The image of the redoubtable Ethel Smyth leaning out of a cell window, conducting her fellow suffragettes down in the courtyard of Holloway prison in a rousing rendition of her militant anthem The March of the Women is irresistible. And yet the anecdote, relayed from personal observation by Sir Thomas Beecham, no less, is probably familiar to more people than is a fraction of Smyth’s considerable oeuvre.
Of her six stage works, the third, The Wreckers, has made most headway over the 120 years since it was written, winning support from Gustav Mahler (who wanted to conduct it), Bruno Walter (who actually did) and in more recent times the likes of director Graham Vick and conductor Odaline de la Martinez.
