Bagatelle in F

Fanny Hensel (Mendelssohn) was Felix's elder sister and one of the most accomplished German composers of her generation — a pianist in the Berlin salons her family hosted, the writer of more than 450 works, much of it published only after her death. The Two Bagatelles sit alongside the Lieder ohne Worte in her piano output: small, lyrical, harmonically rich character pieces written for the salon rather than the concert stage.

Technically the Bagatelle in F tests cantabile right-hand voicing in a Romantic idiom. The melody must sing clearly above a quiet, harmonically active left hand; the line moves through chromatic side-shadows that need to be played as colour, not announcement; and the dynamic plan follows a clear arch — soft opening, warmer middle, soft return. Pedal must change cleanly on each chord shift to keep the texture clear.

Two pitfalls. First, students play the chromatic colour notes as expressive moments and lean on them; Hensel's writing wants them to slip past as the harmonic weather. Second, the left-hand accompaniment becomes louder than the melody — the inner voicing in the bass is interesting, but it must stay under the line.

Listening: PD recordings of Hensel's piano music are now widely available — her works came out of copyright in the late nineteenth century but went into print only slowly. Musopen and IMSLP audio carry good reference recordings.