Rita Strohl - Solitude (for Violin or Cello & Piano, tr. for Horn)

Rita Strohl (née La Villette) was born in 1865 in Brittany. Her talent got her into the Paris Conservatoire aged only 13, where she overlapped with her older contemporary Mel Bonis. Her early works (including this piece, from 1897) were rooted in Romanticism, but she soon broadened her horizons. In 1898 (three years before Debussy) she set 12 of Pierre Louÿs' Chansons de Bilitis. In 1900 her first husband died, leaving her with 3 young children. Later she wrote large-scale symphonies (one for 2 orchestras) grounded in Nature, and explored mysticism, writing 7 huge works in 3 cycles based on Christianity, Hinduism and the Celts. Although her early works were heard several times in public, most of her later music is still in manuscript and is only now being edited and prepared for performance. See video biography at • Rita Strohl - Composit... . This arrangement is available free on IMSLP.org.