Ethel Mary Smith (1858-1944) came from an upper-middle-class Victorian family; her father was a general and her mother was of French nationality. Because there was a governess in the family, who had graduated from the Leipzig Conservatory as a pianist, Ethel Mary became interested in music and wanted to study in Leipzig. Because of her father's resistance, she did not go to Leipzig until 1877 for composition studies at the Felix Mendelssohn School of Music and Theatre.
But she was not very happy in Leipzig with her teachers, including Carl Reinecke from whom she received composition lessons. After a little more than a year she left the conservatory. But she retained close contacts with the Röntgen family and Engelbert Röntgen, the then leader of the Gewandhausorchester Leipzig, encouraged her to continue with her compositions. The financially affluent Herzogenberg couple also gave her much support. Heinrich von Herzogenberg gave her private lessons in composition after she left the conservatory. In the home of the Herzogenbergs she participated intensively in the cultural life of the city of Leipzig. She got to know important composers and artists personally, such as Clara Schumann, Anton Rubinstein, Edvard Grieg and Johannes Brahms.
Ethel Smyth joined the militant English feminists in 1910 and intensively supported the goals of the British women's movement. Her The March of the Women became the anthem and battle song of the suffragettes.
Smyth was actively involved in sport throughout her life. In her youth, she was a keen horse-rider and tennis player, and she was also a passionate golfer.
In 1890 she made her debut in England with her Serenade in D at the
Crystal Palace. With her Mass in D for choir and orchestra, she
garnered great success at the Royal Albert Hall in 1893. Smyth's extensive body of work also includes the Concerto for Violin, Horn and Orchestra, perhaps her best known work. Her opera The Wreckers is considered by some critics to be the most important English opera composed during the period between Purcell and Britten. She left behind a compositional oeuvre ranging from chamber music, through madrigals and choral works and operas to symphonies.
In recognition of her work as a composer and writer, Smyth was made a Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire (DBE) in 1922, becoming the first female composer to be awarded a damehood.
Below her cello sonata from 1880 is played by the Ekstasis Duo, consisting of Natasha Farny, cello and Eliran Avni, piano.
Women Composers Index
Allegro moderato
Andante non troppo
Allegro vivace e grazioso