The Mendelssohn family Sunday musicales were and are one of the most prominent examples of private music making from nineteenth-century Germany. Yet their importance lies not so much in their singularity, as in the way that they were an especially successfully representative of a much larger set of private music-making practices throughout Berlin and German-speaking cities more generally, some of which took place in Jewish-women-led salons. This chapter looks at a diverse range of private music-making practices during the period, many of which were important to the Mendelssohn family’s musical activities. Private music-making offered musicians and listeners an alternative to the public concert hall; travelling virtuosi chances to get to know the local music scene; and composers like Felix and Fanny a laboratory for trying out new works. Perhaps most importantly, private music-making offered women, including Fanny Hensel, an opportunity to shine in multiple overlapping organisational and musical roles at once.