Fanny Mendelssohn Hensel was born into a highly educated and prosperous German-Jewish family.  Her full name was Fanny Cacilie Mendelssohn-Bartholdy.  Sadly, she is best known as the older sister of Felix.  The siblings were both highly gifted and remained close their whole lives. No less a talent than her brother, she composed well over 460 pieces of music, pioneering the genre known as ‘Songs without Words’ for which her brother later became famous.  Social restrictions at the time prevented women from pursuing a musical profession. However, even after her marriage to painter, Wilhem Hensel, and motherhood, she continued to compose.  She died suddenly of a stroke at age 41, but as society’s strictures began to change, she did live long enough to see a small number of her compositions published.