Emilie Mayer
1812 - 1883
Emilie Luise Friderica Mayer was a German composer of Romantic music. Although Emilie Mayer began her serious compositional study relatively late in life, she was a very prolific composer, eventually producing some 8 symphonies and at least 15 concert overtures, as well as numerous chamber works and lieder. She is often referred to as the "Female Beethoven" because of her pioneering attitude and similarities in style.
Emilie Mayer was 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 two years old. When she was five, she received a grand piano and was given music lessons. Her musical talents were fostered by these private lessons. 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 leaving Mayer with a large inheritance.
In 1841, she moved to the regional capital city of Stettin (now Szczecin, Poland). Women were denied admittance to universities during this time, so she sought to study 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.
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 and performing in private concerts. On 21 April 1850, Wieprecht led his "Euterpe" orchestra in a concert at the Royal Theatre exclusively presenting compositions by Mayer, including a concert overture, 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.
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.
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 an 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.
Biography taken from Wikipedia.
