Dame Ethel Mary Smyth

Dame Ethel Mary Smyth , 1858-1944, English composer, studied at the Leipzig Conservatory. Besides her many songs and chamber music she wrote operas, including The Wreckers (1906) and The Boatswain's Mate (1916), and a Mass in D (1893). In 1922 she was made Dame of the British Empire. Her autobiographical writings include Impressions That Remain (1919), Streaks of Life (1921), As Time Went On (1935), and What Happened Next (1940).

Smyth, (Dame) Ethel (Mary) (b Footscray, Kent, 1858; d Hook Heath, Woking, 1944). Eng. composer and conductor. Studied Leipzig Cons. and in Berlin. Came into prominence with Mass in D, perf. London 1893. First 3 operas were prod. in Ger. Active in militant campaign for women's suffrage and was jailed 1911. Comp. March of the Women as their battle-song and cond. it in Holloway Jail with tooth-brush. Music was Ger.-influenced but with breezy Eng. quality typical of her personality. Her operas The Wreckers and The Boatswain's Mate contain mus. of considerable quality. Wrote highly entertaining autobiography. DBE 1922. Prin. works:OPERAS: Fantasio (1892–4); The Forest (Der Wald) (1899–1901); The Wreckers (1903–4); The Boatswain's Mate (1913–14); Fête galante (1923); Entente Cordiale (1925).ORCH.: Serenade in D (1890); Ov., Antony and Cleopatra (1890); On the Cliffs of Cornwall (prelude, Act II, The Wreckers) (1928); conc., vn., hn., orch. (1927); 2 Interlinked French Melodies (1929).CHORAL: Mass in D (1891, rev. 1925); March of the Women (1911); Hey Nonny No, ch., orch. (1911); Sleepless Dreams, ch., orch. (1912); A Spring Canticle, ch., orch. (1926); The Prison, sop, bass, ch., orch. (1930).CHAMBER MUSIC: str. quintet (1884); str. qt. No.1 (1894), No.2 (1902–12); vc. sonata (1887); vn. sonata (1887); pf. sonatas; organ preludes; songs (some with orch.).