The Lonely Rose, 1906. Margaret Ruthven Lang, 1867-1972. Holograph in pen. A. P. Schmidt Collection, box 147, folder 28. Music Division, Library of Congress

In 1906, Lang wrote The Lonely Rose, op. 43, for Boston's Thursday Morning Musical Club, the women's organization that had commissioned Amy Beach's cantata The Sea-Fairies, op. 59, two years earlier. It is a lengthy setting for women's voices and piano with a wide-ranging soprano solo.

The voice parts are marked meticulously with frequent crescendo and diminuendo marks, often two per bar in several successive measures. The piano part also contains highly detailed pedal markings and even fingerings for some difficult passages. Lang's father was a student of Franz Liszt, so her piano accompaniments may contain her father's editorial suggestions that reflect Liszt's style.