Biography and Symbol: Uncovering the Structure of a Creative Life in Fanny Hensel's Lieder

The bicentenary year of Fanny Hensel's birth generated a welcome degree of renewed attention to her life and music. Viewing these against the backcloth of debates about the relationships between women and the culture to which they contribute (and which they also consume) suggests a tension between, on the one hand, the image of a female composer in conflict with a patriarchal order and, on the other hand, the impression of a composer for whom considerable creative power lay in the cultural environment that she inhabited. While it is true that Hensel faced social and cultural barriers because of her sex, in order to understand her music it is essential that we consider the ways in which she could be seen to overcome those barriers, or even destroy them, through the expression of her personal voice in her compositions. Hensel's life demonstrates how closely bound up together biography and aesthetics really are. The way in which her life is portrayed can be seen to colour listeners' judgement of her music.