Composers Datebook®

The indomitable Dame Ethel

Composers Datebook for November 11, 2020
DOWNLOAD

Synopsis

In his autobiographical sketch, “A Mingled Chime,” the late British conductor Sir Thomas Beecham offered this assessment of the British composer Dame Ethel Smyth: “Ethel Smyth is without question the most remarkable of her sex that I have been privileged to know,” and wrote he admired her “fiery energy and unrelenting fixity of purpose.”

Born in 1858, Smyth became a composer against her family’s wishes, and it took dogged determination to get her large-scale choral and operatic works performed in an era when most in the music business did not take female composers seriously. That was before they met Dame Ethel, who convinced legendary conductors like Arthur Nikisch, Bruno Walter, and Sir Thomas, who realized her music had merit.

Smyth’s opera “The Wreckers” had its premiere performance in Leipzig on today’s date in 1906, and was championed in England by Sir Thomas Beecham, who thought it her masterpiece. “It remains,” wrote Beecham in 1944, the year of Smyth’s death, “one of the three or four English operas of real musical merit and vitality written in the past forty years.”

Music Played in Today's Program

Ethyl Smyth (1858 - 1944) The Wreckers Soloists and BBC Philharmonic; Odaline de la Martinez , cond. Conifer 51250

On This Day

Births

  • 1872 - German-born American conductor of the Chicago Symphony (and occasional composer) Frederick Stock, in Jülich;

Deaths

  • 1936 - English composer Sir Edward German, age 74, in London;

  • 1945 - American songwriter, Jerome Kern, age 60, in New York City;

  • 1979 - Ukranian-born American film music composer Dimitri Tiomkin, age 85, in London;

Premieres

  • 1727 - Handel: opera “Riccardo Primo, re d’Inghilterra” (Richard the First, King of England), in London at the King’s Theater in the Haymarket (Gregorian date: Nov. 22);

  • 1866 - Brahms: String Sextet in G, Op. 36, in Boston, at a concert by the Mendelssohn Quintet Club; The European premiere occurred in Zürich, Swizterland, a few days later, on November 20;

  • 1889 - R. Strauss: tone-poem "Don Juan," in Weimar, with the composer conducting;

  • 1890 - Brahms: String Quintet No. 2 in G, Op. 111, in Vienna, by the Rosé Quintet;

  • 1898 - Coleridge-Taylor: oratorio "Hiawatha's Wedding Feast," in London;

  • 1899 - Leslie Stuart: operetta "Floradora" in London; This operetta was tremendously popular in England and America for many seasons, but is seldom heard today;

  • 1906 - Ethel Smyth: opera "The Wreckers" (under its German title "Strandrecht") in Leipzig;

  • 1923 - Bloch: Piano Quintet, in New York, with Harold Bauer piano, at the first concert of the League of Composers;

  • 1952 - Stravinsky: "Cantata," by the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra conducted by the composer;

  • 1999 - Corigliano: "Vocalise," for soprano, electronics and orchestra, by Sylvia McNair, with the New York Philharmonic conducted by Kurt Masur;

  • 2004 - Augusta Read Thomas: “Dancing Galaxy” for wind ensemble, in Boston, Ma. by the New England Conservatory Wind Ensemble.

Others

  • 1898 - Shortly after it was finished, the painting “Nevermore” by Gaugin is purchased by the English composer Frederick Delius; The painting was inspired by Poe’s famous poem and is now in the collection of London’s Cortland Gallery;

  • 1922 - The British Broadcasting Company (BBC) begins daily radio transmissions; The BBC had been formed on Oct. 18, 1922, broadcast its first orchestral concert on Dec. 23, 1922, and on Dec. 24 its first radio play, “The Truth About Father Christmas.”

Love the music?

Donate by phone
1-800-562-8440

Show your support by making a gift to YourClassical.

Each day, we’re here for you with thoughtful streams that set the tone for your day – not to mention the stories and programs that inspire you to new discovery and help you explore the music you love.

YourClassical is available for free, because we are listener-supported public media. Take a moment to make your gift today.

More Ways to Give

Your Donation

$5/month
$10/month
$15/month
$20/month
$

Latest Composers Datebook® Episodes

VIEW ALL EPISODES

Latest Composers Datebook® Episodes

YourClassical

Bernstein's sabbatical psalms

Giuseppe Verdi (1913-1901): ‘Act III excerpt,’ from ‘Falstaff’; soloists; Vienna Philharmonic; Leonard Bernstein, conductor; CBS/Sony 42535 Leonard Bernstein (1918-1990): ‘Chichester Psalms’; Camerata Singers; New York Philharmonic; Leonard Bernstein, conductor; CBS/Sony 47162

2:00
Get Composers Datebook in your inbox
YourClassical

'La Marseillaise' by Lambert

Roger de Lisle (1760-1836): ‘La Marseillaise’ Detroit Symphony; Paul Paray, conductor; Mercury 434 332 Lucien Lambert, Jr. (1858-1945): ‘Brocéliande Overture’; Hot Springs Music Festival; Richard Rosenberg, conductor; Naxos 8.559 037

2:00
YourClassical

Strauss, Shostakovich, Hitler and Stalin

Richard Strauss (1864-1949): ‘Ein Heldenleben’; Daniel Majeske, violin; Cleveland Orchestra; Daniel Barenboim, conductor; London 414 292 Dimitri Shostakovich (1906-1975): ‘Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk’ excerpts; Scottish National Orchestra; Neeme Jarvi, conductor; Chandos 8587

2:00
YourClassical

Requiems and Elegies by Faure and Rouse

Gabriel Fauré (1845-1924): ‘Requiem’; The Cambridge Singers; John Rutter, conductor; Collegium 101 Christopher Rouse (1949-2019): Symphony No. 2 and Flute Concerto; Carol Wincenc, flute; Houston Symphony; Christoph Eschenbach, conductor; Telarc 80452

2:00
YourClassical

Hollywood anniversaries

George Gershwin (1898-1937): ‘An American in Paris’; Hollywood Bowl Orchestra; John Mauceri, conductor; Philips 438 663 Peter Ilyitch Tchaikovsky (1840-1893): ‘1812 Overture’; Berlin Philharmonic; Herbert von Karajan, conductor; EMI Classics 65690

2:00
YourClassical

Handel declines, Schuman accepts

George Frideric Handel (1685-1759): ‘Sinfonia’ from ‘Athalia Academy of Ancient Music’; Christopher Hogwood, conductor; L’Oiseau-Lyre 417 126 William Schuman (1910-1992): ‘Chester (Variations for Piano)’; Alexei Sultanov, piano; Teldec 46103

2:00
YourClassical

Respighi's 'The Pines of Rome'

Ottorino Respighi (1879-1936): ‘Feste Romane’; Montréal Symphony; Charles Dutoit, conductor; London 410 145 Spike Jones (1911-1965): ‘Rhapsody’ from ‘Hunger’; Spike Jones and his City Slickers; RCA 3235

2:00
YourClassical

'The Composer is Dead!'

Lemony Snicket and Nathaniel Stookey: ‘The Composer is Dead’; Lemony Snicket (aka Daniel Handler), narrator; San Francisco Symphony; Edwin Outwater, conductor; Book Audio CD

2:00
YourClassical

'The Ballad of Baby Doe'

Douglas Moore (1893-1969): ‘The Ballad of Baby Doe’; Jan Grissom, soprano; Central City Opera Orchestra; John Moriarty, conductor; Newport Classics 85593

2:00
VIEW ALL EPISODES

About Composers Datebook®

Host John Birge presents a daily snapshot of composers past and present, with timely information, intriguing musical events and appropriate, accessible music related to each.

He has been hosting, producing and performing classical music for more than 25 years. Since 1997, he has been hosting on Minnesota Public Radio's Classical Music Service. He played French horn for the Cincinnati Symphony and Pops Orchestra and performed with them on their centennial tour of Europe in 1995. He was trained at the Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music, Eastman School of Music and Interlochen Arts Academy.

About Composers Datebook®
YourClassical Radio
0:00
0:00