Das Jahr (The Year)
Das Jahr (German for “The Year”) is a groundbreaking cycle of 12 solo piano pieces characterizing the 12 months of the year plus a short postlude, composed by Fanny Mendelssohn Hensel in 1841 and revised in 1842.
Das Jahr (H385) is arguably Hensel’s greatest work. It was not published during her lifetime, though she did include one piece (September) as one of four pieces in her first opus of piano music, but without the title or subtitle (“By the river”). The manuscript was rediscovered in 1989, almost 150 years after it was written.
According to Hensel’s biographer R. Larry Todd, the cycle examines the passing of time:
natural time, marked by the changing of the seasons and measured by the secular calendar;
spiritual time, with chorales central to Protestant celebrations of Easter (March), Christmas (December), and New Year’s Day (Postlude);
family time, marked by life events and personal relationships, constructed around some musical themes borrowed from her brother Felix;
and dream time, with shifting tempi and evocative imagery, and an opening piece subtitled “A dream” (January).
While some sources suggest that Das Jahr was based directly on scenes and experiences from Hensel’s trip to Italy in 1839-40, scholars refute this. A possible source of this misconception is that Fanny and Wilhelm Hensel created a book of illustrated scores inspired by the Italian trip: the Reise-Album (see the Italian Collection), but that is not to be confused with their other illustrated scores book: the 1842 version of Das Jahr.
There are two versions of Das Jahr:
1841 version
Fanny Hensel composed the first version of Das Jahr between August and December 1841. She presented it to her husband Wilhelm Hensel as a Christmas gift that year.
Most recordings of Das Jahr are of the 1841 version.
The duration is a bit longer for the 1841 version (nearly 1 hour).
The pieces in the cycle vary somewhat in difficulty, but overall the work is difficult and appropriate for advanced level pianists.
Furore Verlag sells a physical score of the 1841 version: Furore 1380.
IMSLP has an edition of the 1841 version with some limits to access due to copyright issues.
The autograph of the 1841 version is held in the Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin with most of Fanny Hensel’s notebooks, but has not been digitized for the public. ***Donate to HenselPushers to help me purchase scans of this manuscript so I can create a free PDF edition!***
1842 version
In 1842, Fanny Hensel and her husband Wilhelm collaborated on a new version of Das Jahr and created a unique multimedia work. Wilhelm was not at all musically inclined, but he was a professional artist. Fanny wrote out a new version of the cycle on colored paper, and Wilhelm drew vignettes on the first page of each piece (see illustrations below). Together, they selected poetry excerpts to put between each piece in the cycle.
The duration is shorter for the 1842 version: ~45 minutes. Most pieces in the cycle were unchanged from the original version, but some were abridged. Hensel eliminated some of the most virtuosic passages in the 1842 version, most notably in June and December, but the work is still demanding.
See scans of the 1842 version in the Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin’s online collection.
HenselPushers has hosted free PDFs of the 1842 version since March 2021 (linked above).
BrailleOrch.org has transcribed the HenselPushers edition of the 1842 version into braille (linked to on each month’s page above).
Furore Verlag sells a beautiful facsimile edition of the illustrated 1842 version (Furore 8920).
From the 1842 version of Das Jahr:
January - a dream. Illustrated 1842 version, Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin
February - Carnival. Illustrated 1842 version, Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin
March - Easter. Illustrated 1842 version, Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin
April - a rainstorm. Illustrated 1842 version, Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin
May - a spring song. Illustrated 1842 version, Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin
June - a serenade at the balcony. Illustrated 1842 version, Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin
July - a shepherdess in the heat. Illustrated 1842 version, Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin
August - a pastoral march. Illustrated 1842 version, Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin
September - by the river. Illustrated 1842 version, Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin
October - a hunting song. Illustrated 1842 version, Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin
November - a monk in prayer. Illustrated 1842 version, Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin
December - angels. Illustrated 1842 version, Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin
Fanny Hensel on composing Das Jahr:
“Now I’m engaged on another small work that’s giving me much fun, namely a series of 12 piano pieces meant to depict the months. […] When I finish, I’ll make clean copies of the pieces, and they will be provided with vignettes. And so we try to ornament and prettify our lives—that is the advantage of artists, that they can strew such beautifications about, for those nearby to take an interest in.”
—Letter to August Elsasser, November 11, 1841
Friend Sarah Austin on the 1842 illustrated version:
“She had composed a series of beautiful pieces of music for the pianoforte, called after the months. These were written in an album, and at the head of each month was a charming drawing illustrative of it by Professor Hensel. And all this was simple, dignified, free from the ostentation and sensibleries which sometimes throw doubt or discredit on such manifestations. One had always the fullest assurance that Madame Hensel said less rather than more than she felt.”
—Eulogy for Fanny Hensel
Arrangements of Das Jahr
Four-Hands Piano arrangement by HenselPushers
Instant PDF download of the unabridged cycle (1842 version).
Hensel’s original Das Jahr is a heavy lift for one pianist. Share the load with this duet version.
13 pieces in full score layout, 119 pages, 2.7 MB, ~45 minutes duration.
Easy Piano arrangement by HenselPushers
Das Jahr music book and lesson book for early-intermediate pianists of all ages.
Or buy the music book only.
Hensel’s original virtuosic work is technically demanding and only approachable for advanced pianists, so I made this shorter easy arrangement to put this incredible cycle within reach for more pianists.