Ethel Smyth was born in Marylebone, England, on April 22, 1858, and died in Woking, England, on May 9, 1944. Approximate performance time is twenty-nine minutes.
Dame Ethel Smyth was both an accomplished composer and outspoken member of the women’s suffrage movement. Smyth’s father, a career military officer, strongly opposed his daughter pursuing a career in music. Nonetheless, Smyth began studies at the Leipzig Conservatory in 1887. Smyth quickly became dissatisfied with the experience and after a year, began private studies with Heinrich von Herzogenberg. During these early years in Europe, Smyth made the acquaintance of such eminent musicians as Johannes Brahms, Clara Wieck Schumann, Joseph Joachim, Edvard Grieg, Anton Rubinstein, and Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky. After travels throughout Europe, Smyth returned to England in 1890. Over the next few decades, Smyth earned success and recognition both at home and abroad, especially in the realm of opera (although she composed effectively in a wide range of instrumental and vocal genres). For example, on March 11, 1903, New York’s Metropolitan Opera performed the U.S. premiere of Smyth’s Der Wald. It was the Met’s first presentation of an opera by a woman composer.
At the start of the second decade of the 20th century, Smyth became strongly involved in the English suffragette movement. Smyth’s 1910 composition, The March of the Women, emerged as an anthem for the suffragette movement. In March of 1912, Smyth took part in a suffragette demonstration that led to her serving two months in Holloway Prison. When Sir Thomas Beecham, Smyth’s friend and advocate, visited her in prison, he found the composer leading fellow suffragette inmates in a rousing performance of The March of the Women. In 1922, Ethel Smyth was made a Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire (DBE). Smyth was the first female composer to be given this honor. She was also awarded honorary degrees from St. Andrews and Manchester Universities, as well as an honorary doctorate in music from Oxford University.
Dame Ethel Smyth’s String Quintet in E Major, Opus 1 (1884) dates from the composer’s years in Europe. Smyth dedicated the work to the memory of her friend Rhoda Garrett (1841-1882), an English interior designer and suffragist. Smyth scored the Quintet for two violins, viola, and two cellos. Later, Smyth arranged the Quintet as a Suite for String Orchestra, the opening work on this concert.
The Suite for Strings is in five movements. The first (Allegro con brio) presents two charming melodies that evoke the spirit of folk dances. The second movement (Andantino poco allegretto) is a brief and melancholy intermezzo. The third-movement Scherzo (Allegro vivace), which follows without pause, is brimming with energy and high spirits. The central Trio section offers striking juxtapositions of dynamics. The movement concludes with a reprise of the Scherzo. The hushed introspection of the slow-tempo movement (Adagio con moto) stands in sharp contrast to the Suite’s prevailing buoyancy. The finale (Allegro molto) opens with a spirited fugue, launched by the first violins. Later, the cellos sing a noble and flowing dolce melody. These are the central elements in a finale notable for its vibrant optimism, maintained right to the ebullient closing bars.
program notes by Ken Meltzer
