Fanny Mendelssohn published her song collection Sechs Lieder (Op. 1) under her own name in 1846, a landmark first after decades of composing largely in private.
In 1846, after years of composing hundreds of works that circulated only within her family's private musical circle or were published under her brother Felix's name, Fanny Mendelssohn Hensel achieved a milestone: the publication of her song collection Sechs Lieder, Op. 1, issued under her own name.
This publication was a significant act of self-assertion within the constraints of 19th-century bourgeois society, where women of her social standing were discouraged—by both family expectation and broader cultural norms—from pursuing public careers as professional composers. For much of her life, several of her songs had even been published under her brother Felix's name, including works included in his Op. 8 and Op. 9 collections, leading to a famous anecdote in which Queen Victoria praised one of these songs to Felix himself, only for him to admit it was actually composed by his sister.
The decision to publish Op. 1 came late in her life, encouraged in part by her husband Wilhelm Hensel and by supportive friends including composer Robert von Keudell, despite her father's and brother's earlier discouragement of a public compositional career. It represented a turning point in her self-conception as a composer, and opened the door to further planned publications before her sudden death just over a year later.
Musicologists regard this event as emblematic of the broader struggle of women composers in the Romantic era to gain public recognition and legitimacy for their work.