Fanny Arthur Robinson (September 1831 – 31 October 1879) was an English

pianist A pianist ( , ) is an individual musician who plays the piano. Since most forms of Western music can make use of the piano, pianists have a wide repertoire and a wide variety of styles to choose from, among them traditional classical music, ja ...

, music educator 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 Defi ...

who spent most of her career in Dublin, Ireland.

Biography

Fanny Robinson was born in Southampton and studied the piano in London with

William Sterndale Bennett Sir William Sterndale Bennett (13 April 18161 February 1875) was an English composer, pianist, conductor and music educator. At the age of ten Bennett was admitted to the London Royal Academy of Music (RAM), where he remained for ten years. B ...

and

Sigismund Thalberg Sigismond Thalberg (8 January 1812 – 27 April 1871) was an Austrian composer and one of the most distinguished virtuoso pianists of the 19th century. Family He was born in Pâquis near Geneva on 8 January 1812. According to his own account, he ...

. She performed in

Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of th ...

in February 1849 where she met her future husband Joseph Robinson, conductor, composer and chorister at St. Patrick's Cathedral. They married on 17 July 1849. She appeared as a pianist in

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

and

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

, and in 1856 made her performing debut in

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

. She took a teaching position at the

Royal Irish Academy of Music The Royal Irish Academy of Music (RIAM) in Dublin, Ireland, is one of Europe's oldest music conservatoires, specialising in classical music and the Irish harp. It is located in a Georgian building on Westland Row in Dublin. An institution which ...

in the same year. She remained active as pianist and composer until her early death in Dublin in 1879. Robinson was one of the few female composers of her time whose music was published and performed. Her cantata ''God is Love'' was her most frequently performed work during her lifetime; occasionally, excerpts were performed like anthems in the Dublin cathedrals. Her piano music is typical for the Victorian music of her time: very melodic, simple in its harmonic design, yet attractive and well-written for her instrument. Typically of Victorian times, however, her music was not published as by "Fanny Robinson" but by "Mrs. Joseph Robinson". Her life was overshadowed by depression, and she took her life at the age of 48.

Selected compositions

*''God is Love'', cantata for mixed chorus (c.1869) PianoSources: online catalogues of the British Library, London, and Royal Irish Academy of Music, Dublin. *''Sentiments'' (1853) *''The Haymakers''. Caprice pastorale (1855) *''A Dream''. Melody (1864) *''Constancy''. Melody (1864) *''Elf Land''. Presto scherzando (1864) *''The Hunt''. Morceau de salon (1864) *''The Village Fête''. Morceau de salon (1864) *''May Morning''. A Sketch (1865) *''Infant Smiles'' (1868) *''Laughing Water''. Rondino (1870) *''Evening Thoughts''. Impromptu (1873) *''Hopes and Fears''. Allegro brillante (1876) *''The Thrush's Song''. Pensée musicale (1877) *''Fête rustique''. Morceau du salon (Paris, n.d.) *''Stella''. Valse brillante (Dublin, n.d.) *''The Song of the Mill-wheel'' (London, n.d.)

Recording

*''Constancy'', performed by Alan Etherden (piano), on: Hunters Moon Promotions HMPCD 0183, CD (1989).

Bibliography

*Caitríona Doran: ''The Robinsons. A Nineteenth-Century Dublin Family of Musicians and their Contribution towards Musical Life in Dublin'' (unpublished MA thesis, NUI Maynooth, 1998); se
SMI Music Thesis Register.
*Richard Pine: ''To Talent Alone. The Royal Irish Academy of Music 1848–1998'' (Dublin: Gill & Macmillan, 1998), . *Jennifer O'Connor: "Women and Music in Nineteenth-Century Dublin", in: ''Journal of the International Alliance for Women in Music'', 15.1 (Spring 2009), p. 12–17.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Robinson, Fanny Arthur 1831 births 1879 deaths 1870s suicides 19th-century British composers 19th-century classical composers 19th-century women composers Composers for piano English classical composers Irish classical composers Irish women classical composers Irish music educators Musicians from Southampton Irish women music educators British women classical composers British women music educators British music educators