Fanny Hünerwadel (26 January 1826 – 27 April 1854) was a Swiss pianist, singer and

composer A composer is a person who writes music. The term is especially used to indicate composers of Western classical music, or those who are composers by occupation. Many composers are, or were, also skilled performers of music. Etymology and def ...

. She sang and performed in

Zurich Zurich (; ) is the list of cities in Switzerland, largest city in Switzerland and the capital of the canton of Zurich. It is in north-central Switzerland, at the northwestern tip of Lake Zurich. , the municipality had 448,664 inhabitants. The ...

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

and

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

, but died of

typhus Typhus, also known as typhus fever, is a group of infectious diseases that include epidemic typhus, scrub typhus, and murine typhus. Common symptoms include fever, headache, and a rash. Typically these begin one to two weeks after exposu ...

at the age of 28. She wrote seven piano songs, some of which were published after her death.

Life

Hünerwadel was a native of

Lenzburg Lenzburg is a town in the central region of the Switzerland, Swiss canton of Aargau and is the capital of the Lenzburg District. The town, founded in the Middle Ages, lies in the Seetal, Seetal valley, about 3 kilometres south of the Aare river. L ...

where she was born on 26 January 1826, and came from a long-established family of the city. She was the oldest child of the physician Johann Friedrich Hünerwadel and Speerli Regula, who were both avid music lovers. Hünerwadel was first taught music by her mother, and then studied piano under Philipp Tietz, Joseph Breitenbach and Ludwig Kurz. She also belonged to the local choral society. She made her debut as a pianist in 1842 at Lenzburg. In 1846 she began studied piano, voice, music theory and composition with Hans Nägeli and Alexander Müller (1808–1863) in

. From 1849, she made public appearances as a singer and pianist, performing benefit concerts at the Universal Music Company in Zurich. She sang in 1851 to inaugurate the new Lenzburg organ. Also, in 1851 she visited

and

. In 1852, she played ''Rondo Brilliant'' by

Johann Nepomuk Hummel Johann Nepomuk Hummel (14 November 177817 October 1837) was an Austrian composer and pianist. His music reflects the transition from the Classical to the Romantic musical era. He was a pupil of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Antonio Salieri, and ...

in a subscription concert of the General Music Society of Zurich, from which today's Tonhalle Orchestra Zurich emerged. In 1853 as part of her training, she traveled to

Florence Florence ( ; ) is the capital city of the Italy, Italian region of Tuscany. It is also the most populated city in Tuscany, with 362,353 inhabitants, and 989,460 in Metropolitan City of Florence, its metropolitan province as of 2025. Florence ...

and

Rome Rome (Italian language, Italian and , ) is the capital city and most populated (municipality) of Italy. It is also the administrative centre of the Lazio Regions of Italy, region and of the Metropolitan City of Rome. A special named with 2, ...

. In Florence, she took singing lessons with

Romani Romani may refer to: Ethnic groups * Romani people, or Roma, an ethnic group of Indo-Aryan origin ** Romani language, an Indo-Aryan macrolanguage of the Romani communities ** Romanichal, Romani subgroup in the United Kingdom * Romanians (Romanian ...

. In Rome in 1853 she was guest of artists and families Corrodi Imhof and took lessons in singing teacher Parisotti. Hünerwadel died of typhus on 27 April 1854 in Rome at the age of 28. Six of her seven existing piano songs were posthumously published in 1854. Liszt's composition "à Fanny H." is dedicated to Hünerwadel.

Discography

*MGB CD 6153: "Richard Wagner and his composer friends in Zurich". Songs "Morning Song" and "Spring" by Fanny Hünerwadel.

References

External links

*
Two articles in the Bulletin of the Peter Mieg Foundation (June 1998) by Beat Hanselmann and Chris Walton
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hunerwadel, Fanny 1826 births 1854 deaths Swiss classical pianists Swiss women pianists Swiss women classical composers People from Lenzburg 19th-century classical composers 19th-century classical pianists Women classical pianists 19th-century women composers 19th-century women pianists

Life

Discography

References

Further reading

External links