Liza Lehmann

Liza Lehmann's singing debut came in November 1885 and she received encouragement from Clara Schumann. Nine years later, following her marriage to the composer and illustrator Herbert Bedford, she turned to composing instead of performing and became known as a writer of songs and a Professor of singing at the Guildhall School of Music. BBC New Generation Thinker Naomi Paxton re-assesses the long-overlooked life and music of Liza Lehmann (1862-1918), the first president of the Society of Women Musicians in 1911 and 1912.

Naomi talks to Liza Lehmann's great granddaughter, the opera singer Charmian Bedford, who sings two of her songs, recorded especially for the programme accompanied by Edward Picton-Turbervill. We also hear from composer Luke Whitlock, who is researching her career and tracking down scores for her unrecorded compositions.

Presenter: Naomi Paxton
Producer: Simon Funnell

The music you will hear are settings of a 1916 Constance Morgan poem Evensong, “O Moon of My Delight” from “In a Persian Garden” arranged for violin and piano and performed by Manon Galy (violin) and Anne de Fornel (piano), and a setting of Christina Rosetti's poem When I am Dead, my Dearest.