Memorias

While serving a two-month sentence in Holloway Prison for throwing stones at the windows of politicians who refused to recognize women's right to vote, Ethel Smyth was reportedly seen leading through the bars From her cell, with her toothbrush acting as an improvised baton, a performance of The Women's March, the hymn she had composed shortly before for the suffrage movement. The anecdote perfectly portrays the character of what was one of the most celebrated female voices in Western classical music: author of more than ten books of memoirs, six operas and a rich variety of choral, orchestral or chamber music pieces, Ethel Smyth combined her passion for music with her feminist commitment and was a witness and protagonist of some of the main milestones in European history of the 19th and 20th centuries. If her militancy in the suffrage movement earned her the affection of Emmeline Pankhurst or Virgina Woolf, her Germanophile musical training put her in contact with Brahms, Mahler or Clara Schumann, all figures who parade through the many pages that the composer devoted to collecting her experiences. This volume contains a careful selection of the most outstanding passages from these autobiographical writings to offer a gateway to a unique life dedicated to music and the fight for women's rights.