Liza Lehmann

Lehmann "grew up in an intellectual and artistic atmosphere"[2] and lived in Germany, France and Italy in her early years.

[7] After her performing career ended in 1894, Lehmann concentrated on composing music for the rest of her life.

[1] She completed one of her best known works two years later, in 1896, the song cycle for four voices and piano titled In a Persian Garden, settings of selected quatrains from Edward FitzGerald's version of the Rubāiyāt of Omar Khayyām.

Many of her songs are for children, ranging from the sweet and trivial "There are fairies at the bottom of our garden" to the melodically and harmonically passionate "Stars" in The Daisy-Chain.

[10] In 1904 she was commissioned by Frank Curzon to compose the score for the Edwardian musical comedy Sergeant Brue, with a libretto by Owen Hall and lyrics by James Hickory Wood.

The piece was a success in London and New York, but Lehmann was unhappy that Curzon added other composers' music to her score.

Although she refused to write any further musicals, Lehmann composed the score for a comic opera adaptation of The Vicar of Wakefield in 1906, with a libretto by Laurence Housman.

[1][6] Lehmann, Ethel Smyth and Maude Valérie White were England's foremost female composers of songs at the beginning of the 20th century.