Synopsis

Today marks the birthday of one of the most prolific 19th century women composers. Emilie Luise Friderica Mayer was born May 14, 1812 in the German town of Friedland, the third of five children and the eldest daughter of a well-to-do pharmacist. No one else in her family was musically inclined, but after the death of her father when she was 28, a comfortable inheritance enabled her to devote the rest of her life to music and composition.

Despite the barriers to women as composers in her time, Mayer wrote and published orchestral and chamber works — including eight symphonies over a dozen concert overtures — and starting in the 1840s through to the time of her death in 1883, got them performed in Berlin, Cologne, Munich, Lyon, Brussels and Vienna.

Her early works are very much in the classical Viennese tradition of Beethoven, but as the decades passed, her style became much more in the high Romantic style. For most of the 20th century her works remained largely forgotten, but a 21st century reappraisal has resulted in new interest, recordings and performances of the symphonies and overtures of Emilie Mayer.

Music Played in Today's Program

Emilie Mayer (1812-1883): Symphony No. 4; New Brandenburg Philharmonie; Stefan Malzew, conductor; Capriccio 5339