Defining the 'Lovely Harmonic Disorder' in Fanny Hensel's Musical Language

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dc.contributor.advisorRodgers, Stephen
dc.contributor.authorOsborne, Kenton
dc.date.accessioned2021-04-27T20:43:31Z
dc.date.available2021-04-27T20:43:31Z
dc.date.issued2021-04-27
dc.description.abstractIn the last 40 years, Fanny Hensel’s reputation has evolved. Once seen merely as Felix Mendelssohn’s sister, Hensel is now regarded as an idiosyncratic and innovative composer whose music warrants recognition. Scholarship over the past 15 years has shown an ever-increasing analytical attention devoted to Hensel’s extensive oeuvre––particularly for her Lieder. However, as yet there exists no thorough examination of her individual musical style. In my dissertation, I undertake such an examination, exploring what Felix Mendelssohn alluded to in an 1830 letter to family friend, Friedrich Rosen, as Hensel’s “lovely harmonic disorder.” Scholars have described Hensel’s compositions bold, inventive, and spontaneous, yet questions remain about the specific techniques that she uses to create such evocative musical environments. I outline these techniques, focusing specifically on Hensel’s unconventional phrase types, tonal fluidity, and nonnormative closure strategies. In studying these techniques, I place the past in dialogue with the present, utilizing period sources that Hensel is documented to have engaged with and integrating these sources with current discourse in musical, narrative, and literary theories. I also emphasize the expressive aspects of these strategies, showing how musical theories of form, closure, and harmony work in tandem with narrative theories of plot trajectory and particular Romantic literary tropes that include longing, loss, and memory. A secondary goal of mine in this dissertation––in addition to defining Fanny Hensel’s musical style––is to shed light on her unpublished music. Using manuscript sources from the Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin Mendelssohn-Archiv, I present a panorama of Hensel’s entire catalogue, so as to ensure an accurate and comprehensive depiction of her style as it evolves over three decades of active composing. In doing so, I hope not only to contribute to the growing body of Hensel scholarship, but also to offer new perspectives that apply to a generation of Romantic song.en_US
dc.identifier.urihttps://hdl.handle.net/1794/26179
dc.language.isoen_US
dc.publisherUniversity of Oregon
dc.rightsAll Rights Reserved.
dc.subjectArt Songen_US
dc.subjectCorpusen_US
dc.subjectFanny Henselen_US
dc.subjectFormenlehreen_US
dc.subjectLiederen_US
dc.subjectStyleen_US
dc.titleDefining the 'Lovely Harmonic Disorder' in Fanny Hensel's Musical Language
dc.typeElectronic Thesis or Dissertation
thesis.degree.disciplineSchool of Music and Dance
thesis.degree.grantorUniversity of Oregon
thesis.degree.leveldoctoral
thesis.degree.namePh.D.

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