Kalitha Dorothy Fox

Kalitha Dorothy Fox (1894 – 11 August 1934) was an English composer.^[1][2] She was born in London to wealthy parents. Her mother died in 1905, and a year later, aged 11, she composed the solo piano piece Affliction – on the death of my mother, which was published by Augener. The arrangement - credited to 'L.L' - may have been by Liza Lehmann.^[3]

A set of her mature compositions was published by Maurice Senart in the 1920s and 1930s, and there were occasional performances - her Suite for String Orchestra was heard in London in 1925, her substantial Piano Trio (lasting 40 minutes) was performed at a Society of Women Musicians concert at 74 Grosvenor Street, London on 10 July 1926,^[4] and her Viola Sonata was broadcast from Bournemouth on 21 November 1927.^[5] Another trio, for flute, viola and piano, was performed at Grosvenor Street on 9 July, 1932.^[6] There are modern recordings of her Chant Élégiaque, op. 6 for cello and piano, and of her Viola Sonata, op, 7.^[7][8]

Fox suffered from ill-health and a nervous disposition throughout her life.^[4] She had a London address in Hyde Park Square, spent some time in France, and from the mid-1920s until her death lived at Windsor House, Amersham with her friend, the novelist Christabel Lowndes-Yates (1880-1966).^[4] A concert of her music was given in London about a month before her death.^[9]

She committed suicide at the age of 40 at the White Hart Hotel in Windsor, having left the house at Amersham apparently upset by the noise of road drilling outside.^[10] A number of half-finished manuscripts were found in her luggage. The death and inquest received considerable attention in the newspapers.^[9][11] Her estate was valued at £13,635.^[12] A Phantasy Quartet was performed as a tribute a year after her death.^[13][14]