Ethel Smyth (1858-1944)

Accounts of Dame Ethel Smyth cast her as a doughty figure, unafraid to flout convention. Born into an upper class Victorian family, the fact that Smyth wanted a professional career in music is exceptional in itself. Two major choral works, several orchestral works, six operas and a significant body of chamber music, attest to her seriousness of purpose as a composer. However, the sheer gusto and number of other activities the ebullient Smyth pursued have tended to obscure her artistic reception. A keen traveller, she was a successful author, producing 9 largely autobiographical books. A life-long champion of women's rights, among the causes she supported was Mrs. Pankhurst's 'right to vote' campaign. Her competitive nature found a perfect partner in sport; she was often to be found riding to hounds, playing tennis matches or striding over the golf course. As one rather bemused contemporary musician remarked when he met her, she is 'the most remarkable and original woman composer in the history of music'.

Donald Macleod begins his survey with Dame Ethel's struggles to establish herself as a musician. She fought with her father, a Major-General in the British army, for seven years to study music in Germany. Once there, she was recognised as a composer for the first time, mixed with influential musical circles and came into contact with Brahms, whose influence permeates her early songs and chamber music.

Donald Macleod focuses on Ethel Smyth's struggles to establish herself as a musician.

Accounts of Dame Ethel Smyth cast her as a doughty figure, unafraid to flout convention. Born into an upper class Victorian family, the fact that Smyth wanted a professional career in music is exceptional in itself. Two major choral works, several orchestral works, six operas and a significant body of chamber music, attest to her seriousness of purpose as a composer. However, the sheer gusto and number of other activities the ebullient Smyth pursued have tended to obscure her artistic reception. A keen traveller, she was a successful author, producing 9 largely autobiographical books. A life-long champion of women's rights, among the causes she supported was Mrs. Pankhurst's 'right to vote' campaign. Her competitive nature found a perfect partner in sport; she was often to be found riding to hounds, playing tennis matches or striding over the golf course. As one rather bemused contemporary musician remarked when he met her, she is 'the most remarkable and original woman composer in the history of music'.

Today, a chance meeting with the American writer and philosopher Henry Brewster leads to the break up of Smyth's close relationship with Brewster's sister-in-law, Lisl von Herzogenberg. Meanwhile, encouraged by Tchaikovsky, Smyth begins to work on larger scale works, and finds success on the concert platform with her Serenade in D.

Donald Macleod considers the impact of Ethel Smyth's earliest romantic entanglements.

Accounts of Dame Ethel Smyth cast her as a doughty figure, unafraid to flout convention. Born into an upper class Victorian family, the fact that Smyth wanted a professional career in music is exceptional in itself. Two major choral works, several orchestral works, six operas and a significant body of chamber music, attest to her seriousness of purpose as a composer. However, the sheer gusto and number of other activities the ebullient Smyth pursued have tended to obscure her artistic reception. A keen traveller, she was a successful author, producing nine largely autobiographical books. A life-long champion of women's rights, among the causes she supported was Mrs. Pankhurst's 'right to vote' campaign. Her competitive nature found a perfect partner in sport; she was often to be found riding to hounds, playing tennis matches or striding over the golf course. As one rather bemused contemporary musician remarked when he met her, she is 'the most remarkable and original woman composer in the history of music'.

Donald Macleod examines the significance of two of Ethel Smyth's most important relationships, with American writer and philosopher Henry Brewster, who wrote several librettos for her operas, and Empress Eug耀nie, the exiled widow of Napoleon III, who helped launch the Mass in D and her Four Songs for Voice and Chamber Ensemble.

Donald Macleod on Smyth's relationships with writer Henry Brewster and Empress Eugenie.

Accounts of Dame Ethel Smyth cast her as a doughty figure, unafraid to flout convention. Born into an upper class Victorian family, the fact that Smyth wanted a professional career in music is exceptional in itself. Two major choral works, several orchestral works, six operas and a significant body of chamber music, attest to her seriousness of purpose as a composer. However, the sheer gusto and number of other activities the ebullient Smyth pursued have tended to obscure her artistic reception. A keen traveller, she was a successful author, producing nine largely autobiographical books. A life-long champion of women's rights, among the causes she supported was Mrs. Pankhurst's 'right to vote' campaign. Her competitive nature found a perfect partner in sport; she was often to be found riding to hounds, playing tennis matches or striding over the golf course. As one rather bemused contemporary musician remarked when he met her, she is 'the most remarkable and original woman composer in the history of music'.

Donald Macleod charts Ethel Smyth's involvement in women's suffrage. Inspired by meeting Emmeline Pankhurst, head of the Women's Social and Political Union, Smyth decided to take two years off her musical career to help support the fight for women's rights. Her activism famously led to her imprisonment for throwing stones through a suffrage opponent's window. In 1912, having resumed her music career, she began work on what's probably her most feminist influenced work, the comic opera, the Boatswain's Mate.

Donald Macleod focuses on Ethel Smyth's association with the suffragettes.

Accounts of Dame Ethel Smyth cast her as a doughty figure, unafraid to flout convention. Born into an upper class Victorian family, the fact that Smyth wanted a professional career in music is exceptional in itself. Two major choral works, several orchestral works, six operas and a significant body of chamber music, attest to her seriousness of purpose as a composer. However, the sheer gusto and number of other activities the ebullient Smyth pursued have tended to obscure her artistic reception. A keen traveller, she was a successful author, producing nine largely autobiographical books. A life-long champion of women's rights, among the causes she supported was Mrs. Pankhurst's 'right to vote' campaign. Her competitive nature found a perfect partner in sport; she was often to be found riding to hounds, playing tennis matches or striding over the golf course. As one rather bemused contemporary musician remarked when he met her, she is 'the most remarkable and original woman composer in the history of music'.

Today, Donald Macleod explores Ethel Smyth's career following her resumption of music in 1912. By this time Smyth's hearing was failing, yet despite this obstacle, an originality shines through the Concerto for Violin, Horn and Orchestra. She also had the joy of seeing many more performances of her operas in Germany and in the UK.

Donald Macleod explores Ethel Smyth's career after her resumption of music in 1912.