Fanny Mendelssohn Hensel (born November 14, 1805 - died May 14, 1847)  was a German pianist and composer, the eldest sister and best friend and confidante of the composer Felix Mendelssohn.Fanny is said to have been as talented musically as her brother, and the two children were given the same music teachers. Felix readily admitted that his sister played the piano better than he did, and Fanny remained his chief musical adviser until he left home. She is said to have memorized J.S. Bach’s complete Well-Tempered Clavier by age 13.

Fanny married the Prussian court painter Wilhelm Hensel in 1829 and thoughout her life her husband encouraged her musical composition. It is said that before he left the house in the morning for work he would leave a piece of staff paper out for her with a note telling her to write something that he could hear when he got home. She traveled in Italy with her husband in 1839–40. Upon her mother’s death in 1842 she took over the direction of the Mendelssohn family home in Berlin. In t his role she carried on the Mendelssohn family tradition of organizing local concerts and salon perfomances in their home and  occasionally appeared as a pianist. Fanny remained very close to her brother, and her death in May 1847 greatly contributed to Felix’s own demise six months later.

Fanny wrote about 500 compositions in all, including about 120 pieces for piano, many lieder (art songs), and chamber music, cantatas and oratorios. Six of her songs were published under Felix’s name in his two sets of Twelve Songs (Opuses 8 and 9), while the few works published under her own name include several collections of short piano pieces, some lieder, and a piano trio. Most of her remaining works exist only in manuscript. Stylistically her music is similar to that of her brother.

CELEBRATING WOMEN'S HISTORY MONTH IN CLASSICAL MUSIC