Fanny Hensel / Ostersonate (1828)

Fanny Hensel (geb. Mendelssohn) 1805-1847 "Ostersonate" (Easter Sonata), 1828 00:00 Allegro assai moderato 05:09 Largo e molto espressivo – Poco più mosso 09:34 Scherzo, allegretto 15:01 Allegro con strepito (“Christe, du Lamm Gottes”) Fanny Hensel’s "Ostersonate" was composed in 1828. It was lost for nearly 150 years, then rediscovered in 1970 and misattributed to her brother Felix Mendelssohn. Musicological research carried out in 2010 established Hensel’s authorship of the piece. The sonata, inspired by the story of the Passion of Christ, brings together lyrical beauty and powerful drama. It features colorful programmatic motives, as well as genres associated with the Baroque period, such as the fugue in the second movement, and chorale fantasy on the chorale “Christe, du Lamm Gottes” at the end of the fourth movement. Fortepiano: Sharon Prushansky Video: Culiner Creative Circle Recorded at Schloss Weißenbrunn in November 2025, on a fortepiano by Conrad Graf (Vienna, 1824), as part of the Fanny Hensel Artist-in-Residence programme Special thanks to Pia Praetorius, Yoel Culiner, Elam Rotem and Karel Valter