Two women lead the way. One with the tricolored flag—white, purple, and green– of the women’s movement. The other with a baby in her arms. Behind them a long line of women who had never cast a vote. If you can’t cast a vote, cast a rock through a parliament member’s window. That’s why Ethel Smyth conducted her March of the Woman from a prison cell window with a toothbrush. A simple, rousing tune of hope and resilience, it was sung by heart at every suffragette event.
A hunger strike till her father relented, allowed her to attend the Leipzig conservatory. Smyth wanted to be a serious composer. A serious composer? A woman? The late 19th century rarely dared such unimaginable juxtapositions. Was a woman capable of mastering sonata form with its combination of intellectual heft and detailed emotional exploration (as Smyth did in her first orchestral work).* Could any woman understand Brahms enough to build on his music and transform it in interesting, innovative ways (as Smyth did in her first orchestral work). Who could imagine a woman seeming to begin a fugue, but with each new entry of each new voice subtly alter its emotional content (as Smyth did in her first orchestral work). And then the long, hard struggle to get others to take a female composer seriously, to get others to publish or perform her works. Then the long, hard struggle to cast a vote.
*Dame Ethel Smyth’s first orchestral work was the Serenade in D (1889). The March of the Woman was composed more than two decades later (1911).
Performance of Ethel Smyth’s “March of the Women” by Seattle Pro Musica.
Performance of her Serenade in D by Edinburgh University Chamber Orchestra.
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One reply on “Ethel Smyth’s “March of the Women,” Art by Margaret Morris”
Marvelous share, David. Well done.