One hundred and thirteen years! This is how long it took for the general public to remember her as a composer who made history. In 2016, when Kaija Saariaho made her entry into the repertoire of the Metropolitan Opera in New York with L'Amour de loin, the first lyrical institution in the United States indeed recalled that the Finn was not the first woman to accede to the saint. Saints. In 1903, Ethel Smyth preceded her with Der Wald, the second of her six operas… Works which, alas, remain today in the shadow of her political commitment and her activism as a suffragist.
Read also: "The Suffragettes", the fight of women to make their voices heard
Because of Ethel Smyth, we especially remembered a page: the March of Women, hymn of the movement, which she composed in 1911 after being committed to feminists across the Channel led by Emmeline Pankhurst ... As well as a good number of images of Épinal, which made the character enter the legend but hardly served his musical posterity. In the first row is the anecdote of
This article is for subscribers only. You have 59% left to discover.
Subscribe: 1 € for 2 months
Can be canceled at any time
Enter your emailAlready subscribed? Log in