The Matilda effect is the denial of women's contributions to science and the attribution of their merits to male colleagues.
Fanny was born in 1805. She was the eldest child in the Mendelssohn family. Together with her brother Felix, the girl began to learn music, as it turned out, not without success. She wrote small pieces, sang and played the violin and piano. The best musicians in Germany admired Fanny's talent, and Goethe dedicated several poems to her magical voice.
When the girl turned 15, her father forbade her to study music. Fanny was being groomed to be an exemplary wife and mother. Unbeknownst to her parents, she continued to write songs, but only showed them to her brother and published them under his name.
Marriage was a breath of fresh air for Fanny. Husband Wilhelm was won over by his wife's talent. He insisted that she continue to study music, and even opened a music salon for her. And while the girl played her works in a narrow circle of relatives and friends, they sounded in the best concert halls of the world. Felix Mendelssohn passed off his sister's works as his own. This arrangement suited Fanny, her parents, and, of course, Felix. They thought it was not a woman's business to write music.
