14 July 2021
Christopher Wiley
Conference, Publication, Research
arts, Chris Wiley, Christopher Wiley, conference, Drama, Emmeline Pankhurst, ethel smyth, feminism, feminist musicology, feminist opera, gender and sexuality, gender studies, literature, literature and music, Lucy Ella Rose, Music, music and literature, musicology, opera, Pankhurst family, research, Routledge, screen, stage, suffragette, suffragette movement, Surrey, The Boatswain's Mate, theatre, University, University of Surrey, visual arts, Wiley, women's history
Dr Christopher Wiley has edited, together with Dr Lucy Ella Rose (University of Surrey), a new volume entitled Women’s Suffrage in Word, Image, Music, Stage and Screen: The Making of a Movement, published by Routledge in 2021.
The essay collection incorporates chapters written by authors who presented papers at a conference co-organized by Dr Wiley and Dr Rose at the University of Surrey in 2018, together with other invited contributors.
Authors range from distinguished senior academics to up-and-coming postgraduate researchers, and include Anne Anderson, Kathy Atherton, V. Irene Cockroft, Elizabeth Crawford, Brigitte Caroline Dale, Kristin M. Franseen, Amy Galvin, Marleen Hoffmann, Eleanor March, Gursimran Oberoi, Naomi Paxton, Sarah Pedersen, June Purvis, Lucy Ella Rose, Christopher Wiley, and Marion Wynne-Davies. The full table of contents may be viewed here.
Dr Wiley’s chapter in the volume, ‘Ethel Smyth, music and the suffragette movement: Reconsidering The Boatswain’s Mate as feminist opera’, discusses Ethel Smyth’s opera The Boatswain’s Mate in relation to the composer’s recent service to the suffragette movement, and subjects the common supposition that the work constitutes a ‘feminist opera’ to fresh scrutiny.
Dr Wiley and Dr Rose also co-authored the editorial introduction, ‘Women’s suffrage and cultural representation: The making of a movement’, in which they provide some historical context for the women’s suffrage movement and the many ways in which art intersected and engaged with it.
For further information (including reviews), and to purchase the volume: https://www.routledge.com/Womens-Suffrage-in-Word-Image-Music-Stage-and-Screen-The-Making-of/Wiley-Rose/p/book/9780367361983
Bibliographic citations
Wiley, Christopher. ‘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.
Wiley, Christopher and Lucy Ella Rose. ‘Women’s suffrage and cultural representation: The making of a movement’, 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. 1–14 .
Wiley, Christopher and Lucy Ella Rose eds. Women’s Suffrage in Word, Image, Music, Stage and Screen: The Making of a Movement. London: Routledge, 2021. pp. xxxv, 288. ISBN 978-0-367-36198-3 (hardback), 978-1-032-02492-9 (paperback).
Full text
The full text of Dr Wiley’s chapter is available here: https://www.academia.edu/65113008/Ethel_Smyth_Music_and_the_Suffragette_Movement_Reconsidering_The_Boatswains_Mate_as_Feminist_Opera
And the full text of the co-authored editorial introduction may be downloaded here: https://www.academia.edu/65112276/Womens_Suffrage_and_Cultural_Representation_The_making_of_a_movement
Update: The volume has received an excellent review by Katy Owen in the journal Women’s History Review: https://www.tandfonline.com/eprint/N36ZJDRPGIQHRC2K7D2X/full
6 February 2019
Christopher Wiley
Colloquium, Presentation, Research
Cambridge, Chris Wiley, Christopher Wiley, colloquia, colloquium, colloquium series, Emmeline Pankhurst, ethel smyth, Faculty of Music, feminism, feminist musicology, feminist opera, gender and sexuality, gender studies, Music, music and literature, music history, musicology, opera, presentation, research, suffragette, suffragette movement, Surrey, The Boatswain's Mate, University, University of Cambridge, University of Surrey, W.W. Jacobs, Wiley, women's history, women's suffrage
Dr Christopher Wiley presented a 45-minute version of his paper ‘Reconsidering Ethel Smyth’s The Boatswain’s Mate as Feminist Opera’ in the Faculty of Music Colloquium Series at the University of Cambridge.
Dr Wiley’s talk, given to an audience of some 40 academics and graduate students in the Faculty’s lecture room, was a much extended version of the paper he has delivered at women’s history events at UK universities including Kent, Portsmouth, Surrey, Royal Holloway, and Edge Hill.
Dr Wiley previously gave an unrelated paper in an Oxbridge colloquium series in 2015.
Further information about Dr Wiley’s colloquium may be found here: https://www.mus.cam.ac.uk/events/current-events/Christopher-Wiley
8 December 2018
Christopher Wiley
Conference, Presentation, Research
Chris Wiley, Christopher Wiley, community, community workshop, Emmeline Pankhurst, ethel smyth, feminism, feminist musicology, feminist opera, gender and sexuality, gender studies, Kent, Music, music and literature, music history, musicology, opera, presentation, research, suffragette, suffragette movement, Surrey, The Boatswain's Mate, University, University of Kent, University of Surrey, W.W. Jacobs, Wiley, women's history, women's suffrage, workshop
Dr Christopher Wiley has spoken at the ‘100+ years of the women’s movement in Kent, Sussex, and Surrey’ community workshop held in the Tonbridge Centre at the University of Kent on Saturday 8 December 2018.
Dr Wiley’s paper, entitled ‘Ethel Smyth, Music, and the Suffragette Movement: Reconsidering The Boatswain’s Mate as Feminist Opera’, had previously been presented at UK universities including Portsmouth, Surrey, Royal Holloway, and Edge Hill. The day ended, rather fittingly, with an impromptu rendition of Smyth’s ‘The March of the Women’.
The full programme for the workshop may be found at the following link: https://blogs.kent.ac.uk/womenshistorykent/programme-of-community-workshop-on-8th-december/
25 November 2018
Christopher Wiley
Publication, Research
A Furious Longing, Chris Wiley, Christopher Wiley, Emmeline Pankhurst, ethel smyth, feminism, feminist musicology, Frimley Green, gender and sexuality, gender studies, Grasp The Nettle, Hook Heath, journal, Music, music and literature, music history, musicology, research, suffragette, suffragette movement, Surrey, University, University of Surrey, WCPA, WHN, Wiley, Woking, Woking Community Play Association, women's history, Women's History journal, Women's History Network, women's suffrage
Dr Christopher Wiley has contributed two articles to the latest issue of Women’s History, the journal of the Women’s History Network.
The special double-issue, ‘1918-2018’, was dedicated to the women’s suffrage movement in the centenary year of women gaining the parliamentary vote in the UK, and features essays by a range of leading scholars of women’s history.
Dr Wiley’s first article, ‘Ethel Smyth, Suffrage and Surrey: From Frimley Green to Hook Heath, Woking’, combines women’s history and local history in order to illustrate how the suffragette campaign was highly dependent on rural locations through the example of Ethel Smyth.
His other article is ‘A Fresh Start and Two (More) Portraits: Theatrical Shows on the Life and Work of Ethel Smyth for 2018’, a review-article of Ethel Smyth: Grasp the Nettle and Ethel Smyth: A Furious Longing (the latter having been co-written by Dr Wiley).
Further information on the journal special issue is available here: https://womenshistorynetwork.org/womens-history-autumn-2018/
Bibliographic citations
Wiley, Christopher. ‘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.
Wiley, Christopher. ‘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.
Full texts
The full texts are available for free download under licence from Surrey Research Insight Open Access: http://epubs.surrey.ac.uk/849970/ and http://epubs.surrey.ac.uk/849971/
1 September 2018
Christopher Wiley
Conference, Presentation, Research
annual conference, Chris Wiley, Christopher Wiley, conference, Emmeline Pankhurst, ethel smyth, feminism, feminist musicology, feminist opera, gender and sexuality, gender studies, Music, music and literature, music history, musicology, opera, Portsmouth, presentation, research, suffragette, suffragette movement, Surrey, The Boatswain's Mate, University, University of Portsmouth, University of Surrey, W.W. Jacobs, WHN, Wiley, women's history, Women's History Network, women's suffrage
Dr Christopher Wiley was among the many speakers who presented at the 27th Annual Conference of the Women’s History Network, held at the University of Portsmouth on Friday 31 August–Saturday 1 September 2018.
Entitled ‘The Campaign for Women’s Suffrage: National and International Perspectives’, the conference attracted a large delegation of scholars of women’s history internationally.
Dr Wiley’s paper, ‘Ethel Smyth, Music, and the Suffragette Movement: Reconsidering The Boatswain’s Mate as Feminist Opera’, was presented in one of the conference’s parallel sessions to an audience of some 25 academics.
Dr Wiley considered the extent to which Smyth’s The Boatswain’s Mate might be considered a feminist opera, with reference to the composer’s suffragette activity, the story on which the work was based, and her creative process, including her adaptation of pre-existing music in the score.
Dr Wiley has presented previous versions of his paper at several other UK universities including Surrey, Royal Holloway, and Edge Hill.
The conference website is here: http://www2.port.ac.uk/centre-for-european-and-international-studies-research/events/womens-suffrage-2018/
The complete programme for the event is available for download here: http://www2.port.ac.uk/media/contacts-and-departments/ceisr/events/Suffrage-Conference-2018.pdf
30 June 2018
Christopher Wiley
Conference, Media, Presentation, Research
#Emilymatters, Amy Zigler, arts, BAVS, British Association for Victorian Studies, Charlotte Mathieson, Chris Wiley, Christopher Wiley, conference, Elizabeth Crawford, Emily Davison, Emily Wilding Davison, Emmeline Pankhurst, ethel smyth, feminism, feminist musicology, feminist opera, FWSA, gender and sexuality, gender studies, Grasp The Nettle, Jacqueline Mulhallen, Kate Willoughby, literature, Lucy Ella Rose, Lucy Stevens, Lynx Theatre, Lynx Theatre and Poetry, Music, music and literature, musicology, opera, presentation, research, School of Literature and Languages, SLL, suffragette, suffragette movement, Surrey, Sylvia, Sylvia Pankhurst, The Boatswain's Mate, The Feminist and Women’s Studies Association, University, University of Surrey, W.W. Jacobs, Wiley, women's history, women's suffrage
Dr Christopher Wiley served as one of three conference co-chairs for the two-day international conference ‘Centennial Reflections on Women’s Suffrage and the Arts – Local : National : Transnational’ held at the University of Surrey on 29-30 June 2018, together with two colleagues from the University’s School of Literature and Languages, Dr Charlotte Mathieson (pictured with Dr Wiley, right) and Dr Lucy Ella Rose.
The conference incorporated more than 25 papers including Dr Wiley’s own ‘Ethel Smyth, Music, and the Suffragette Movement: Reconsidering The Boatswain’s Mate as Feminist Opera’, which he had previously given at Edge Hill University earlier in the year. The panel on which he spoke, ‘Women’s Suffrage in/and Music’, led to an animated question and answer session (pictured, left).
Dr Wiley also convened and participated in a roundtable discussion (pictured, right) featuring three professional actresses who have recently developed shows on themes of women’s suffrage, Jacqueline Mulhallen (Sylvia, based on Sylvia Pankhurst), Lucy Stevens (Grasp The Nettle, on Ethel Smyth), and Kate Willoughby (#Emilymatters, a social media campaign inspired by Emily Wilding Davison), all of whom performed extracts from their plays as part of the conference.
Finally, Dr Wiley chaired a session on ‘Ethel Smyth, Suffrage, and Transnationality’, drawing on his reputation as an acknowledged expert on the composer, and was privileged to introduce Keynote speaker Elizabeth Crawford (pictured, left), who had been awarded the OBE in the Queen’s Birthday Honours List earlier in the month for services to education in relation to women’s history.
The event attracted more than 40 delegates (pictured, below), with speakers ranging from University of Surrey academics and postgraduate researchers to museum-based archivists to international scholars from the UK, Continental Europe, and North America representing the disciplines of literature, music, film, and the visual arts.
The conference organizers gratefully acknowledge the support of the School of Literature and Languages at the University of Surrey; The British Association for Victorian Studies; and The Feminist and Women’s Studies Association UK & Ireland.
Further information may be found at the conference website: https://suffragecentennial.wordpress.com/
The full programme, including abstracts, is available here: https://suffragecentennial.files.wordpress.com/2018/06/suffrage-conference-programme-2018.pdf
Update: A news piece on the conference has appeared on the the University of Surrey’s website: https://www.surrey.ac.uk/news/surreys-centennial-reflection-womens-suffrage-and-arts
Several postgraduate research students have contributed reviews to the conference website: https://suffragecentennial.wordpress.com/reviews/
See also the reviews on the School of Literature and Language’s website: http://blogs.surrey.ac.uk/english/2018/08/02/looking-back-at-centennial-reflections-on-womens-suffrage-and-the-arts-local-national-transnational/
Update: An article co-authored by Dr Wiley and Dr Amy Zigler, entitled ‘The Suffragette Movement and the Music of Ethel Smyth: The String Quartet and The Boatswain’s Mate’, is available on the Exploring Surrey’s Past website: https://www.exploringsurreyspast.org.uk/themes/subjects/womens-suffrage/suffrage-biographies/dame-ethel-smyth-composer-and-suffragette/the-suffragette-movement-and-the-music-of-ethel-smyth-the-string-quartet-and-the-boatswains-mate/
13 June 2018
Christopher Wiley
Conference, Educational Research, Presentation, Research
Bedford Centre, Bedford Centre for the History of Women, Bedford Centre for the History of Women and Gender, Chris Wiley, Christopher Wiley, educational research, Egham, Emmeline Pankhurst, ethel smyth, feminism, feminist musicology, feminist opera, gender and sexuality, gender studies, Higher Education, London, Music, music and literature, musicology, opera, presentation, research, Royal Holloway, Royal Holloway University of London, suffragette, suffragette movement, Surrey, The Boatswain's Mate, University, University of London, University of Surrey, Wiley, women's history, women's suffrage
Dr Christopher Wiley has addressed the ‘Education, College Women, and Suffrage: International Perspectives’ conference held at his alma mater, Royal Holloway, University of London, on 13–14 June 2018.
Dr Wiley’s paper, ‘Gender Studies and Multi-Disciplinary Teaching: A Case Study of Ethel Smyth, Music, and the Suffragette Movement’, discussed the challenges presented by the delivery of tuition in gender studies within higher education contexts given the necessarily interdisciplinary nature of the field.
Presenting to an audience that itself encompassed a wide variety of different arts disciplines and educational backgrounds, Dr Wiley illustrated his arguments by drawing on his current research on the relationship between Ethel Smyth, her suffrage activity, and her opera The Boatswain’s Mate.
Organized by The Bedford Centre for the History of Women and Gender at Royal Holloway in conjunction with the Centre for the History of Women’s Education at the University of Winchester, the two-day conference attracted some 60 delegates.
Further information is available at the conference website: https://educationcollegewomenandsuffrage.wordpress.com/
The full programme may be viewed online here: https://educationcollegewomenandsuffrage.wordpress.com/programme/
28 February 2018
Christopher Wiley
Conference, Presentation, Public Output, Research
Chris Wiley, Christopher Wiley, Edge Hill, Edge Hill University, Emmeline Pankhurst, ethel smyth, feminism, feminist musicology, feminist opera, gender and sexuality, gender studies, GenSex, Music, music and literature, musicology, opera, presentation, research, suffragette, suffragette movement, Surrey, symposium, The Boatswain's Mate, The Gender and Sexuality Research Group, University, University of Surrey, W.W. Jacobs, Wiley, women's suffrage
Dr Christopher Wiley has spoken at the Suffragette Symposium hosted by the interdisciplinary Gender and Sexuality Research Group (GenSex) at Edge Hill University on Wednesday 28 February 2018.
His paper subjected to renewed critical scrutiny the claim that Smyth’s opera The Boatswain’s Mate, composed following her two years’ service as a suffragette in the 1910s, constitutes a ‘feminist opera’.
The presentation, entitled ‘Ethel Smyth, Music, and the Suffragette Movement: Reconsidering The Boatswain’s Mate as Feminist Opera’, explored the work’s refashioning of pre-existing music including two of Smyth’s suffrage songs used in its Overture, as well as a range of adaptations of traditional music.
Addressing an audience of some 35 delegates comprising both academics and members of the public, Dr Wiley also discussed the opera’s indebtedness to the short story by W.W. Jacobs on which it is based, and made consideration of Smyth’s creative process as documented in contemporaneous correspondence with Emmeline Pankhurst.
Further information on the Suffragette Symposium may be viewed online: https://www.edgehill.ac.uk/wonder-women/gensex/
The full programme is available here: https://www.edgehill.ac.uk/wonder-women/files/2018/02/Suffragette-Symposium-Programme.pdf
Speaker biographies and abstracts may be found at the following link: https://www.edgehill.ac.uk/wonder-women/files/2018/02/Suffragette-Panel-Bios.docx.pdf
19 February 2014
Christopher Wiley
Conference, Performance, Presentation, Public Output, Research
autobiography, Chris Wiley, Christopher Wiley, Clive Williamson, concert, ethel smyth, gender and sexuality, gender studies, Isabella Stocchetti, lesbian studies, LGBT History Month, Margaret Roberts, Maureen Galea, Music, music and literature, musical biography, musicology, opera, presentation, Sophie Langdon, Surrey, symposium, University, University of Surrey, Wiley
Dr Christopher Wiley contributed to a Symposium dedicated to Ethel Smyth (1858-1944), the Surrey-based composer and writer also noted for her suffrage activity in the early 1910s, which was held in the Performing Arts Technology Studios at the University of Surrey on 19 February. This was the University’s first ever event for LGBT History Month, for which Smyth was named as one of the faces of the 2014 theme of Music.
Introduced by Professor Diane Watt, Head of the University’s School of English and Languages, the Symposium commenced with a talk by Dr Wiley entitled ‘Dame Ethel Smyth (1858-1944): In Search of a Lesbian Identity in Music and Literature’, in which he discussed possible ways of interpreting Smyth’s artistic output as reflecting her sexual identity and feminist sensibilities, with musical illustrations provided by Maureen Galea (piano) and the University Chamber Choir.
A drinks reception followed the talk, during which audience members were able to view the ‘Musical Passions’ exhibition celebrating the life of Ethel Smyth, provided courtesy of Surrey History Centre.
The Symposium closed with a concert of solo, chamber, and vocal works by Ethel Smyth, featuring staff and students of the University including pianists Maureen Galea and Margaret Roberts, Isabella Stocchetti (flute), and Christopher Wiley (oboe), as well as the University Chamber Choir. Highlights included a performance of Smyth’s Violin Sonata with guest artist Sophie Langdon and the Head of Performance, Professor Clive Williamson. The full programme was as follows:
- Two Interlinked French Folk Melodies (1928, from the opera Entente cordiale) for flute, oboe, and piano (Isabella Stocchetti, flute; Christopher Wiley, oboe; Margaret Roberts, piano)
- Aus der Jugendzeit!! E. v. H. (c.1878–80) (Maureen Galea, piano)
- Nocturne (Kanon in Gegenbewegung) (c.1877–80) (Maureen Galea, piano)
- Sonata for Violin and Piano in A minor, Op. 7 (1877) (Sophie Langdon, violin; Clive Williamson, piano)
- Variations on Bonny Sweet Robin (Ophelia’s Song) (1928) (Isabella Stocchetti, flute; Christopher Wiley, oboe; Margaret Roberts, piano)
- Overture to the opera The Boatswain’s Mate, Piano transcription (1913–14) (Maureen Galea, piano)
- ‘Laggard Dawn’ and ‘The March of the Women’ (Nos. 1 & 3 from Songs of Sunrise, 1910) (University Chamber Choir, cond. Isabella Stocchetti, dir. Russell Keable; Maureen Galea, piano)
The Symposium was held in association with the University of Surrey Equality and Diversity, the School of Arts, the School of English and Languages, LGBT History Month, and Surrey History Centre. Both the talk and the concert were attended by around 50 people, including staff and students of the University and external visitors.
Further information
Event website: http://www.surrey.ac.uk/arts/music/events/ethel_smyth.htm
Poster: http://www.exploringsurreyspast.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/LGBT-History-Month-Final-2014-21-01-14.pdf
Surrey History Centre: http://www.exploringsurreyspast.org.uk/lgbt-2014/
Update
An academic response to Dr Wiley’s talk, ‘Musical Inversions: Ethel Smyth’ by Dr Heike Bauer (Birkbeck University of London), appeared on the blog A Violent World of Difference on 21 February 2014: http://violentworldofdifference.wordpress.com/2014/02/21/21-feb-2014-musical-inversions-ethel-smyth/
20 November 2013
Christopher Wiley
Presentation, Publication, Research
autobiography, Chris Wiley, Christopher Wiley, ethel smyth, gender and sexuality, gender studies, lesbian studies, Music, music and literature, musical biography, musicology, opera, Publication, research, seminar, Surrey, The Musical Quarterly, University, University of Surrey, Virginia Woolf, Wiley
Dr Christopher Wiley presented a research seminar based on his paper ‘Music and Literature: Ethel Smyth, Virginia Woolf, and “The First Woman to Write an Opera”’ at a research seminar hosted by the School of Arts at the University of Surrey on 20 November 2013.
Dr Wiley joined the University of Surrey in September 2013 following a nine-year tenure at City University London. One aspect of his research concerns the intellectual dialogue between Ethel Smyth and Virginia Woolf (pictured, R-L). The article on which his paper is based is being published in the refereed journal The Musical Quarterly.