In recent years, there has been a renewed interest in composer Ethel Smyth’s work, due to her defiant nature, talented composing skills, and fierce activism.
Since she was young, Smyth was labeled a “disruptor and rebel”. Born in Kent in 1858 in a period known for its strict morality, she constantly fought back against the rules and restrictions of her household. Her father, a major general in the Royal Artillery, strongly disapproved of her desire to study music – so she locked herself in her room and refused to leave it until he conceded. She was then allowed to study under Carl Reinecke and Heinrich Herzogenberg at the Leipzig Conservatory.
Ethel Smyth was one of the early-20th Century’s few female composers, an avid activist, and known for her fiery persona. She was, according to BBC Culture, “one of the early-20th Century’s most original and controversial voices in classical music and social politics”. She was set on writing “masculine” music and wearing manly flannels.
Dr. Leah Broad, a music historian, stated, “[Smyth] had some very strong political views that she liked to hold court about… She was a staunch conservative, and held a number of opinions that, while popular in her day, are less so now.”
“The obvious answer is her gender. In reviews of her music from the 1880s, 90s and early 1900s, at a time when she was building her career, there is almost always a comment about her gender,” Dr. Amy Zigler, assistant professor of music at Salem College, said.
Her music died following Smyth’s death towards the end of WWII. In recent years, however, there has been a renewed interest in her work and personality. In 2018, there have been performances of The March of the Women – a suffragette anthem to mark “the centenary of many women winning the right to vote”, according to BBC Culture – as well as a recording of her 1930 Grammy-award-winning opera The Prison.
And her most remarkable piece, the opera The Wreckers, was the opening piece of the prestigious Glyndebourne festival in May. The opera is further set to perform at this year’s Proms, alongside her other compositions.
In her last decades, Smyth lost her hearing and suffered tinnitus, so she turned from composer to writer, producing 10 mostly autobiographical writings. She died in Woking, Surrey, in 1944, at 86 years.
Link to article: https://s3.amazonaws.com/appforest_uf/f1658689938846x736027616324517400/Ethel%20Smyth_%20An%20extraordinary%20%27lost%27%20opera%20composer%20-%20BBC%20Culture.pdf
Since she was young, Smyth was labeled a “disruptor and rebel”. Born in Kent in 1858 in a period known for its strict morality, she constantly fought back against the rules and restrictions of her household. Her father, a major general in the Royal Artillery, strongly disapproved of her desire to study music – so she locked herself in her room and refused to leave it until he conceded. She was then allowed to study under Carl Reinecke and Heinrich Herzogenberg at the Leipzig Conservatory.
Ethel Smyth was one of the early-20th Century’s few female composers, an avid activist, and known for her fiery persona. She was, according to BBC Culture, “one of the early-20th Century’s most original and controversial voices in classical music and social politics”. She was set on writing “masculine” music and wearing manly flannels.
Dr. Leah Broad, a music historian, stated, “[Smyth] had some very strong political views that she liked to hold court about… She was a staunch conservative, and held a number of opinions that, while popular in her day, are less so now.”
“The obvious answer is her gender. In reviews of her music from the 1880s, 90s and early 1900s, at a time when she was building her career, there is almost always a comment about her gender,” Dr. Amy Zigler, assistant professor of music at Salem College, said.
Her music died following Smyth’s death towards the end of WWII. In recent years, however, there has been a renewed interest in her work and personality. In 2018, there have been performances of The March of the Women – a suffragette anthem to mark “the centenary of many women winning the right to vote”, according to BBC Culture – as well as a recording of her 1930 Grammy-award-winning opera The Prison.
And her most remarkable piece, the opera The Wreckers, was the opening piece of the prestigious Glyndebourne festival in May. The opera is further set to perform at this year’s Proms, alongside her other compositions.
In her last decades, Smyth lost her hearing and suffered tinnitus, so she turned from composer to writer, producing 10 mostly autobiographical writings. She died in Woking, Surrey, in 1944, at 86 years.
Link to article: https://s3.amazonaws.com/appforest_uf/f1658689938846x736027616324517400/Ethel%20Smyth_%20An%20extraordinary%20%27lost%27%20opera%20composer%20-%20BBC%20Culture.pdf
