Dame Ethel Smyth-Composer, Conductor, Author, Suffragette

Dame Ethel Smyth (1858-1944) was born in Sidcup, Kent, England to a prosperous military family.  During her lifetime she knew many musical and literary luminaries including Brahms, Clara Schumann, Tchaikovsky, Grieg, Bruno Walter, Edith Somerville and Virginia Woolf. She performed for Queen Victoria and wrote a composition entitled “March of the Women” which became the anthem of the women’s suffrage movement in England.  Largely forgotten for many years, the last decade has seen an increase in interest in her works with recording projects, performances and even a Grammy award for best Classical Vocal Solo in 2020 for her final work “The Prison.”

When encountering her music for the first time I’m struck first by the influence of Brahms-she did in fact attend the Leipzig Conservatory of Music though never finished her studies there.  Long, Romantic musical phrases and large dynamic swings characterize her music, but there is even more sense of drama at play in her writing for voices, reminiscent of Verdi at times and yet unique in her musical expression.  There is a power in her musical writing, an assertiveness that many critics couldn’t stomach coming from a woman composer during the 19th century.  I recommend the Kyrie from her Mass in D Major with a beautiful flute interlude and thrilling writing for the chorus to experience some of her best writing. 

In a note to her mother Ethel said “even if I were to fall desperately in love with Brahms and he were to propose to me, I should say no!”  She felt deeply the restrictions on women in her place in society, and she was imprisoned for taking a stand in the suffrage movement, conducting her own music from behind bars with a toothbrush.  She did have champions of her music during her lifetime, but she took two years off from writing music entirely to devote herself to the suffrage movement, remaining frustrated with the male-dominated world of music and feeling called to activism for women to gain political influence that would enable them to enjoy the same opportunities as men. 

Though she wrote in her autobiography that she had “never yet succeeded in becoming even a tiny wheel in the English music machine” Dame Ethel Smyth, composer, conductor, author and suffragette is gaining recognition for her music today. Dublin City University will present an Ethel Smyth Symposium on the 12-13th of July, 2024. 

Thank you for your interest in the Voice of Ethel Smyth and please visit ethelsmyth.org for a comprehensive list of her works and recent scholarship. If you are interested in supporting the dissemination of more works by women composers today please consider supporting The Penelope Project, dedicated to bringing music by women to the people through the media of film and celebrating the progress of women while inspiring more progress for the future. Learn more at Penelope.