A volume from Lipsius' popular series of brief composer biographies, containing entries for Weber, Schubert, Mendelssohn, Schumann, Chopin, Liszt, and Wagner. Lipsius' portraits often include her personal impressions, as she was acquainted with many of the leading composers of her time.

Ida Marie Lipsius, who wrote under the psuedonym La Mara, was an accomplished musicologist whose contributions to the field have been undervalued. She was the first musicologist to methodically research the identity of Beethoven's "Immortal Beloved" and produced an edition of Liszt correspondence.