Suffrage, Sexuality, Disability, and Composition - A Reflection of Dame Ethel Smyth

Beethoven. Widely known and revered. For a good reason. One of the things he is notable for is how he composed while being Deaf. It is no shock that in a man's world, he shall be a renowned household name while others seem to fall into obscurity. After all, he was not the only Deaf composer. Not by far. Yet many others just aren't recognized. 

If you google Deaf composers, her name has to be fought for to find. If you google further, however, you'll find her legacy. Her name: Dame Ethel Smythe. 

Born in 1858, she was a composer, conductor, author, and suffragist. Growing up in the Victorian era, she fought against the belief that women should not have a profession and she fought for an education. Despite this, she was marginalized as a "woman composer", and criticized by her male peers, her music never meeting the 'standard' of that created by men. 

Despite this prejudice against her, Ethel Smyth composed. She made her debut as a composer at 32 in London's Crystal Palace with her piece Serenade in D. She was also the first female composer to be granted Damehood. Smyth wrote 6 operas, numerous chamber pieces, multiple vocal pieces, a choral symphony, and much more.

Her 1911 choral suite Songs of Sunrise became the official anthem of the woman's suffrage movement. Her opera Der Wald broke attendance records in London and was the only opera composed by a woman produced by the Metropolitan Opera for over a century. Her opera The Wreckers is sighted as one of the most important English operas. 

She made connections with well-known composers; Brahms, Schumann, and Tchaikovsky. She performed for Queen Victoria and was believed to have romantic relations with the ex-empress of France. She is also known for her relations with Virginia Woolf, an English writer. She once wrote, "I wonder why it is so much easier for me to love my own sex more passionately than yours."

Smyth took time off from composing to fight for woman's rights. The New York Times ran reports of her arrest and accusation of arson for her activism. They ran a review of her memoir under the headline "A Militant Victorian". She was incarcerated for 2 months. 

In the 1920s, Smyth began to suffer from Deafness. It encroached on her ability to write and hear her music. In 1934, a Jubilee Festival celebrated Smyth's birthday with two of her works. At that time, she was completely Deaf. Virginia Woolf noted how at one point Ethel leaped to her feet at the wrong time, thinking that what was playing was the national anthem. She wrote in a letter to Violet Gorden-Woodhouse, "I can never tell you how adorable it was of you having me — and letting me feel I shouldn’t wear you out by my deafness. It touched me to the marrow. And I think of all you made possible for me… It made my heart ache to think I am cut off from what is my most overwhelming musical joy — your playing — but I won’t dwell on that. Only don’t think that because I say nothing… well, you know."

After her death in 1944, she fell into relative obscurity. Recently, however, her works have been performed and given the recognition they deserve. It's important to look back on composers like Smyth. Their work is historical and very important. We should never forget our history. With Smyth's work being performed more, this allows new audiences to see her legacy and her importance. Learn more about music history. To be inspired. 

Music is history and music teaches. It is a universal language. So let's not forget who and where it comes from. If you wish to learn more about Dame Ethel Smythe, there is a website dedicated to her. I will link it. Thank you.

https://www.ethelsmyth.org/