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Ethel Smyth

A web resource dedicated to my research on the composer, author, and suffragette Dame Ethel Smyth (1858–1944).

Retrospect Opera: http://retrospectopera.org.uk/

X (formerly Twitter): @DameEthelSmyth, #EthelSmyth, #DameEthelSmyth

Research

Dame Ethel Smyth (1858–1944) was a groundbreaking composer (of six operas as well as orchestral, chamber, and vocal works), author (of ten volumes of auto/biographical and polemical writings), and for two years a leading suffragette. She was also resident in Surrey for the majority of her life, first in Surrey Heath (Frimley Green followed by Frimley) and then in Hook Heath, near Woking.

I have been researching the literature and music of Ethel Smyth for over 20 years. My publications include full-length journal articles in The Musical Quarterly and Music and Letters, liner notes, score prefaces, and shorter articles in magazines including Limelight as well as the Oxford University Press Blog.

In addition, I have featured as speaker or performer in many public events related to Ethel Smyth, collaborating with organisations such as London Orianna Choir, The Opera Makers, and Woking Borough Council. Highlights of this activity include:

Since she lived within 10 miles of the University of Surrey, I am often invited as a speaker on Ethel Smyth for local history societies and other organisations, including Surrey History Centre, The Guildford Institute, Woking History Society, and Surrey Heath Museum.

I am also a Director and Trustee of Retrospect Opera, who have recorded and released the first complete modern recording of Smyth’s opera The Boatswain’s Mate, re-released the 1994 live recording of The Wreckers, and recorded and released another of her operas, Fête Galante.

To contact me about Ethel Smyth: c.wiley@surrey.ac.uk

If discussing Smyth on X (formerly Twitter), please tag @DameEthelSmyth and use the hashtag #EthelSmyth and/or #DameEthelSmyth.

A full list of my publications and other public activity on Ethel Smyth, together with links to full texts, follows below. For further information, please see the posts on my website: https://chris-wiley.com/tag/ethel-smyth/

Journal articles

  • ‘The Statue of Dame Ethel Smyth (1858–1944) in Dukes Plaza, Woking’, Women’s History Review, Vol. 32, No. 3 (2023), pp. 424–34. doi: 10.1080/09612025.2022.2139051.
  • ‘Ethel Smyth, Suffrage and Surrey: From Frimley Green to Hook Heath, Woking’, Women’s History: The Journal of the Women’s History Network, Vol. 2, No. 11 (Autumn 2018), pp. 11–18.
  • ‘Ethel Smyth, Virginia Woolf, and “The First Woman to Write an Opera”’, The Musical Quarterly, Vol. 96, No. 2 (Summer 2013), pp. 263–95. doi: 1093/musqtl/gdt012. Available online via Oxford Journals.
  • ‘“When a Woman Speaks the Truth About Her Body”: Ethel Smyth, Virginia Woolf, and the Challenges of Lesbian Auto/biography’, Music and Letters, Vol. 85, No. 3 (August 2004), pp. 388–414. doi: 1093/ml/85.3.388. Available online via Project Muse, JSTOR, and Oxford Journals.

Book chapters

  • ‘Ethel Smyth, music and the suffragette movement: Reconsidering The Boatswain’s Mate as feminist opera’, in Christopher Wiley and Lucy Ella Rose eds. Women’s Suffrage in Word, Image, Music, Stage and Screen: The Making of a Movement. London: Routledge, 2021, pp. 169–85.
  • ‘Ethel Smyth as the composer Edith Staines in E.F. Benson’s Dodo trilogy’, in Marleen Rensen and Christopher Wiley eds. Transnational Perspectives on Artists’ Lives. Cham, Switzerland: Palgrave Macmillan, 2020, pp. 255–69.

Score prefaces

Reviews 

  • ‘A Fresh Start and Two (More) Portraits: Theatrical Shows on the Life and Work of Ethel Smyth for 2018’, Women’s History: The Journal of the Women’s History Network, Vol. 2, No. 11 (Autumn 2018), pp. 39–40.
  • Review of Ethel Smyth, The Boatswain’s Mate, Arcola Theatre, London. Musical Theatre Review, 1 August 2018. Available online at https://musicaltheatrereview.com/the-boatswains-mate-arcola-theatre/.

Liner notes

  • ‘Fête Galante: Ethel Smyth’s Neoclassical Dance-Opera’ (with Valerie Langfield) and Synopsis. Liner notes for Ethel Smyth, Fête Galante and Liza Lehmann, The Happy Prince (first recordings), Charmian Bedford, Carolyn Dobbin, Felix Kemp, Simon Wallfisch, Mark Milhofer, Alessandro Fisher, Lontano Ensemble, cond. Odaline de la Martinez, Felicity Lott, Valerie Langfield. Retrospect Opera RO007, 2019.
  • Foreword for Ethel Smyth, The Wreckers (re-release of 1994 Conifer Classics recording), Anne-Marie Owens, Justin Lavender, Peter Sidhom, David Wilson-Johnson, Judith Howarth, Anthony Roden, Brian Bannatyne-Scott, Annemarie Sand, Huddersfield Choral Society, BBC Philharmonic, cond. Odaline de la Martinez. Retrospect Opera RO004, 2017. Available online via Surrey Open Research.
  • ‘The Boatswain’s Mate in the context of Smyth’s life and works’. Liner notes for Ethel Smyth, The Boatswain’s Mate (first modern recording), Nadine Benjamin, Edward Lee, Jeremy Huw Williams, Lontano Ensemble, cond. Odaline de la Martinez. Retrospect Opera RO001, 2016. Available online via Surrey Open Research.

Programme notes

  • Programme notes for Ethel Smyth, Fête Galante, Bard Music Festival/Bard SummerScape, Fisher Center, New York, 14 August 2021.
  • Programme notes for Ethel Smyth, Mass in D and biographical profile of the composer, BBC Symphony Orchestra and Chorus, The Barbican, London, 15 November 2018. Available online via Surrey Open Research.
  • Programme notes for Ethel Smyth, ‘On the Cliffs of Cornwall’ (Prelude to Act 2 of The Wreckers) and biographical profile of the composer, BBC Proms, Royal Albert Hall, London, 1 August 2018.

Scholarship in the media

  • ‘Opera in the British Isles: Dame Ethel Smyth’, Light & Lyrical: The Magazine of the Light Music Society, Vol. 95 (Spring 2022), pp. 20–1.
  • ‘Composer of the Month: Ethel Smyth’, Limelight (January/February 2020), pp. 76–9.
  • ‘Dame Ethel Smyth: Remembering a Pathbreaking Artist, Suffragette, and Lesbian’, LGBT History Month, 1 February 2018. <https://lgbthistorymonth.org.uk/lgbt-history-month-resources/desarticle2018/>.
  • ‘Retrospect Opera’, The Federation of Recorded Music Societies (FRMS) Bulletin, No. 166 (Spring 2017), 9–10.
  • ‘Five Facts about Dame Ethel Smyth’, Oxford University Press Blog (OUPblog), 8 May 2014. <http://blog.oup.com/2014/05/facts-dame-ethel-smyth/>.

Conference papers (selected)

  • ‘Reconsidering Ethel Smyth’s The Boatswain’s Mate as Feminist Opera’, delivered in the Faculty of Music Colloquium series, Faculty of Music, University of Cambridge, 6 February 2019 (Invited Colloquium).
  • ‘Ethel Smyth, Music, and the Suffragette Movement: Reconsidering The Boatswain’s Mateas Feminist Opera’, delivered at ‘100 years+ of the Women’s Movement in Kent, Sussex, and Surrey – A Community Research Workshop’, University of Kent, 8 December 2018.
  • ‘Ethel Smyth, Music, and the Suffragette Movement: Reconsidering The Boatswain’s Mateas Feminist Opera’, delivered at ‘The Campaign for Women’s Suffrage: National and international perspectives’, 27th Annual Women’s History Network Conference, University of Portsmouth, 31 August –1 September 2018.
  • ‘Ethel Smyth, Music, and the Suffragette Movement: Reconsidering The Boatswain’s Mateas Feminist Opera’, delivered at ‘Centennial Reflections on Women’s Suffrage and the Arts – Local : National : Transnational’, University of Surrey, 29–30 June 2018.
  • Gender Studies and Multi-Disciplinary Teaching: A Case Study of Ethel Smyth, Music, and the Suffragette Movement’, delivered at ‘Education, College Women, and Suffrage: International Perspectives’, Royal Holloway, University of London, 13–14 June 2018.
  • ‘Ethel Smyth, Music, and the Suffragette Movement: Reconsidering The Boatswain’s Mateas Feminist Opera’, delivered at ‘Suffragette Symposium – Celebrating 100 Years’, The Gender and Sexuality Research Group (GenSex), Edge Hill University, 28 February 2018.
  • ‘Reconsidering Ethel Smyth’s The Boatswain’s Mateas Feminist Opera’, accepted at the combined Tenth Biennial International Conference on Music Since 1900 and Surrey Music Analysis Conference (ICMSN/SurreyMAC 2017), University of Surrey, 11–14 September 2017.
  • ‘Dame Ethel Smyth (1858–1944): In Search of a Lesbian Identity in Music and Literature’, delivered at the Ethel Smyth Symposium, LGBT History Month 2014, University of Surrey, 19 February 2014 (plus concert).
  • ‘Ethel Smyth, Virginia Woolf, and “The First Woman to Write an Opera”’, delivered at the University of Surrey, 20 November 2013 (research seminar).
  • ‘Music and Literature: Ethel Smyth, Virginia Woolf, and “The First Woman to Write an Opera”’, delivered at the 14th Annual International Conference on Virginia Woolf, ‘Back to Bloomsbury’, Institute of English Studies, London, 23–26 June 2004.
  • ‘“When a Woman Speaks the Truth About Her Body”: Ethel Smyth, Virginia Woolf, and the Challenges of Lesbian Auto/biography’, delivered at Graduate Students’ Colloquia, University of Oxford, 22 January 2002 (Invited Public Lecture).
  • ‘“When a Woman Speaks the Truth About Her Body”: Ethel Smyth, Virginia Woolf, and the Challenges of Lesbian Auto/biography’, delivered at the 37th Annual Conference of the Royal Musical Association, ‘The Theory and Practice of Musical Biography’, King’s College London, 19–21 October 2001.

Public talks (selected)

  • ‘Dame Ethel Smyth (1858–1944): Composer, Musician, and Surrey Resident’, Surrey Local History Committee, ‘Music in Surrey’, Surrey History Centre, Woking, 22 April 2023.
  • Talk on Ethel Smyth for The Opera Makers, Holy Sepulchre London (The National Musicians’ Church), 10 March 2023 (alongside a performance of Smyth’s Der Wald).
  • Speech delivered at the unveiling of the statue of Dame Ethel Smyth, Woking, 8 March 2022.
  • ‘Dame Ethel Smyth (1858–1944), Composer, Author, Suffragette, and Surrey Resident’, Byfleet Heritage Society, St Mary’s Centre for the Community, Byfleet, 21 November 2019.
  • Pre-performance talk on Ethel Smyth for London Orianna Choir, Southwark Cathedral, London, 3 November 2018 (for a performance of Smyth’s Mass in D).
  • Dame Ethel Smyth: Frimhurst’s Famous Resident’, Heritage Open Days, Frimhurst Family House, Frimley Green (Ethel Smyth’s childhood home), 15 September 2018.
  • ‘Dame Ethel Smyth (1858–1944): Composer and Suffragette’, Farnham Society, Heritage Open Days, The Maltings, Farnham, 14 September 2018.
  • ‘Dame Ethel Smyth (1858–1944), “Duchess of Woking”’, Woking History Society, Christ Church, Woking, 3 September 2018.
  • ‘Dame Ethel Smyth, Groundbreaking Composer, Writer, and Suffragette’, Surrey Archaeological Society/Surrey Local History Committee annual symposium, Surrey History Centre, Woking, 21 April 2018.
  • ‘Dame Ethel Smyth: Composer, Writer, Suffragette, and Woking Resident’, The Lightbox, Woking, 8 March 2018 (International Women’s Day).
  • Talk on Ethel Smyth as part of a post-show discussion following a performance of Sylvia (Lynx Theatre production), Cranleigh Arts Centre, 26 May 2017.
  • ‘Ethel Smyth’s (feminist?) opera, The Boatswain’s Mate’, Guildford Hard of Hearing Support Group, 27 February 2017.
  • ‘Dame Ethel Smyth, Groundbreaking Composer, Writer, and Suffragette’, The Guildford Institute, Guildford, 18 January 2017.
  • ‘Ethel Smyth: Composer, Author, Suffragette, and Surrey Resident’, Frimhurst Family House, Frimley Green, 11 September 2016.
  • ‘The Composer Dame Ethel Smyth and her Deafness’, Guildford Hard of Hearing Support Group, 26 January 2015.
  • ‘Shout! Shout! Up With Your Song!’, invited public lecture delivered at The Women’s Library, London, 27 September 2011 (with SANDI TOKSVIG).

Public concerts

  • Ethel Smyth Concert, to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the composer’s death, Christ Church, Woking, 8 May 2014 (oboe, organ, and host).
  • Concert at the Ethel Smyth Symposium, LGBT History Month 2014, University of Surrey, 19 February 2014 (oboe).