by Caiti Beth McKinney
Hello, horn friends!
This month, I’m shining the spotlight on Dame Ethel Smyth (1858-1944), a British composer and leading figure in the women’s suffragette movement in the United Kingdom. An outspoken woman, Smyth had to fight from the very beginning for her right to compose, since even her own father actively tried to discourage her from pursuing music. She also had to deal with institutional discrimination: when Smyth’s opera, Der Wald, was premiered at the Metropolitan Opera in 1903, the New York Times dismissed her work as “a disappointing novelty…of vaulting ambitions,” despite its incredible popularity with audiences. (Der Wald was, by the way, the only opera composed by a woman to be performed by the Met until 2016.)
Overcoming these struggles, Smyth released an incredible output of music, including a double concerto for horn, violin, and orchestra. This three-movement work is a joy to listen to, combining beautiful, lyrical lines with quick technical passages. It is difficult not to draw a comparison with the more famous Brahms Trio, especially when one performs the piano reduction of Smyth’s concerto, but Smyth’s work is absolutely on par with the former and deserves more frequent performances.
