Rita Strohl (born Aimée Marie Marguerite Mercédès Larousse La Villette) (8 July 1865 – 27 March 1941) was a French composer and pianist.

Musical career

Born in

Lorient Lorient (; ) is a town (''Communes of France, commune'') and Port, seaport in the Morbihan Departments of France, department of Brittany (administrative region), Brittany in western France. History Prehistory and classical antiquity Beginn ...

(

Morbihan The Morbihan ( , ; ) is a departments of France, department in the administrative region of Brittany (administrative region), Brittany, situated in the northwest of France. It is named after the Gulf of Morbihan, Morbihan (''small sea'' in Breton ...

), Rita Strohl was a gifted student and entered the Paris Conservatory at the age of 13, where she studied piano and solfège. She studied composition and voice privately. She was also a member of the Société des auteurs, compositeurs et éditeurs de musique. In 1884, she started publishing her chamber music trios, and the following year her ''Messe pour six voix, orchestre, et orgue résonne''. She is the author of several vocal, symphonic and chamber music pieces. She was endorsed by

Camille Saint-Saëns Charles-Camille Saint-Saëns (, , 9October 183516 December 1921) was a French composer, organist, conductor and pianist of the Romantic music, Romantic era. His best-known works include Introduction and Rondo Capriccioso (1863), the Piano ...

, Vincent d’Indy and

Gabriel Fauré Gabriel Urbain Fauré (12 May 1845 – 4 November 1924) was a French composer, organist, pianist and teacher. He was one of the foremost French composers of his generation, and his musical style influenced many 20th-century composers. ...

. Jane Bathori sang her ''Chansons de Bilitis'', and

Pablo Casals Pau Casals i Defilló (Catalan: ; 29 December 187622 October 1973), known in English as Pablo Casals,Pierre Louÿs and Henri Duparc, her music has gained renewed interest in recent years.

Personal life

Rita Strohl was the daughter of the painter Élodie La Villette (1842–1917) and Jules La Rousse La Villette. She is also the niece of the painter Caroline Espinet. In 1888, she married the sub lieutenant Émile Strohl (1863-1900) and took his name, giving birth to four children. After the death of Strohl, she married the master glassmaker (pseudonym René Billa), a man almost 20 years her junior, in 1903. She created the short-lived La Grange Theatre in Bièvres, Essonne in 1912 with her second husband and with the financial support of

Odilon Redon Odilon Redon (born Bertrand Redon; ; 20 April 18406 July 1916) was a French Symbolist painting, Symbolist draftsman, printmaker, and painter. Early in his career, both before and after fighting in the Franco-Prussian War, Redon worked almost exc ...

, Gustave Fayet and other subscribers. It closed at the beginning of

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

. There, she performed lyrical works filled with mysticism and symbolism. She divorced her second husband in 1930, and moved to Provence to live with her daughter and grandson.

Works

* ''Forêt de Brocéliande'' (1887) * ''Titus et Bérénice. Sonate dramatique'' for cello and piano (premiered 1892) * ''Cloche de Noel'' (1895) * ''Solitude'' (Reverie) (1897) * ''Madeleine'' (1897) * ''In coelo et in terra'', sonnet, words by Charles Sinoir (published 1897) * ''Bilitis'', 12 songs on the poems by Pierre Louÿs, premiered by Jane Bathori in 1898 * ''Thème et variations'', Op. 40 (1900) * ''Symphonie de la forêt'' (1901) * ''Dix Poésies mises en musique'' (1901) * ''Symphonie de la mer'' (1902) * ''Musique sur l'eau'' (1903) * ''Trois Préludes pour orchestre'', first performed at the Concerts Lamoureux in 1904 * ''Le Suprême Puruscha'', a mystic song-cycle in seven parts (1908) *''La Femme pécheresse'', drama lyrique (1913) *''Grande Fantaisie-quintette''

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Strohl, Rita 1865 births 1941 deaths French classical composers French women classical composers Musicians from Lorient