Dame Ethel Smyth

Mary Kaddis

“I feel I must fight for [my music] because I want women to turn their minds to big and difficult jobs, not just to go on

hugging the shore, afraid to put out to sea.” – Ethel Smyth

Ethel Smyth was an accomplished English composer and an advocate for women’s rights. She was born into a wealthy family in 1858, in London, England. Despite her father’s wishes, she pursued her musical career at Leipzig Conservatory for a year, then leaving to study privately under Heinrich von Herzogenberg. Although very successful, Smyth was often harshly criticized for being a “female composer” and that her work could not be compared to her male counterparts. Some of her most famous compositions include Concerto for Violin, Horn, and Orchestra, the Mass in D, and “The Wreckers”. She died in May 1944 at age 86. 

Smyth used her music as a way to advocate for women’s rights, especially through the suffrage movement. In 1910, she composed “The March of the Women” and it became the official anthem for the Women’s Social and Political Union. The words and music were printed on small pamphlets and widely distributed during rallies or gatherings. She also wrote two operas, “The Wreckers” and later on “Der Wald”. Most famously, “Der Wald” became the first opera written by a female to be performed at New York’s Metropolitan Opera. The second opera to be written by a woman was not performed at the Met until 2016. Evidently, Smyth was not hesitant to conform to rules or expectations of her time. In March of 1912, she was among many feminists arrested for breaking the window of a colonial secretary who opposed women’s voting rights by throwing stones. She was also openly lesbian and admitted to her male partner she was not as interested in him as she was women. Later in her life she fell in love with famous writer Virginia Woolf. 

While acknowledging Smyth’s great achievements in diversifying the music industry, it is necessary she is not idealized. Despite having progressive ideas about gender equality, she made no efforts to change her problematic views about race and white English superiority, which aligned with a majority of the population during this time period. She was also extremely self centered; Smyth bashed many critics with sexist ideas while undermining her own colleagues accomplishments and talents. She often made it seem as if it was unusual for a female composer to be successful for her own gain. Nevertheless, Ethel Smyth was an important musical figure who made many significant contributions to the diversification of classical music by setting examples with her remarkable work.