Both of these openings give a feeling of a cold winter night, the calm before storm.

However, 10 seconds after Lia Fensen Abbott started, I totally forgot about Vivaldi, because the slow melody of minor chords in low pitches with contrast of single high note made me think of Beethoven’s piano sonata “Tempest” and this feeling kept coming back as I heard a lot of similar techniques. So, I was waiting to hear the difference. This reminds me of Vivaldi’s violin concerto “Four Seasons” which is also program music accompanied by poem.

“Das Jahr” is program music depicting the twelve months of a year each month is accompanied by a short poem. However, despite her obvious prodigy in music, as a women, she got pressure from society to be a composer, so some of her works were published under her brother Felix’s name. My report will focus more on Hensel’s composition “Das Jahr.”īefore I got the actual program, I thought the music was written by Felix Mendelssohn rather than his sister Fanny Mendelssohn Hensel who is the oldest of four Children in her family. 17,” and the “Two Legends” by Franz Liszt. After the intermission, David played two pieces by Robert Schumann: “Papillons, Op. The first part of the concert is Fanny Mendelssohn Hensel’s “Das Jahr” played by Lia Fensen Abbott. The pianists are David Abbott and his wife Lia Fensen Abbott. I went to a piano recital at Carnegie Hall last Friday night, Feb.

Vivaldi winter piano