Emilie Mayer

Emilie Luise Frederica Mayer (14 May 1812 – 10 April 1883) was a German Romantic music composer who became one of the most prolific female composers of the 19th century. Often called the "Female Beethoven," Mayer composed eight symphonies and numerous chamber works, piano sonatas, and orchestral overtures. Despite the limited opportunities for women in professional music during her time, she achieved wide recognition and public performance of her music across Germany. In the 21st century, her work has been rediscovered and celebrated for its craftsmanship, originality, and contribution to the Romantic repertoire.

Lithograph of Mayer based on a drawing by Pauline Suhrlandt

Life and career

Early Life and Education

Emilie Mayer was born in Friedland, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, the third of five children and eldest daughter of a wealthy pharmacist, Johann August Friedrich Mayer, and his wife Henrietta Carolina. Her mother died when Emilie was three years old. She started music lessons at age five under the tutelage of Carl Heinrich Ernst Driver. It was also when she first started composing, submitting to Driver pieces of "free interpretation". According to one of her surviving personal statements, “After a few lessons … I composed variations, dances, little rondos, etc.” Seemingly destined for domestic life, in 1840 at the age of 28, her circumstances changed when her father committed suicide - 26 years to the day after her mother was buried - leaving Mayer with a large inheritance.

Unlike many of her contemporaries, Mayer was encouraged to pursue music and composition. At the time of 19th century Germany, women were expected to be "wife and mother", putting aside all other aspirations in favor of the household regardless of status. Mayer had the luxury of freedom in that aspect. While she did take up her late mother's role of caretaker of her father's household, she was never pressured to give up her musical aspirations nor was she ever pressured to marry. In fact, she was encouraged by her male family members, her brothers encouraging her to pursue composition as well as traveling alongside her and financially supporting her trips.

In 1841, she moved to the regional capital city of Stettin (now Szczecin, Poland) where she studied composition with Carl Loewe, a central figure in the musical life of the city. The German writer Marie Silling claims that Loewe, after auditioning her, claimed "You actually know nothing and everything at the same time! I shall be the gardener who grows your talent from a bud to a beautiful flower" With him, she wrote Die Fischerin, her only Singspiel.

Emilie Mayer

Move to Berlin and Professional Success

In 1847, after the premiere of her first two symphonies (C minor and E minor) by the Stettin Instrumental Society, and with the urging of her tutor, she moved to Berlin to continue her compositional studies. Once in Berlin, she studied fugue and double counterpoint with Adolf Bernhard Marx, and instrumentation with Wilhelm Friedrich Wieprecht.

She began publishing her works (e.g. Lieder op. 5-7, in 1848) which were performed in private concerts. Then, on 21 April 1850, Wilhelm Wieprecht led his "Euterpe" orchestra in a concert at the Royal Theatre of Mayer's compositions: a concert overture, a string quartet, a setting of Psalm 118 for chorus and orchestra, two symphonies and some piano solos. Shortly after this, she was awarded the gold medal of art from the Queen of Prussia, Elisabeth Ludovika of Bavaria. With critical and popular acclaim, she continued composing works for public performance. She traveled to attend performances of her works, including to the Königliches Schauspielhaus, and cities such as Cologne, Munich, Lyon, Brussels and Vienna.

Later Years and Death

After Carl Loewe died in 1869, the Loewe society was formed. Mayer dedicated two of her cello sonatas to members of the society and their families. The Op. 40 (1873) Cello Sonata is dedicated to the sister of composer Martin Plüddemann from Kolberg, and the Cello Sonata in D major, Op. 47 (1883) is dedicated to the Baron von Seckendorff from Stargard.

The composer's grave at the Holy Trinity Church, Berlin

In 1876, Mayer returned to Berlin where her music was still frequently performed. Mayer’s new Faust Overture, based on Goethe's Faust, was successful and she re-established herself as a significant figure in the city’s cultural circles. She was a honorary member of the Philharmonic Society in Munich and was the co-chair of the Berlin Opera Academy. Mayer died on 10 April 1883 from pneumonia in Berlin and was buried at the Dreifaltigkeitsfriedhof I at the Holy Trinity Church not far from Felix and Fanny Mendelssohn.

Musical relationships and influence

Emilie Mayer’s musical career was significantly shaped by her mentorship under composer and conductor Carl Loewe, who encouraged her to pursue composition seriously. Loewe’s guidance helped Mayer establish herself as one of the few female symphonic composers of her time. His influence and encouragement helped Mayer's music become respected and even championed by her male colleagues. Even when Loewe departed in 1866, the new directors of the Stettin Instrumentalverein continued programming her works in Szczecin.

After relocating to Berlin in the 1850s, Mayer became connected with influential musicians and patrons in the city’s concert scene, securing performances of her symphonies and chamber works. Her relationships with orchestras and conductors, including those who premiered her compositions, played a crucial role in the dissemination of her music.

Compositional style

Emilie Mayer was initially influenced by the Vienna classic style, whilst her later works were more Romantic. Mayer's harmonies are characterized by sudden shifts in tonality and the frequent use of seventh chords, with the diminished seventh allowing Mayer to reach a variety of resolutions. One defining characteristic of Mayer's music is a tendency to set up a tonal centre with a dominant seventh, but not resolving to the tonic immediately; sometimes, resolution is skipped altogether. Her rhythms are often very complex, with several layers interacting at once. The first movements of her works usually follow a sonata-allegro form.

Legacy and reception

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Although Emilie Mayer’s music was highly regarded in her own time, it fell into obscurity after her death, like the work of many women composers of the 19th century. Her compositions have received renewed interest from scholars, performers, and recording labels in recent decades. Modern performances of her symphonies and chamber works have revealed a distinctive voice influenced by Beethoven and Mendelssohn but marked by her dynamic sense of form and lyricism. Musicologists have also explored Mayer’s place within the broader context of women in classical music, noting her persistence in overcoming gender barriers to achieve professional recognition. Recent recordings and critical editions of her scores have contributed to a growing appreciation of her legacy.

Compositions

Main article: List of compositions by Emilie Mayer

Selected Works

Symphonies

• Symphony No. 1 in C minor (1850)
• Symphony No. 2 in E minor (1852)
• Symphony No. 3 in C major (1853)
• Symphony No. 5 in F minor (1857)

Overtures

• Overture in C major
• Overture to Faust

Chamber Music

• Piano Trio in D minor, Op. 13
• String Quartet in G minor
• Cello Sonata in D minor, Op. 38

Piano

• Piano Sonata in D minor
• Various character pieces and studies

Lieder

• Drei Lieder, Op. 7
• No. 1 “Du bist wie eine Blume”
• No. 2 “O lass mich dein gedenken”
• No. 3 “Wenn der Abendstern die Rosen”
• Zwei Gesänge
• No. 1 “Abendglocken”
• No. 2 “Das Schlüsselloch im Herzen“
• Erlkönig I
• Erlkönig II

Discography

• Fanny Mendelssohn-Hensel, Emilie Mayer, M. Laura Lombardini Sirmen: String Quartets (CPO, 2000). String Quartet in G minor, op. 14. Performed by: Erato Quartett Basel.
• Fanny Hensel, Emilie Mayer, Luise Adolpha LeBeau (Dreyer Gaido, 2003). Symphony No. 5 in F minor. Performed by: Kammersymphonie Berlin, Jürgen Bruns (conductor).
• Mayer: Violin Sonatas (Feminae Records, 2012): Sonata in E minor for Violin and Piano, op. 19 – Sonata in E-flat Major for Violin and Piano – Sonata in A minor for Violin and Piano, op. 18. Performed by: Aleksandra Maslovaric (violin), Anne-Lise Longuemare (piano).
• Emilie Mayer (Capriccio, 2018). Symphony no. 4 in B minor – Piano Concerto in B flat major – String Quartet in G minor – Piano Sonata in D minor – Tonwellen. Valse – Maricia in A major. Performed by: Ewa Lupiec, Yang Tai (piano), Klenke Quartett, Neubrandenburger Philharmonie, Stefan Malzew, Sebastian Tewinkel (conductors).
• Emilie Mayer (CPO, 2020). Symphony No. 1 in C minor – Symphony No. 2 in E minor. Performed by NDR Radiophilharmonie conducted by Leo McFall.
• Emilie Mayer (CPO, 2022). Symphony No. 3 in C major 'Sinfonie Militar' – Symphony No. 7 in F minor. Performed by NDR Radiophilharmonie conducted by Jan Willem de Vriend.
• Emile Mayer (Hänssler Classic, 2021). Symphony No. 3 in C major - Symphony No. 6 in E major. Performed by Philharmonisches Orchester Bremerhaven, conducted by Marc Niemann.
• Emilie Mayer: Piano Trios, Notturno (CPO, 2017): Piano Trios, Op. 13 and 16; Notturno for Violin & Piano, Op. 48. Performed by: Trio Vivente.
• Emilie Mayer (CPO, 2023). Overture in D minor - Overture No. 3 in C minor - Overture No. 2 in D major - Piano Concerto in B-flat major. Performed by Tobias Koch (piano), Kölner Akademie, conducted by Michael Alexander Willens.
• BBC Radio 3 broadcast five hours of Mayer's music from 29 November to 3 December 2021 as Composer of the Week. These are available as downloads on BBC Sounds and as podcasts.

Sources

• Martina Sichardt: "Emilie Mayer (1821–1883). Auf den Spuren einer vergessenen Komponistin" (in German). In: Bettina Brand, Martina Helmig (eds.): Komponistinnen in Berlin. Musikfrauen, Berlin 1987, 150–173.
• Eva Rieger: “Emilie Mayer”. In: The New Grove Dictionary of Woman Composers, ed. by Julie Anne Sadie and Rhian Samuel, London 1994, 321.
• Martha Furman Schleifer, Linda Plaut: “Emilie Mayer (1812–1883)“. In: Women Composers. Music through the Ages. Volume 8, Composers born 1800–1899: Large and Small Instrumental Ensembles, ed. by Sylvia Glickman (= Women Composers 8). Detroit, Mich. 2006, 131–136.
• “Forgotten Works of the ‘Female Beethoven’ Piano Concerto by Emilie Mayer.” Kölner Akademie, 10 Aug. 2023.
• Barbara Beuys: “Emilie Mayer.” Fembio. 2021. Accessed 14 Feb. 2024.
• Chloé van Soeterstède: “Chloé van Soeterstède on Emilie Mayer.” Scottish Chamber Orchestra, accessed 22 Apr. 2024.
• Sadownik, S. (2020). The Lieder of Emilie Mayer (1812-1883), Accessed 5 May 2025.

External links

• Biography (in German)
• Free scores by Emilie Mayer at the International Music Score Library Project (IMSLP)
• Free digital scores by Emilie Mayer in the OpenScore Lieder Corpus
• Music Festival in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern
• Concert tour through Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania with the Cornelis Quartet, 2017 - Beethoven Quartet op.18 No. 1, F major and Mayer's quartets in g minor and e minor