
Music Moment: Ethel Smyth And Virginia Woolf
Virginia Woolf was lounging in her pajamas in bed one morning when her doorbell rang. A visitor? That was the last thing she expected that day. But, expected or not, there came the sounds of footsteps: through the foyer, up the staircase and down the hall — a moment later into her room, and into her life, burst the composer, writer and suffragette Ethel Smyth.
The pair were fundamentally opposites. Woolf: shy, frail from illness, and introspective. Smyth: candid, outspoken, and confident, with a famously booming voice. “How we differ!” Woolf observed. “Our minds are too entirely and integrally different: which is why we get on.” The two would maintain a close friendship and correspondence over the next decade, sharing ideas about anything from music and literature (both were keen autobiographers), to life and death, sexuality, and their careers. It was this friendship, among others, that encouraged Smyth to continue to write music after coming to terms with her hearing loss and helped her dig out of the resulting depression. Woolf not only encouraged Smyth to write music, but her own autobiography.
“I was thinking the other night that there’s never been a woman’s autobiography. Nothing to compare with Rousseau. Chastity and modesty I suppose have been the reason. Now why shouldn’t you be not only the first woman to write an opera, but equally the first to tell the truths about herself? Isn’t the great artist the only person to tell the truth?” Woolf said.
Although she wasn’t the first woman to write an opera, she was certainly a pioneer for British opera, alongside writing the anthem for the British suffrage. With many successes to their names, both women were distinctly aware they were two professional women in a society where most women lacked the same freedoms, opportunities, and education.
Smyth was also much more open and public about her sexual identity than Woolf. Many of her previous romantic partners were famous women, like the French Empress Eugenie, and the suffragist Emmaline Pankhurst. As for Woolf, Smyth was immediately smitten. She admitted in her diary, “I don’t think I’ve ever cared for someone more profoundly.” Meanwhile, Woolf wrote, “an old woman has fallen in love with me. It is like being caught by a giant crab.”
Related Stories:

What Was NWPB Playing in 1923?
The original log book for KFAE. CREDIT: Manuscripts, Archives and Special Collections, Washington State University Libraries When you come to Northwest Public Broadcasting in 2022, you can do so anytime,… Continue Reading What Was NWPB Playing in 1923?

Music Moment: Angèle Dubeau & La Pietà
Twenty-five years ago, Angèle Dubeau had a thriving career as a concert violinist, having studied with the legendary Dorothy DeLay at the Juilliard School in New York. She had become a popular broadcaster at home in Québec, where she hosted a weekly French-language program on CBC. She already had her Arthur (as she calls her prized Stradivarius violin), but she envisioned an all-Canadian, all-female ensemble. Continue Reading Music Moment: Angèle Dubeau & La Pietà

Music Moment: Claudio Brindis De Salas Garrido
Claudio José Brindis de Salas y Garrido. A renowned violinist, born in Cuba in 1852. A contemporary journalist described his playing, and the effect it had on his listeners. “His eyes sparkled. His fingers multiplied…reaching into the deep nerves of the melody…leading a rapt audience to drunken emotion.” Continue Reading Music Moment: Claudio Brindis De Salas Garrido