Classical Music Playlist, March 18, 2025
Fanny Mendelssohn | source: Library of Congress
This Women's History Month CapRadio highlights a different woman in music each weekday. Today's classical spotlight is on Fanny Mendelssohn.
- Fanny Mendelssohn was born in 1805 and as a child was given piano and composition lessons at the same time as her four-years-younger brother Felix and by the same teachers.
- Despite her renowned talent as a pianist and composer, 19th century social restrictions on women stifled her from pursuing a career. But brother Felix privately supported his sister as a performer and composer and even had some of her songs published under his name.
- At age 24 Fanny married the artist Wilhelm Hensel who supported her musical pursuits and encouraged her to publish, and her reputation as a composer became known.
- Fanny died from complications of a stroke in May 1847. Felix composed a string quartet in her memory then died six months after her. But he had also arranged for further publication of her music and these appeared in 1850. From 1987, many of her hundreds of unprinted works began to be published by the German publisher Furore Verlag, a house dedicated exclusively to the publication of music by women.
- One of the works that Felix arranged to be published after Fanny’s death, her Piano Trio in d-minor, is today’s Midday Masterpiece.
6:00 a.m.
George Friederich Handel
Concerto Grosso No. 7 in Bb major Opus 6/7 HWV 325
Boston Baroque; Martin Pearlman, conductor
6:14 a.m.
Fanny Mendelssohn
Easter Sonata in A major H235 Ostersonate
Isata Kanneh-Mason, piano
6:38 a.m.
Howard Shore
The Forest: 3rd movement
National Arts Centre Orchestra; Alexander Shelley, conductor Milos Karadaglic, guitar
6:46 a.m.
John Rutter
Folk Suite
Royal Ballet Sinfonia; David Lloyd-Jones, conductor
6:59 a.m.
Ludwig Van Beethoven
Leonore Overture No. 3 Opus 72
German Chamber Philharmonic; Daniel Harding, conductor
7:14 a.m.
Johann Sebastian Bach
Orchestral Suite No. 4 in D major BWV 1069
La Petite Bande; Sigiswald Kuijken, conductor
7:34 a.m.
Heitor Villa-Lobos
Bachianas Brasileiras No. 4: I. Preludio W284
Plinio Fernandes, guitar
7:39 a.m.
Anton Bruckner
Symphony No. 4 "Romantic": I. Bewegt, Nicht Zu Schell in Eb major
Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra; Karl Bohm, conductor
8:00 a.m.
Franz Liszt
Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2 in D minor
Budapest Symphony Orchestra; Andras Korodi, conductor
8:14 a.m.
Franz Joseph Haydn
Symphony No. 102 in Bb major
Orpheus Chamber Orchestra
8:42 a.m.
Fanny Mendelssohn
Melodie (Allegretto) No. 2 in C# minor Opus 4/2
Betty Ann Miller, piano
8:44 a.m.
Fanny Mendelssohn
Song Without Words Opus 8/1
Sarah Cahill, piano
8:52 a.m.
Igor Stravinsky
The Firebird: Lullaby (Berceuse) & Finale L'Oiseau de feu
Detroit Symphony Orchestra; Antal Dorati, conductor
9:01 a.m.
Felix Mendelssohn
A Midsummer Night's Dream: Overture
London Symphony Orchestra; Claudio Abbado, conductor
9:16 a.m.
Hamilton Harty
Fantasy Scenes
Ulster Orchestra; Takuo Yuasa, conductor
9:31 a.m.
Frederic Chopin
"Military" Polonaise in A major Opus 40/1
Vladimir Ashkenazy, piano
9:39 a.m.
Fanny Mendelssohn
String Quartet in Eb major
Nash Ensemble
10:00 a.m.
Richard Strauss
DER ROSENKAVALIER: Concert Suite
Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra; Jesus Lopez-Cobos, conductor
10:23 a.m.
Leo Brouwer
El Decameron Negro: 2. La huida de los amantes por el valle de los ecos
Sharon Isbin, guitar
10:29 a.m.
Arcangelo Corelli
Concerto Grosso No. 12 in F major Opus 6
Musica Amphion; Pieter-Jan Belder, conductor
10:41 a.m.
Fanny Mendelssohn
Piano Sonata in G minor in G minor (1843) H395
Anna Shelest, piano
10:59 a.m.
Scott Joplin
Treemonisha Overture
Houston Grand Opera Orchestra; Gunther Schuller, conductor
11:08 a.m.
Franz Joseph Haydn
Symphony No. 100 "Military" in G major
Philharmonia Orchestra; Leonard Slatkin, conductor
11:31 a.m.
Jorge Calandrelli
Solitude
Milos Karadaglic, guitar; Jess Gillam, soprano saxophone
11:34 a.m.
Antonio Vivaldi
Violin Concerto No. 11 in D major Opus 4/11 RV 204
The English Concert; Trevor Pinnock, conductor Simon Standage, violin; Micaela Comberti, violin; Jane Coe, cello
11:42 a.m.
Maurice Ravel
Le tombeau de Couperin (The tomb of Couperin)
Lyon National Orchestra; Emmanuel Krivine, conductor
12:00 p.m.
Manuel de Falla
Three-Cornered Hat Suite No. 2
Simon Bolivar Orchestra; Eduardo Mata, conductor
12:16 p.m.
Georges Bizet
Symphony No. 1 in C major
New York Philharmonic; Leonard Bernstein, conductor
12:47 p.m.
Leonard Bernstein
CANDIDE: Overture
Minnesota Orchestra; Eiji Oue, conductor
12:55 p.m.
Fanny Mendelssohn
Schwanenlied Opus 1/1 Swan Song
Isabel Lippitz, soprano; Barbara Heller, piano
12:57 p.m.
Fanny Mendelssohn
Bergeslust Op. 10/5 Lust for mountains
Isabel Lippitz, soprano; Barbara Heller, piano
1:01 p.m.
Fanny Mendelssohn
Overture in C major
The Women's Philharmonic; JoAnn Falletta, conductor
1:15 p.m.
Felix Mendelssohn
Violin Concerto in E minor Opus 64
Boston Symphony Orchestra; Charles Munch, conductor Jascha Heifetz, violin
1:49 p.m.
Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky
Symphony No. 4: IV. Finale. Allegro con fuoco in F minor Opus 36
Philadelphia Orchestra; Riccardo Muti, conductor
2:00 p.m.
Fanny Mendelssohn
Piano Trio in D minor Opus 11
Nash Ensemble
2:26 p.m.
Antonin Dvorak
Slavonic Dance No. 15 in C major Opus 72
Czech Philharmonic Orchestra; Vaclav Neumann, conductor
2:32 p.m.
Isaac Albeniz
La Vega
London Symphony Orchestra; Elmer Bernstein, conductor Christopher Parkening, guitar
2:49 p.m.
Johann Strauss, Jr.
Blue Danube Waltz Opus 314
Chicago Symphony Orchestra; Fritz Reiner, conductor
3:00 p.m.
Mikhail Glinka
Spanish Overture No. 2
BBC Philharmonic Orchestra; Vassily Sinaisky, conductor
3:12 p.m.
Ludwig Van Beethoven
Symphony No. 5 in C minor Opus 67
Orchestre Revolutionnaire et Romantique; John Eliot Gardiner, conductor
3:47 p.m.
Fanny Mendelssohn
Sonata Movement (Sonatensatz) in E in E major (1822, age 16) H44
Leanne Rees, piano
3:57 p.m.
Jean-Baptiste Lully
March for the Turkish Ceremony
Le Concert des Nations; Jordi Savall, conductor
4:01 p.m.
Gustav Mahler
Symphony No. 5: III. Scherzo in C# minor
Berlin Philharmonic; Claudio Abbado, conductor Gerd Seifert, horn
4:21 p.m.
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Eine Kleine Nachtmusik in G major K 525 (FROM THE RUSSELL KLETZING COLLECTION)
Academy of St. Martin-in-the-Fields; Neville Marriner, conductor
4:41 p.m.
Fanny Mendelssohn
Notturno in G minor H337
Isata Kanneh-Mason, piano
4:48 p.m.
Johannes Brahms
Symphony No. 2: IV. Allegro con spirito in D major Opus 73
Berlin Philharmonic; Herbert von Karajan, conductor
5:00 p.m.
Charles Gounod
Symphony No. 2 in Eb major
Toulouse Capitole Orchestra; Michel Plasson, conductor
5:32 p.m.
Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco
Variations Across the Centuries: Waltz #2 & #3 & Foxtrot Op 71
Xavier Jara, guitar
5:38 p.m.
Antonin Dvorak
My Home Overture Opus 62
Scottish National Orchestra; Neeme Jarvi, conductor
5:49 p.m.
Carl Maria Von Weber
Concertino for Clarinet and Orchestra in Eb major Opus 26
Staatskapelle Dresden; Herbert Blomstedt, conductor Sabine Meyer, clarinet
6:00 p.m.
Fanny Mendelssohn
Das Jahr (The Year)
Anna Shelest, piano
6:49 p.m.
John Rutter
Lullaby for Ana Gwen
Sinfonia Cymru; John Rutter, conductor Catrin Finch, harp
6:55 p.m.
Manuel Ponce
Estrellita
Orchestra of St. Luke's; Michael Stern, conductor Joshua Bell, violin
