Ethel Smyth was an English composer who lived from 1858 to 1944. She wrote six operas at a time when few people believed a woman could write one. She also joined the fight for women’s right to vote, and she wrote the marching song of that movement. The best first piece for a child is that song, “The March of the Women.”
Quick facts
- Born: 1858, near London, England
- Died: 1944, in Woking, England
- Era: Romantic and early Modern
- Played: piano
- Known for: the opera The Wreckers, “The March of the Women,” and her books about her life
The life in short
Smyth was one of eight children. Her father was a general in the army. At 12, she decided to become a composer. Her father forbade it.
She fought him for years. She refused to go to church, to dinners, or to parties. In the end he gave in. At 19, she left for Leipzig, in Germany, to study music.
In Leipzig, she met many of the great musicians of the day, among them Brahms, Grieg, Tchaikovsky, and Clara Schumann.
Back in England, she had to push to get her music played. Her large Mass for choir and orchestra was performed in London in 1893. Critics were surprised that a woman had written music of such force.
She turned to opera. Opera houses in England would not stage her work, so she took her operas to Germany. In 1903, the Metropolitan Opera in New York performed one of them. More than 100 years passed before that company staged another opera by a woman.
In 1922, the king made her a Dame, which is the women’s form of a knighthood. She was the first woman composer to receive the honor.
In her last decades, she lost her hearing. She stopped composing and wrote ten books, most of them about her own life. They are funny and blunt.
The fight for the vote
In 1910, Smyth joined the suffragettes, the women who campaigned for the right to vote. She gave two years of her life to the cause.
“The March of the Women” was first sung in 1911. Suffragettes sang it at rallies and on marches.
In 1912, she was sentenced to two months in prison for breaking the window of a government minister. A friend, the conductor Thomas Beecham, came to visit. He said he found the women marching around the prison yard and singing her song, while Smyth leaned out of a window above and beat time with a toothbrush.
Women in Britain won the vote in stages, in 1918 and 1928.
What the music sounds like
Smyth’s music is bold and full of energy. She wrote big tunes and strong rhythms for a large orchestra. Her operas are about the sea, the forest, and strong-willed people.
She studied in Germany, and her music has the rich sound of Brahms. English folk songs and sea songs are in it too.
Pieces to play first
“The March of the Women.” A sturdy tune that a crowd can sing. It lasts about three minutes.
Overture to The Wreckers. The opera is set on the coast of Cornwall, where villagers lure ships onto the rocks. The overture has the swell of the sea in it.
Overture to The Boatswain’s Mate. A comic opera. Listen for “The March of the Women,” which she tucked into the overture.
Serenade in D. Her first big piece for orchestra, warm and tuneful.
Things to do together
March with a toothbrush. Play “The March of the Women.” March around the room while one person conducts with a toothbrush.
Find the tune. Play the overture to The Boatswain’s Mate and raise a hand when the march tune appears.
Hear the sea. Play the overture to The Wreckers. Ask your child where the waves are calm and where they are rough.
Talk about fair rules. Ask your child what it would be like if only half the class could vote on a class decision.
A full life
Smyth climbed mountains, rode horses and bicycles, played golf, and kept a series of large sheepdogs. Her friends included famous writers and a former empress of France. She did what she wanted at a time when women were told what to do.
Print and play
Fill in a composer study notebook page for Ethel Smyth. Read about more composers in women composers for kids. To learn how opera works, read opera for kids. For one of the musicians she met in Leipzig, read Clara Schumann for kids.
For more composers from the same country, read English composers for kids. For more composers by era, see classical composers for kids.
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This article is part of Classical composers for kids: a guide by era, from Vivaldi to Britten.
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Use it with your kids
Print a listening page, a practice chart, or a composer fact sheet. Or try a tool, such as the composer timeline or the piece picker.