Ex. 1-5: Warum sind denn die Rosen so blass?

No. 3 from Fanny Mendelssohn's "6 Lieder" (Op. 1), set to a poem from Heinrich Heine's "Buch der Lieder (Book of Songs)." The poem describes how everything loses its colour after love is lost — roses turn pale, violets fall silent, and all of nature fades away.

This collection was the first work Fanny published under her own name, in 1846, at the age of 40. Earlier in her career, several of her songs had been published under her brother Felix's name — as a woman of the upper class, she was not encouraged to have a career in music. With the support of her husband, the painter Wilhelm Hensel, she finally published music under her own name. She died of a stroke the following year. Other songs from the same collection are also in this app. (Ex. 4-7: Schwanenlied by Fanny Mendelssohn, Ex. 5-5: Wanderlied by Fanny Mendelssohn, Ex. 3-4: Mayenlied by Fanny Mendelssohn, Ex. 7-5: Gondellied by Fanny Mendelssohn)

Track 29 from the album Lieder by Diana Damrau and Helmut Deutsch (2017)
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