IX.
FANNY MENDELSSOHN.
Women occupy themselves so much with music, that it is surprising so few of them compose it. In some branches of the fine arts women have won the first rank; in others, high rank; but the sex has not yet furnished one composer of music who can be named with the great masters, nor with any masters. The career of Fanny Mendelssohn may throw some light upon the reason why this is so. She had the requisite genius; she was nurtured in the atmosphere of music; she was trained in her art to a certain point; she gave more than promise of original power. But she was a woman, and the traditions of all the past ages, speaking to her with the voice of her father, said: Thus far, and no farther! Living when she did, and where she did, her cheerful obedience was wise.
She was the child of a gifted and noble race. Her grandfather, Moses Mendelssohn Bartholdy, once said:
"Formerly, I was the son of my father; now, I am the father of my son."
That father of whom he spoke, was the famous Jewish philosopher, Moses Mendelssohn; his son was the great composer, Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy. The family of which these two men were the public representatives, was a most remarkable one, for there was not a member of it who was not endowed in an unusual degree with intelligence and talent. These hereditary powers, combined
with a family affection beautiful to witness, reached their
