Emilie Mayer (1812-1883)
Symphony No 6 in E major (1853)
Symphony No 3 in C major “Sinfonie Militaire” (1848)
Philharmonisches Orchester Bremerhaven/Marc Niemann
rec. 2021, Sendesaal, Bremen, Germany
HÄNSSLER CLASSIC HC22016 [70]
Five years ago, I reviewed a CPO disc of two of Emilie Mayer’s piano trios, and declared them a winner. She is not to be confused with Amanda Maier, the nineteenth century Swedish composer.
Emilie was born in a small town in northern Germany, learnt the piano, as undoubtedly the majority of middle-class girls of that time did, but more unusually the organ as well, and she also began composing quite young. Undoubtedly the most important event in terms of her later career, was the death of her father when she was twenty-seven. This meant that she became independently wealthy, meaning she did not have to marry to survive. Now of course this doesn’t imply that she wouldn’t choose to marry, but for whatever reason, she did not. This freedom allowed her to travel and study, most importantly with Carl Loewe. She became successful enough to stage a concert of her own music in Berlin in 1850, and continued to do this for the next decade with critical acclaim, with the King of Prussia in attendance once. When her musical papers were sold after her death to the Prussian State Library, the compositions numbered almost a hundred, including eight symphonies. With the two symphonies here, six have now been recorded – the fourth is reviewed here.
Even in her lifetime, she was given the nickname “the female Beethoven” which is unfair on both parties. However, it is not difficult to see why: not only did she write symphonies, something very unusual for women in the nineteenth century, but also because her style, influenced by her teachers, is undoubtedly Beethovenian. One might also throw some sunny Schubert into the mix. However, just take these as an indication that her music is more Classically influenced than the composition years might suggest, because she definitely has a voice of her own.
The symphonies are presented out of order in terms of chronology – it is not explained why. The E major Sixth is the more dramatic, the second movement Marcia Funebre a very obvious reference to the Eroica. Her music is not suffused with the angst of Beethoven, but his influence is there in the use of the orchestra, and also in the rhythms. The Sixth is a big work, approaching forty minutes, but the time flies by – her inspiration does not wane, as it does in many works by unsung composers. As I said in my review of the trios, she has a wonderful gift for melody.
The premiere of her Third Symphony in 1848 marked Mayer’s public debut as an orchestral composer, and the audience would have certainly linked its title with the Europe-wide events of that year. It shows its influences much more obviously than the Sixth, and as a consequence, is somewhat less impressive. In this instance, it is not only Beethoven but also Haydn and his Military Symphony (No. 100). There is one occasion where the trilling flute seems lifted straight from the Pastoral Symphony. It makes for a less satisfactory, though still enjoyable, listen; clearly her lessons hadn’t fully been absorbed into her own voice, as they are in the Sixth. The military aspect comes across most strongly in the final movement, which features a very obviously martial march.
The Bremerhaven orchestra, which by the photograph on their website, appears to be about forty in number, does a good overall job, though there were a few instances where the string tone was perhaps not quite all one might wish. The audio quality is excellent, and the notes on the composer and music, running to four pages, are good and well translated.
Of the women composers of the nineteenth century whose music has managed to survive the prejudices of their era and indeed the next century – Clara Schumann, Fanny Mendelssohn, Louise Farrenc, Mélanie Bonis, Cécile Chaminade and Amanda Maier to pick the ones whose music I have some familiarity with - I feel that Emilie Mayer is up there with the best. But that is not the comparison that should be made, but instead, how good a composer is she in absolute terms, and the answer is very clear: a very good one.
David Barker
