Emilie Mayer Symphony No. 4

[Alan Howe]

Many, many thanks for the upload of Mayer's Symphony No.4.

[Mark Thomas]

I'll second that. Very interesting.

[jerfilm]

Me, too.  Thanks so much.

Jerry

[DennisS]

I would like to say thank you as well.

cheers

[Mark Thomas]

This is a powerful and worthwhile piece of work. I'm not sure if it's the orchestration (a really convincing piece of work) but this music really is much more than the simple "Beethovenian" tag so often applied to Mayer's oeuvre. Of course, one can hear his influence, but it is much less omnipresent that in the music of Ries, say. It whets one's appetite for Mayer's Piano Concerto and Faust Overture which had been played by the same performers in earlier concerts celebrating her 200th birthday (although not in this one, unfortunately). Thanks again, Mathias.

[Mark Thomas]

I've just been reminding myself of Mayer's Fifth Symphony in the recording by the Kammersymphonie Berlin under Jürgen Bruns. It's an entirely subjective view, I accept, but to my ears this work is considerably more Beethovenian than the re-orchestrated Fourth and, although still a powerful piece of writing, makes less of an impact. Perhaps the Fourth benefits more than I had thought at first from Malzew's subtly beefed-up orchestration? The performance which the Fifth gets also seems a tad less forceful and committed than the Fourth receives. Still, on the basis of these two works it seems that Mayer was as dab a hand at writing muscular (I almost wrote "virile") music as Lousie Farrenc and I'd like to hear a more of it. There's quite a lot: Eight symphonies, an opera, a Piano Concerto, fifteen overtures, two string quintets, seven string quartets, two piano quartets, eleven piano trios, thirteen cello sonatas, nine violin sonatas and three piano sonatas.

[Alan Howe]

Mayer's 4th is clearly a fine symphony. It's actually considerably more romantic in feeling than Beethoven (as befits a work written around 1850) - I think one can hear this in the second subject of the opening movement and in the way the slow movement is developed. Nevertheless, it's evident that her starting-point at least is Beethoven in muscular mode, which places her among such composers of symphonies as Czerny, Ries (although she sounds later than him), Nicolai, Netzer, Onslow, etc. - and, of course, Louise Farrenc (who, it seems to me, is Mayer's only real rival among female symphonists of the nineteenth century).

Anyway, marvellous stuff - and very convincing orchestration too.

[britishcomposer]

For those of you who understand German I have uploaded the interval talk. I have modified the post where you can now find the link.

[britishcomposer]

this music really is much more than the simple "Beethovenian" tag so often applied to Mayer's oeuvre.

Deutschlandradio Kultur is broadcasting a half-hour feature on Emilie Mayer Sunday evening, 10 pm (22 Uhr):

Musikfeuilleton
Mehr als ein "weiblicher Beethoven"
Die Komponistin Emilie Mayer
Von Dagmar Penzlin

http://www.dradio.de/dkultur/vorschau/20121111/

[Richard Moss]

Many thanks for the Mayer.  I'm not familiar with her work at all, so looking forward to hearing her for the first time.

Just a minor query, if any one can clarify for me.  The upload says Symphony No. 4 but also gives the key as B min.  However, a quick web browse suggests these two 'facts'do not belong together

http://oboeclassics.com ('Women of Note' Catalogue) gives No. 4 as E (maj?), whereas WIKI isn't clear at all.  IMSLP gives Sym No. 6 as B min.

Any help, anyone?

Tks

Richard

[JimL]

Best way to solve that problem?  Record the work in question.  If it sounds like its in a major key it's probably in E.  If it doesn't it's probably in B minor.  If you need to resolve it any further, find a work in your database whose key you know is B minor or E Major and compare them.

[Richard Moss]

Jim,

Tks for the suggestion - I'm not sure I'm a good enough listener to tell the difference but it's a great idea and I'll enjoy trying.  I'll possibly tell a major from a minor key but whether I could tell which is which (say between B minor and A minor) is an entirely different matter!

Best wishes

Richard

[rosflute]

To clarify:
Emilie Mayer described her B minor symphony as no.4 which was written in 1851.

Symphony no. 1 - C min - 1847
Symphony no. 2 - Emin - 1847
Symphony no. 3 - "The Military" - c.1851
Piano Concerto - c.1851
Symphony no. 4 - B min - 1851
Symphony no. 5 - D major - 1852
Symphony no 6 - E major - 1853 (extract on soundcloud.com )
Symphony no. 7 - F min - 1855/56
Symphony no. 8 - F major - 1856/57
Faust Overture - 1880

[petershott@btinternet.com]

I'm afraid I'm getting lost in this!

It appears a simple enough question (but I suspect isn't!): which is the symphony recorded by Kammersymphonie Berlin / Jurgen Bruns on Gaido (CD21015) which the CD itself refers to as "No. 5 in F minor"?

Have I missed out on something here? Hopefully someone can sort me out!

[rosflute]

I believe that the mistake in numbering the symphony will have occurred because the Staatsbibliothek catalogue of Mayer's music begins with the symphonies and gives the shelfmark  Mayer E.5M to the F-minor symphony. This may have led the incautious to suppose that it is symphony no.5