Programme overview
Description
Anyone who has been to a wedding has surely enjoyed the musical genius of Felix Mendelssohn’s Wedding March. But Felix was not the only genius in the family. His sister, Fanny, was also a brilliant composer. Yet most people have never heard of her. Why? Because her brother wouldn’t support her, despite thinking her music good enough to pass off as his own. Consequently, at the age of 41, Fanny decided to publish her own music under her own name. But the recognition was shortlived. Less than a year later, Fanny died, and shortly afterwards Felix too.
But in 1971, the unknown Easter Sonata surfaced, presumed to be the work of Felix. "It can’t be by a woman - it’s a masterpiece" said the producer of the recording at the time. But in an amazing plot twist, it has now, once and for all, proven definitively to be Fanny’s own masterpiece. BAFTA-winning documentary filmmaker and three times great granddaughter of Fanny, Sheila Hayman, reveals the extraordinary life of a composer long neglected. Fanny’s music is brought to life by the gifted virtuoso pianist, Isata Kanneh-Mason, and as she discovers the Easter Sonata, the parallels between their lives become clear.
In an unforgettable moment, Isata performs Fanny’s Easter Sonata in public - the first time it has ever been played as originally written - and the first under its true attribution.
As moving as it is joyous, this is the story of a very modern woman, who just happened to live 200 years ago.