Ethel Smyth (1858 - 1944) England
- andreachamizoalber
- Aug 31, 2025
- 1 min read
English composer and member of the women's suffrage movement. Her compositions include songs, piano works, chamber music, orchestral and choral works, and operas. We begin with her Concerto for Violin, Horn, and Orchestra.
After a bitter battle with her father over her plans to dedicate her life to music, Smyth was allowed to continue her education at the Leipzig Conservatory, where she studied with Carl Reinecke. However, she left after a year, disillusioned with the poor standard of teaching, and continued her studies privately.
Here is her Violin Sonata, Op. 7, with a link to download the score.
Smyth's extensive work includes the previously presented Concerto for Violin, Horn and Orchestra, a Mass in D, as well as his opera The Wreckers, which is considered by some critics to be the most important English opera composed between Purcell and Britten.
Here's the overture to The Wreckers, as well as the link to download the score.
Smyth tended to be marginalized as a "woman composer," as if her work couldn't be accepted as mainstream. Her works were criticized for not being on par with her male contemporaries. In 1910, Smyth joined the Women's Social and Political Union, and her Women's March, which I share below (the piece starts at 3:50), became the anthem of the suffrage movement.
The link to download the score contains only arrangements for viola and piano.
Finally, I include her String Quartet in E minor with a link to download the score.
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