Cello Sonata in D major, Op. 47
by Emilie Mayer
- Instrumentation
- Cello, Piano
- Composed
- 1883
- Publisher
- G. Henle Verlag
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About this piece
Mayer's D major sonata is the last of her twelve works for cello and piano and the culmination of her mature style; she was corresponding with Bote & Bock about printing it (with a dedication to Freiherr von Seckendorff) only weeks before her death in April 1883, and it was probably first performed in Berlin a month earlier. A slow introduction leads to an Allegro con spirito, followed by a robust Scherzo, an Adagio that opens with a chordal piano introduction before a lyrical cello melody, and a playful, ornamented finale with a recitative near its end. Henle's 2026 Urtext (ed. Seonhwa Lee) is the first critical edition; Furore also publishes a reprint of the 1883 first edition.
Technical overview
Four movements; the cello part is lyrical and closely interwoven with a figuratively animated, structurally important piano part with challenging harmonies. The finale calls for fast, figurative playing and includes a recitative (mm. 143-156). Henle's cello part carries fingering and bowing by Seonhwa Lee and uses fold-out pages for page turns.