Emilie Mayer, undated lithograph (© Austrian National Library)

A Trailblazing 19th-Century Composer

Emilie Mayer (1812–1883) was one of the few women in 19th-century Germany to make composing her full-time profession. At a time when women were largely excluded from public life, she chose a musical career—and never married, dedicating her life entirely to her art.

Emilie Mayer’s birthplace Friedland in Mecklenburg around 1900. (© Creative Commons)

A Pharmacist’s Daughter Becomes a Symphonist

Born in Friedland, Mecklenburg, the daughter of a pharmacist, Mayer trained with the local organist and showed a striking determination from an early age. By the time she moved to Stettin (now Szczecin) to study with composer Carl Loewe, who would become one of her most fervent supporters, she had already written numerous works. There, Mayer turned her hand to large-scale orchestral pieces—a daring pursuit almost unheard of for a woman of her time.

Berlin in 1846 (© Zentral- und Landesbibliothek Berlin)

To the Big City

Mayer relocated to Berlin in the wake of the 1848 revolution, confidently entering herself in the city’s official address book as “Componistin” (composer). She organized and bankrolled performances of her own works at the Königliches Schauspielhaus (today’s Konzerthaus) on Gendarmenmarkt, just a few blocks from her apartment on Markgrafenstrasse. Her music was reviewed favorably and Mayer gained recognition: even the Royal couple attended one of her performances.

The Gendarmenmarkt in Berlin with the Royal Schauspielhaus (center), c. 1856–8 (© Stadtmuseum München)

A Skilled Networker

Emilie Mayer successfully established herself in the musical world of Berlin and beyond, corresponding with publishers and concert promoters to advertise her works. Among her collaborators in Berlin was the military kapellmeister Wilhelm Wieprecht, who performed her Symphony No. 3 “Militair” (featuring piccolo, triangle, and bass drum) with his orchestra—the first of Mayer’s symphonies to be heard in Berlin. In addition to music, Emilie Mayer was also active as a visual artist: she created impressive sculptures from bread dough, which she gifted to influential aristocrats—thus making a name for herself in aristocratic circles.

Emilie Mayer’s manuscript score of her Symphony No. 2 in E minor (© Berlin State Library)

A Unique Musical Voice Rediscovered

Although Mayer fell into obscurity after her death, her music has been rediscovered and performed again in recent years. She is sometimes referred to as the “female Beethoven”—a misleading label: although her works were strongly influenced by the Viennese Classical tradition, she was equally inspired by Carl Maria von Weber, Felix Mendelssohn, and Gioachino Rossini and developed a musical language that is unmistakably her own. For this concert series at the Pierre Boulez Saal (and a subsequent recording), the Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin has prepared new editions of her surviving symphonic works from her manuscripts held in the Staatsbibliothek Berlin, bringing a unique musical voice back to life.