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Track Listing:

1
Fanny Mendelssohn: January - A Dream. Adagio, quasi una Fantasia 2:48
 
2
February: Scherzo. Presto
 
3
March. Agitato 2:48
 
4
April: Capriccioso. Allegretto 3:19 15. Desdémona, Op. 101. Andantino 2:17
 
5
May: Spring Song. Allegro vivace e gioioso 2:56 16. Ophélie, Op. 165. Très lent. 4:02
 
6
June: Serenade. Largo 4:50 17. Viviane, Op. 80. Assez vite 2:25
 
7
July: Serenade. Larghetto 2:52 18. Phœbé, Op. 30. Poco Andante 2:59
 
8
August. Allegro 3:49 19. Salomé, Op. 100. Assez vif 3:39
 
9
September: At the River. Andante con moto 3:39 20. Omphale, Op. 86. Modéré 4:14
 
10
October. Allegro con spirituo 3:28
 
11
November. Mesto 5:0 Olena Ilnytska (b. 1977)
 
12
December. Allegro molto
 
13
Postlude: Nachspiel. Chorale 4:47
 
14
Mel Bonis: Femmes de Légende / Mélisande
 
15
Desdémona, Op. 101. Andantino 2:17
 
16
Ophélie, Op. 165. Très lent. 4:02
 
17
Viviane, Op. 80. Assez vite 2:25
 
18
Phœbé, Op. 30. Poco Andante 2:59
 
19
Salomé, Op. 100. Assez vif 3:39
 
20
Omphale, Op. 86. Modéré 4:14
 
21
Olena Ilnytska: Nocturne 1. Lento 6:18
 

Anna Shelest :

DONNA VOCE VOLUME II WOMEN OF LEGEND

DONNA VOCE VOLUME II WOMEN OF LEGEND
ANNA SHELEST, PIANO via Music & Arts

Fanny Mendelssohn (1805–1847)
Das Jahr (The Year)

1. January: A Dream. Adagio, quasi una Fantasia 2:48 Mel Bonis (1858–1937) 
2. February: Scherzo. Presto
3. March. Agitato 2:48
4:35 Femmes de Légende (Women of Legend)
14. Mélisande, Op. 109. Andantino 2:33
4. April: Capriccioso. Allegretto 3:19 15. Desdémona, Op. 101. Andantino 2:17
5. May: Spring Song. Allegro vivace e gioioso 2:56 16. Ophélie, Op. 165. Très lent. 4:02
6. June: Serenade. Largo 4:50 17. Viviane, Op. 80. Assez vite 2:25
7. July: Serenade. Larghetto 2:52 18. Phœbé, Op. 30. Poco Andante 2:59
8. August. Allegro 3:49 19. Salomé, Op. 100. Assez vif 3:39
9. September: At the River. Andante con moto 3:39 20. Omphale, Op. 86. Modéré 4:14
10. October. Allegro con spirituo 3:28  
11. November. Mesto 5:0 Olena Ilnytska (b. 1977) 
12. December. Allegro molto
13. Postlude: Nachspiel. Chorale 4:47
3:09 21. Nocturne 1. Lento 6:18
 Total time: 76:15

As surprising as it may seem to many listeners, the most ambitious piece of piano writing coming from a Mendelssohn’s pen turns out to be a work of Fanny Mendelssohn (1805–1847), Felix’s older sister, who until recently had been a footnote in the biography of her more famous sibling.

Just under an hour long, Das Jahr (The Year) (1841) is a feat of imagination and virtuosity. This 13-movement musical calendar is one of the earliest examples of a Romantic piano cycle, and its imposing proportions are hard to square with the image of Fanny as a mere accomplished amateur.

Her musical talent and skills as a pianist were acknowledged by many who knew her yet were never taken seriously by musical experts. “Excellent dilettante, intellectually and naturally related to the composer” and “most accomplished lady” were the conclusions of the Berlin newspapers after Fanny’s public debut with her brother’s Piano Concerto in G minor at the Berlin Schauspielhaus. She was 32 years old, and as an upper-class woman playing at a public charity concert, her privacy needed to be protected. Hence, Robert Schumann’s Neue Zeitschrift für Music describes her as a “sister” and “blood and intellectual relative” of the composer. Notwithstanding the societal limitations placed on Fanny in the sphere of public performance, her artistic and intellectual life was a rich one.

The comprehensive education she received as a child alongside her three siblings went far beyond what was expected of women of her rank as Mendelssohn’s parents spared no expense when it came to hiring the best tutors for their children.
Her Berlin Sunday Musicales series was a meeting hub for the city’s intellectual and cultural elite where Fanny herself performed either as a pianist or a conductor, which gave her easy familiarity with a range of repertoire from Bach and Handel Oratorios to her brother’s latest creations. Occasionally, her own lieder or song without words would make an appearance on the program.
The inspiration for Das Jahr remains somewhat of a mystery. A diligent diary keeper, Fanny made no entry into her diary between June 1841 and April 1842 — the time she was composing the work. There is no mention of Das Jahr in her correspondence with her brother and no mention of it in any of Felix’s records.

There was, however, a year-long sojourn to Italy (1839–40) that Fanny with her husband, painter Wilhelm Hensel, and son Sebastian undertook prior to the composition of Das Jahr, which may have been a major inspiration for the cycle. The trip, meant as a vehicle to cultivate Wilhelm’s contacts and get more painting commissions, was
a feast for the senses.

January
Ludwig uhLand
Ahnest du, O Seele, wieder Sanfte süße Fruhlingslieder? Sieh umher die falben Bäume! Ach! es waren holde Träume.

Do you foresee, oh soul, again gentle sweet spring songs?
Look around at the faded trees Ah!
Those were sweet dreams.

February
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe Faust part II Denkt nicht ihr seid in deutschen Gränzen, Von Teufels- Narren-und Totentänzen,
Ein heiter Fest erwartet Euch.

Don’t think that you’re in German borders, of dances of devils, fools and the dead,
A cheerful celebration awaits you.

Traveling via the Alps, Lake Como was the first stop followed by Milan, Venice, Florence, and Rome. “Do you recognize your daughter, dear mother,” Fanny wrote back home after attending the Roman Carnival “frolicking away for hours in the midst of this turmoil, and in a noise which can be compared neither to the roaring of the sea nor to the howling of wild beasts, being like nothing but itself?”

It was at the eternal city that Fanny experienced artistic admiration she had not known before or since and had a chance only too briefly to escape her brother’s shadow. As Fanny and Wilhelm joined a social circle of Jean-Auguste- Dominique Ingres, who was the director of French Academy at the Villa Medici, Fanny became a musical muse of the group — introducing German repertoire to the gatherings, among whom Charles Gounod first learned the music of Bach, Beethoven and Felix Mendelssohn from Fanny. After six months of Roman holidays, Fanny admitted that “I never was made so much of as I have been here, and that this is very pleasant nobody can deny.”

Das Jahr was a gift to Fanny’s husband, the painter Wilhelm Hensel, who after receiving it on the Christmas morning of 1841 made his own contribution to the work — a set of drawing vignettes each corresponding to the character of the movement. Together with the epigraphs of the couple’s favorite poets, the work becomes a fusion of what was most dear to their family — music, art and poetry. There is a nod to the religious calendar with Easter and Christmas chorales in the March and December movements respectively as well as an Epilogue — a tribute to the composer who stood above all others in the Mendelssohn family — J.S. Bach.

March
Johann woLfgang von goethe faust part i
Verkündiget ihr dumpfen Glocken schon
Des Osterfestes erste Feierstunde?

Do you muffled bells announce already the first ceremony of Easter?


April
Johann woLfgang von goethe
Der Sonnenblick betrüget Mit mildem, falschem Schein.

The sight of the sun deceives with gentle, false light.

Das Jahr had remained unpublished for almost 150 years, until 1989, when Fanny’s original manuscript was discovered. The second version, with Wilhelm’s drawings was published in 2000.

This recording presents the first, original version of the work, one that Fanny presented to Wilhelm as a Christmas gift. While Wilhelm’s contributions made the work more extravagant, Fanny also made changes making it somewhat smaller in scale, substituting a grand June movement with a more modest theme and variations as well as rewriting the grand Coda of December for a quiet and an understated ending.

Could Fanny have felt that she might have been upstaging her brother with a piano work of such a mammoth size and therefore attempted to diminish its grandeur with the second version? This is a question to be debated, and as more research about her life and work emerges, we might have more insights into her motivations.

As of today, Fanny’s only recorded mention of Das Jahr can be found in a letter to her friend, painter August Elsasser, in which she mentions her masterpiece in self-deprecating and diminishing ways:

“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; I’ve already progressed more than halfway. 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.”

This interpretation wishes to present Das Jahr as a feature recital work, fit for a major concert hall with a large audience — the experience that was out of reach for Fanny during her lifetime yet is appropriate in the 21st century.
The way Schumann’s Carnival or Mussorgsky’s Pictures atan Exhibition

captivate the imaginations of the listeners and associate with the grand Romantic piano style, so it is time for Das Jahr to be recognized as a towering achievement in the 19th- century Romantic piano repertoire.

May
Ludwig uhLand and his
frühLingsLieder (spring songs)
Nun blüht das fernste, tiefste Thal.

Now blooms the farthest, deepest valley.

June
Johann woLfgang von goethe faust part i
Hör’ ich Rauschen? hör’ ich Lieder Hör’ ich holde Liebesklage?

Do I hear murmuring, do I hear songs,
Do I hear gentle plaints of love?

. . . the fields thirst for refreshing dew,
Man languishes [dies of thirst]


August
friedrich schiLLer das Lied
von der gLocke, ( the song of the beLL)
Bunt von Farben Auf den Garben

Leigt der Kranz.

Bright with color on the sheaves lies the wreathes.


September
Johann woLfgang von goethe an dem mond (at the moon)
Fließe, fließe, lieber Fluß, Nimmer werd’ ich froh.

Flow, flow dear river, Never will I be happy.


October
Joseph von eichendorff die spieLLeute (the minstreLs)
Im Wald, im grünen Walde Da ist ein lustiger Schall.

In the forest, the green forest, that is a cheerful sound.

November
Ludwig tieck trauer (grief)
Wie rauschen die Baüme so winterlich schon
Es fliehen die Träume des Lebens davon
Ein Klagelied schallt Durch Hügel und Wald.

How the trees rustle so wintry already
the dreams of life flee from there A song of complaint sounds through hill and forest


December Lutheran hymnaL, hymn 85 Vom himmel hoch, da komm ich her.
From heaven on high, I come here.

student of Cesar Franck and a classmate of Claude Debussy at the Paris Conservatory, Mélanie “Mel” Bonis’ (1858–1937) musical style is rooted in late Romanticism with elements of emerging Impressionism. Written between 1898 and 1913, “Femmes de Legende” was not intended as a cycle as it was published in various combinations of movements during the
composer’s lifetime. Yet, its programmatic element links together musical portraits of enigmatic historic and literary heroines.
Mélisande (1898) was noted to be one of Mel Bonis’ favorite piano pieces. Predating the Debussy opera on the same subject, the work takes inspiration from Maurice Marterlinck’s poem “Mélisande” (1893) and one of its particular passages describing Mélisande’s hair — “your hair and its beautiful light... It escapes everywhere, it shivers, it shakes, it trembles in my hand like a golden bird.”

Shakespearean heroines are represented by the nostalgic Desdemona (1913) and the melancholic Ophelie (1909), while the magic of natural forces is evoked by the gentle water sways of Lady of the Lake Viviane (1909) and the moonlit tenderness of Phoebe (1909).

Striking imitations of drums introduce the entrance of a biblical character Salome (1909). Her sensual dance of seduction is interrupted by outbursts of violence — an intriguing portrait of the devious beauty.
The winner for the best composition at the influential Berlin

“Signale für die musikalische Welt,” Omphale (1910), is the longest and most virtuosic movement in the series, representing the powerful Queen of Lydia from Greek mythology. The ease with which Bonis conveys the sensuality of her heroines is striking considering the composer’s own upbringing.

Born into a lower middle-class family in Paris (her father was a foreman at Bréguet watches, and her mother a lace-dealer and homemaker), Mélanie’s stern upbringing was centered around the strict Catholic regiment. Unlike the Mendelssohn family, Mélanie’s parents gave no encouragement to her musical interests and talents. There was a piano at the house, which she had essentially taught herself to play as a child. Some formal lessons followed when she was 12. At 18 she was accepted into Paris Conservatory on a recommendation of a family friend Henri Maury, the cornet professor at the Conservatory who heard her improvise with “overflowing imagination” and took initiative to introduce her to Cesar Franck.

At the Conservatory, Mélanie became a respected and well-liked student and peer, receiving top marks and Conservatory prizes in harmony and accompaniment classes. She was finding her voice as a composer and started to sign her compositions with a more gender-

neutral name Mel Bonis, although throughout her life she would also sign her works with pseudonyms such as Henry Wladimir Liadoff, Melas Benissouvsky, Jacques Normandin, or the names of her sons Pierre or Edouard Domange.
In her third year at the Conservatory, Mélanie met and fell in love with a fellow student Amédée Landely Hettich — a talented poet and singer. Upon learning of Hettich’s intentions of marrying Mélanie, her parents promptly took her out of the Conservatory as they strongly disapproved of artists and especially singers. Melanie took a job as a seamstress, and shortly a marriage was arranged for her to a respectable businessman Albert Domange, a widower with five sons, who was 25 years her senior.
For the next 10 years Mélanie embodied a bourgeois lifestyle of Madame Domange — devoting all her time to running a large household, managing the family’s Paris  apartment  and  a  summer

residence in the country, as well as raising her stepsons and giving birth to three children of her own.
As her husband did not enjoy the arts, music was not a part of family life. Mélanie eventually found her own way into Parisian music circles, rekindling her relationship with Hettich first creatively and then romantically as well as becoming a member of the “Société des compositeurs de musique” that gave her a chance to hear her compositions in performances. In 1910, she became the secretary of the SCM, working daily with the elites of the Parisian music world, such as Massenet, Saint-Saëns and Fauré, among others.

The time window of creating the Femmes de Legende movements coincided with the most productive period of Mélanie’s life, which was from the late 1890s to 1914. The movements on this recording are not arranged in a strictly chronological order but follow a sequence that is published by the Furore Edition.

The closing work on this recording reimagines one of the beloved genres of Romantic music — the Nocturne. It was written for the “Creative Workshop on Interpretations of Contemporary Music” at the National Music Academy of Ukraine, where it received the grand prize. In her Nocturne 1 for solo piano (2019), Ukrainian composer Olena Ilnytska (1977) cloaks the night song in expressively avant-garde musical layers. “Night is a time when all sounds become more expressive. When the hustle and bustle of the day subsides, the quietest and most inconspicuous sounds of nature (churning, chirping, buzzing) appear more intense. To reflect these various sounds of the night, extended timbral capabilities of the piano are employed. The entire tonal palette of the work includes a traditional performance as well as the use of chromatic clusters, plucking the strings for the harp-like effect, silently depressing keys for string resonance, and playing on the wood of the instrument like a percussion.”
© Anna Shelest 2024


ANNA SHELEST
Hailed by The New York Times as a pianist of “a fiery sensibility and warm touch,” Anna Shelest is an international award- winning pianist who has thrilled audiences throughout the world. Champion of esoteric repertoire, Ms. Shelest’s interests range from the music of her native Ukraine to rare concertos and works by living composers.

Since 2017, Anna has been collaborating with the legendary conductor Neeme Järvi to record rare works for piano and orchestra. Their complete set of Piano Concertos by Anton Rubinstein has been released to great critical acclaim, praised by the American Record Guide as “Easily the top choices now for these two concertos.” (Rubinstein Concertos 1&2) and Gramophone Magazine for “…power and agility… effortless effect… nuanced and incisive all round.” (Rubinstein Concerto no. 4 and Caprice Russe). Maestro Järvi and Anna’s live recording of Clara Schumann’s Piano Concerto and Cecile Chaminade’s Konzertstuck with the Estonian National Symphony Orchestra (ERSO) recorded in Tallinn, Estonia in 2023 is set for future release.
The 2019 release of Donna Voce, a survey of music by women composers from the last three centuries, became Anna’s ongoing

musical project that includes live performances, lectures, and videos, as well as a sequel album — Donna Voce II, featuring Fanny Mendelssohn’s monumental piano cycle Das Jahr (The Year).

Anna regularly performs with her husband Dmitri in Shelest Piano Duo. Praised for their “stirring performances of rare repertory” (Fanfare Magazine), the duo traces their roots to music school in Kharkiv, Ukraine. At their official Carnegie Hall debut in February 2018, their CD release of Ukrainian Rhapsody brought renewed attention to the music of their homeland. The duo, who met as classmates in middle school, began performing together after their marriage in the U.S. Their inventive programs brought them to a broad array of venues from concert stages to state functions, and, in words of Secretary-General of the United Nations Ban Ki-moon, “realized diplomacy through music.” Anna and Dmitri have produced over 100 episodes for their YouTube channel Shelest at the Piano that explore a wide range of music for piano solo and duo.

An “effective collaborator” (The New York Times), Anna made her orchestral debut at the age of twelve with the Kharkiv Symphony Orchestra, playing Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No. 1. Since then, she has appeared as a soloist with world-class orchestras such as the Montreal Symphony, the Cincinnati Symphony under Paavo Järvi, the St. Petersburg Philharmonic, and the Estonian National Symphony, among others. As a soloist she has appeared at Alice Tully Hall and Stern Auditorium at Carnegie Hall in New York City, The Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., Wiener Konzerthaus in Vienna, and Palacio de Bellas Artes in Mexico City.

Born in Ukraine, Anna received her early music education at the Kharkiv Special Music School. Since graduating from The Juilliard School with a master’s degree in the class of Jerome Lowenthal, Anna makes her home in New York City with her husband and two sons.

OLENA ILNYTSKA
Olena Ilnytska (b. 1977) is a composer of instrumental, chamber, and symphonic music. She received her composition degree at the National Music Academy of Ukraine (Kyiv), where she studied with Ivan Karabyts (2001) and Myroslav Skoryk (2004). In 2010, she received the Gaude Polonia scholarship to continue her studies at the Szymanowski Music Academy in Katowice, Poland in the composition class of Alexander Lason.

Ilnytska has been a member of the National Composers’ Union of Ukraine since 2005 and took part in the contemporary music festivals “KyivMusicFest,” “Contrast”, “Ukrainian Music Days in Warsaw,” as well as the projects “Chopin: Transcriptions of our Time” (2010), and “Pandemic Media Space” (2020–2021). In 2023– 2024 Ilnytska was awarded the International Artist-in-Residence- Programme scholarship at Villa Concordia, Bamberg, Germany.

CREDITS
Recorded at Patrych Sound Studios, New York, January–March 2023. Recording engineer: Joseph Patrych
Producer: Dmitri Shelest
Editing: Dmitri Shelest
Mastering: Alan Silverman arfproductions.com
Graphic design: Allison Rolls allisonrolls.com
Front cover artwork: Melisande by Marianne Stokes (1855–1927)
Photo of Anna Shelest: Lisa Mazzucco lisamazzucco.com Photo of Olena Ilnytska: Maria Svidryk svidrykmaria.com Portrait of Fanny Mendelssohn Hensel by Wilhelm Hensel Portrait of Mel Bonis by Charles-Auguste Corbineau
Vignette Illustations for Das Jahr (pps. 4,7,10,12) by Wilhelm Hensel
Acknowledgements:
This recording is made possible by the generous support from The Sorel Organization.
The Donna Voce project is dedicated to the loving memory of Judy Cope (1958–2019).

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