Sonata in E Minor - Cello and Piano

Sonata in E minor

"Emilie Mayer was born in 1821 in Friedland, Mecklenburg.... 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 whose tutelage she produced songs, chamber music, overtures and symphonies. [Later on,] she studied fugue and counterpoint with Adolf Bernhard Marx and orchestration with Wilhelm Wieprecht.

"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." -- Marie-Aline Cadieux