Emilie Mayer's Notturno for Violin and Piano in d minor dates from 1883, the year of her death, and is her last known work. She dedicated it to the famous violinist Joseph Joachim. The beautiful Notturno is no virtuoso showcase in the sense that it does not engage in a series of pyrotechnic passages designed to show off the ability of the performer. Instead, it is a peaceful and flowing series of melodies suitable for a night piece.
Emilie Mayer (1812-1883) was born in the German town of Friedland. Although she received piano and organ lessons as a child, she did not pursue a musical career as her widowed father needed her to help keep house for him. It was only upon his death at the age of 28 that she pursued formal studies moving to the city of Stettin (since 1945 Szczecin in Poland) where she took composition lessons from Carl Loewe, the City Music Director. Loewe considered her extraordinarily talented and as a result she worked extremely hard, dedicating herself to composition. She was a fairly prolific composer, especially in view of the fact that she started to compose rather late. Among her many works number eight symphonies, six piano trios, two piano quartets, seven string quartets, two string quintets, seven violin sonatas, and twelve cello sonatas.