She was called the “female Beethoven,” but Emilie Mayer was far more than a mere shadow of her idol. In the Berlin salons of the 19th century, she broke a taboo by daring to appear at social events without a hat. Her *Faust* Overture brims with dramatic power. Almost like a gender swap, this is contrasted by Beethoven’s light-hearted Fourth Symphony, which Robert Schumann charmingly described as “a slender Greek maiden between two Nordic giants.” In between is Arnold Schoenberg’s Chamber Symphony, Op. 9b. At its premiere in 1907, there was a full-blown scandal involving boos and physical altercations—today, the work is regarded as a visionary milestone that courageously transcended the boundaries of tonality.