About the Composer:

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.” 1

Emilie Mayer’s style is firmly rooted in the Classical tradition, especially in her use of treble-dominated textures, the tradi- tional 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.

About this Edition:

The manuscript for this sonata seems to be a performance copy. It is very legible, and includes a separate cello part as well as the piano score. In the cello part, all slurs—which very often in this time period must be considered phrase markings rather than bowings—are left intact, and editorial suggestions printed as dotted slurs. Likewise, all bowings and fingerings are editorial.

In general, Mayer was very specific about her articulations. Where I have added dotted slurs, I have occasionally added dots or dashes to preserve the character of the line. The exceptions are:

Movement I m. 82, 83: C# dot in score; m. 85: G# dot in score; m. 123: D# dot in score; m. 196: A dot in score. Movement II m. 48: C# dot in score Movement III mm. 69, 73: A dot in score Movement IV m 43: F# dot in score Additional Notes: Movement I m. 20: in the piano score, extra notes a third lower appear in the cello part. The ones chosen for this edition are the ones found in the separate cello part. m193-196: in the piano score, the bottom octave of some of the notes is missing, but this is because her manuscript paper did not allow enough space for these notes to be written.

About the Editor

Marie-Aline Cadieux received her Master of Music Degree and also her Graduate Certificate in Performance from North- western University. She earned her Doctor of Musical Arts at Ohio State University. She has served as Principal Cellist of the Illinois Symphony and Illinois Chamber Orchestra, performed extensively with the Kirkland Trio, and presently per- forms with the Del’a Art Trio, the Schaeffer Trio, the Sartori Chamber Music Ensemble, and in Duo Terlano. She presently teaches at Kutztown University in Pennsylvania.

1 Sichardt, Martina. “Emilie Mayer (1821-1883), Auf den Spuren einer vergessenen Komponistin,” in Komponistinned in Berlin, ed. Bettina Brand, Martina Helmig, Barbara Kauser, Birgit Salomon, and Adje Westerkamp (Berlin: Foto Oeberg, 1987), 150-178.