Piano Quartet in E-flat major

Live performance from February 20, 2023 - St. Rita Catholic Church in Dallas, TX A production of Mount Vernon Music Evan Mitchell, piano Mark Miller, violin Ute Miller, viola Laura Ospina, cello Allegro con moto Scherzo (11:14) Un poco adagio (18:15) Allegro - Finale (26:52) Though Emilie Mayer’s music was performed throughout Europe during her lifetime, attaining her fame and recognition, after her death her legacy fell victim to prevailing nineteenth century attitudes, which assumed creative genius to be an essentially male attribute. Nearly a century and half later, her music is only now experiencing the beginnings of a revival. Her mother died when Emilie was just two, and she was raised by her father, a well-to-do pharmacist in Friedland, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern (Prussia). When Emilie was 28, still single and already experienced as a performer and composer, her father took his own life, leaving her a sizable inheritance. Emilie moved to the regional capital of Stettin (now the Polish city of Szczecin), studying there for six years before moving to Berlin. Her supporters included the Queen of Prussia, and she became the co-director of the Berlin Opera. But while her male counterparts received payment when their works were published, Mayer had to bear the costs of publication herself. Notes by Mark Miller