Fanny Hensel had followed nearly the same musical training as her famous brother Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy, to whom she fostered an intense relationship during her life time. The exchange in musical matters with the highly gifted sister was for Mendelssohn as well an important enrichment. On the other side, the compositional work of the young well-educated woman was not considered in the same way within the musical scene.

The comprehensive vocal oeuvre of Hensel’s thus offers a lot of potential for further discovery to the audience as well as to interpreters.

Baritone Tobias Berndt and pianist Alexander Fleischer faced the challenge to make this literature accessible at least in important parts. They offer the discovery of Hensel’s Goethe songs. In several first recordings they show the image of an independent, inspired composer. One of the composed texts was dedicated to the young composer by Goethe himself.