[4] Georg was inconsolable, but remarried several years later to Princess Feodora of Hohenlohe-Langenburg in order to provide a mother for his remaining young children.

Her father was a great patron of German composer and pianist Johannes Brahms, who worked as a music teacher in Meiningen for various pupils, including Marie Elisabeth, whom he gave piano lessons to.

[7] In addition to Brahms, Marie Elisabeth was in close contact with other famous musicians, such as Richard Strauss, Franz Mannstädt, and Hans von Bülow.

Marie Elisabeth was a student of the Conservatorium; she and Prince Alexander of Hesse, another royal pupil of Brahms, celebrated the birthday of musician Joachim Raff in Frankfurt in 1886.

[8] At the 1878 wedding of her elder brother Bernhard to Princess Charlotte of Prussia, eldest daughter of German Crown Prince Frederick William, Marie Elisabeth composed a piece of music specially meant for the occasion entitled torch dance.