Lehmann, Liza |
| OPERA SINGER, COMPOSER (ENGLAND) |
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BORN 11 Jul 1862, London - DIED 19 Sep 1918, Pinner, Middlesex BIRTH NAME Lehmann, Elisabetha Nina Mary Frederica GRAVE LOCATION London: Highgate Cemetery East, Swain's Lane, Highgate |
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Liza Lehmann was the daughter of the German painter Frederick Lehmann (1819-1905). Her mother Amelia Chambers was a music teacher and a composer. In her youth Liza lived in Germany, France and Italy. Alberto Randegger and Jenny Lind were her voice teachers and Hamish MacCunn taught her composition in London. On 23 November 1885 she debuted at St James's Hall and she worked as a concert singer in England for the next nine years. She was encouraged by Joseph Joachim and Clara Schumann and she visited Clara Schumann for three weeks in Frankfurt am Main to study the songs of Robert Schumann. On 14 July 1894 she gave her final concert at St James's Hall before she retired from the stage to marry the composer and illustrator Herbert Bedford (1867-1945). After her marriage she worked as a composer and her work was performed widely during her life. In 1896 she completed a series of songs titled "In a Persian Garden". "In Memoriam" (1899) was based on a poem by Tennyson. In 1904 Frank Curzon asked her to compose the music for the comedy "Sergeant Blue" but she was disappointed that Curzon added music from other composers to her score. She wrote the music for the comic opera "Vicar of Wakefield" in 1906. She also set poems by Christina Rossetti and Shelley to music. She had two children with Bedford. Their son Rudolf died during the First World War in 1918 and Leslie Herbert Bedford (1900-1989) was an inventor. In 1910 she toured in the USA and accompanied her own songs in recitals. She became the first president of the Society of Women Musicians in 1911 and from 1913 she taught at the Guildhall School of Music. In 1918 she wrote her memoirs and she died shortly after she finished them. She was buried in the grave of her father and her son Rudolf at Highgate Cemetery East. The grave was decorated with a sculpture of an angel by the young artist Muriel Ida Perrrin (1889-1919), who died in the flue epidemic of 1919. Related persons • was pupil of Lind, Jenny • visited Schumann, Clara |
| Images |
 The grave of Liza Lehmann at Highgate Cemetery East, London. Picture by Androom (16 Apr 2024) |
Sources • Liza Lehmann - Wikipedia (EN) • https://highgatecemetery.org/uploads/2019-08_Newsletter_web.pdf |
