Fanny Mendelssohn-Hensel: Adagio in E Major Augusta McKay Lodge, violin & Eric Zivian, fortepiano 8K

Fanny Mendelssohn-Hensel (1805–1847) – Adagio in E Major for Violin and Piano, H. 72 (1823) Performed on period instruments by Augusta McKay Lodge (violin) & Eric Zivian (fortepiano) Our 600th video is presented by Voices of Music | 8K Ultra HD Original strings and wood create the perfect sonic tapestry for this intimate Romantic work. ABOUT THE PIECE & COMPOSER Despite her formidable talent and impeccable training, the strictures of upper-class Berliner society prevented Fanny Mendelssohn-Hensel from becoming a professional musician. Instead, she became renowned as a salonnière. Her famous Sunday morning concert series featured performances from luminaries of the German-speaking musical world, including Joseph Joachim and Clara Schumann. The concerts were hosted at the palatial Mendelssohn family home at Leipzigerstrasse No. 3 in Berlin, a location that her son Sebastian Hensel recollected with affection decades later: "The center part of the house, and its most invaluable and beautiful portion, consisted in a very spacious hall, too large to be called a drawing-room. There was space in it for several hundred people, and it had on the garden side a movable glass wall, interrupted by pillars, so that the hall could be changed into an open portico. The walls and ceiling (a flat cupola) were covered with fantastic fresco-paintings. […] The hall commanded a view of the garden—or rather the park—(about seven acres), which touched the gardens of Prince Albrecht; in Frederick the Great’s time it had been a part of the Tiergarten and was therefore rich in most beautiful old trees." — Program notes by Sophie L. Benn ABOUT THE INSTRUMENTS & PERFORMANCE This performance uses a violin by Jean-Baptiste Vuillaume (Paris), strung with gut strings as was standard practice in the 19th century. Gut strings produce a warmer sound with a greater range of tonal shading under the bow, blending seamlessly with the sound of the original 1841 Franz Rausch fortepiano (Vienna). Notably, portamento is employed here as an expressive device rather than a technical convenience, and vibrato is used selectively as an ornament for expressive moments rather than a constant presence. — Performance notes by Augusta McKay Lodge (AML) CREDITS & PRODUCTION Voices of Music – https://voicesofmusic.org Directors: Hanneke van Proosdij and David Tayler Produced by: Hanneke van Proosdij and David Tayler Video: Lloyd Hryciw and David Tayler Audio & Ambisonics: Boby Borisov Post-Production: David Tayler and Andrew Levy Final Audio Master, 8K Video Color & Render: David Tayler Program Notes: Sophie L. Benn Fortepiano: Franz Rausch, Vienna (Wien), 1841 © 2024 Voices of Music. All rights reserved. Old wood, warm gut strings, Seen anew through modern eyes, Fanny's song lives on. #FannyMendelssohn #VoicesOfMusic #PeriodInstruments #FannyHensel #ChamberMusic #Fortepiano #ClassicalViolin #womencomposers