Stanfield Prichard, © 2022
This program juxtaposes music by siblings Fanny and Felix Mendelssohn for the very first
time on the Phil stage.
Both prodigies benefitted from a wealthy background and splendid musical education,
including singing in the Sing-Akademie zu Berlin, guest teachers and performers from
leading orchestras, and youthful performances of major works in the family home for
audiences that included Goethe. (Fanny played the complete Well-Tempered Klavier from
memory at age fourteen). They composed music for each other to premiere, performed
piano and vocal duets side-by-side at the keyboard, and acted as each other’s most
important critic/editor/correspondent (more than 1,000 letters survive).
Their youthful songs were published in 1827 and 1830, but appear under Felix’s name only
(12 Gesänge, op. 8 and 12 Gesänge, op. 9). After being told by Queen Victoria in 1842 that
she planned to sing her “favorite song” Italien at Buckingham Palace, Felix had to confess
that it was really Fanny’s composition.

Remaining close throughout their lives, Fanny’s early death from a stroke at forty-one
(during a rehearsal she was leading) shocked her brother so much that it is said to have
aggravated his own death from a series of strokes five months later.

Overture in C Major Fanny Mendelssohn Hensel
(1805 – 1847)

Fanny Mendelssohn (later Fanny Hensel, after her marriage to a poet-painter) was an
extraordinarily gifted composer who contributes over 250 German songs to the Lieder
repertoire. While only a fraction of her output has been recorded (notably by Hyperion), her
Overture in C has begun to take its rightful place before American audiences: the work is
being heard for the first time this year on concert stages from San Francisco to Plymouth.

PAGE 12 Plymouth Philharmonic Orchestra