Emilie Luise Friderica Mayer (1812-1883) was a German composer in the Romantic style, producing some eight symphonies and at least fifteen concert overtures, plus numerous chamber works and lieder. She was born on the 14th May 1812 in Friedland, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Germany, the third child and eldest daughter of a well-to-do pharmacist, Johann August Friedrich Mayer and Henrietta Carolina. She received musical education at an early age, though in her first years as a piano student she apparently had an eating disorder, which caused many problems for her composing. On the 28th August 1840 Mayer's father fatally shot himself, twenty-six years to the day after he had buried his wife. In 1841 she moved to the regional capital city of Stettin (now Szczecin, Poland), and sought to study composition with Carl Loewe, a central figure of the musical life of the city. In 1847, after the premiere of her first two symphonies (C minor and E minor) by the Stettin Instrumental Society, she moved to Berlin to continue her compositional studies. Once in Berlin, she studied fugue and double counterpoint with Adolph Bernhard Marx, and instrumentation with Wilhelm Wieprecht. She began publishing her works (such as lieder and other vocal works, opp 5-7, in 1848) and performing in private concerts. Then, on the 21st April 1850, Wieprecht led his "Euterpe" orchestra in a concert at the Royal Theatre, exclusively presenting compositions by Mayer. With critical and popular acclaim, she continued composing works for public performance. She travelled to attend performances of her works, including to Cologne, Munich, Lyon, Brussels, and Vienna. Mayer died on the 10th April 1883 in Berlin.