Hero und Leander (1832)

Dramatic scene for one singing voice accompanied by orchestra (12′)
(E. M. Blankenburg) First publication

(strings, 2.picc.2.2.-3.2.3.1.timp.)

Fanny Hensel divided the poem into two recitatives and two arias. She uses the metaphor-rich text for tone-painting interpretation of the words, while at the same time shaping the changing scenes through musically varied mood imagery. “With this work…Hensel approaches a genre with which she could have achieved great artistic success…Here it is evident that she understood and accepted herself as a truly romantic composer. She no longer tried to imitate Bach or Handel, but followed her own musical instincts as far as content, form and musical vocabulary were concerned. Fanny’s awakening artistic self-understanding paralleled Felix’s development, who completed his successful cantata (coincidentally also based on a secular subject and novel concept of form) “Die erste Walpurgisnacht” in February 1832.”
Victoria Sirota