Reading Poetry Through Music

Abstract In an extension of Stephen Rodgers’s efforts to turn “an analytical lens” on Fanny Hensel, this chapter focuses on selected Hensel settings whose texts have also inspired other composers: “Verlust” after Heine (“Und wüssten’s die Blumen”), also set by Robert Schumann and Robert Franz; “Frühling” (Eichendorff) with Schumann’s and Curschmann’s “Frühlingsnacht” as companions; and “Du bist die Ruh” (Rückert), also set by Schubert (and many others). In order to avoid comparing stylistically incompatible settings, the selection has been limited to Lieder between ca. 1825 and ca. 1850. Taking stock of Hensel’s interpretations and comparing them with those of other composers will allow musicologists and music theorists to assess her place in the history of the Lied in the first half of the nineteenth century.