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Emilie Mayer was born in 1821 in Friedland, Mecklenburg, to an apothecary father who encouraged her musical talent by
making sure she received piano lessons from an early age. After her formal schooling, she moved to Stettin, then the capital of Pomerania, to study composition with Carl Loewe. Under the tutelage of Loewe she produced songs, chamber music,
overtures and symphonies. She did not, however, find an audience for her music in Stettin and so moved to Berlin in 1847,
where she studied fugue and counterpoint with Adolf Bernhard Marx and orchestration with Wilhelm Wieprecht. Her works received favorable reviews in Berlin, and her songs were regularly performed in Marx’s private music circle. Critics praised her “noble style,†“fiery melodies,†the “spiritual character†of her work, and her “manly energy.â€
Emilie Mayer’s style is firmly rooted in the Classical tradition, especially in her use of treble-dominated textures, the traditional
movement forms, and diatonic harmony. Mayer’s ballade-composing background as Carl Loewe’s student is reflected most of all in her sweeping, easily sung melodies. If the style of her cello sonatas can be compared to any others, it would be primarily with the piano and cello sonatas by Felix Mendelssohn, written in 1838 and 1843.
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