I have edited the following works by Ethel Smyth. They are available for purchase (they are not for hire). On purchase, I send you the score and parts as pdf files, and you print out what you need. You can then use them for performances, with one named orchestra/group, on future occasions with no further cost (a recording would be a separate matter and we’d need to discuss that). If you would like to purchase one or more please send me a message and I’ll explain the process.
- Overture to Fantasio
2*2*22 4231 Tp+3 (or 4) Hp Str // length 3-3.5 mins
Ethel Smyth’s first opera was written in the early 1890s and produced twice in Germany, in 1898 and 1901. Since then it has never been heard. Anywhere. Not even this overture, of which my edition (out this year) is the only one. The few remaining scores languish in the British Library in London, and I am currently engaged in a PhD, for which I will, in part, create a critical edition of the opera, and hopefully see it performed again. Thus a large gap in our knowledge of Smyth’s operatic output will be filled, and we will have a better understanding of her journey to writing opera of the quality of The Wreckers. The opera Fantasio is based on the comedy of the same name by Alfred de Musset and this overture is an upbeat and fun-filled introduction.
NB The editing notes for this work are being re-written so do not appear in the perusal score.
Cost: £85 (c.$115)
2. Vorspiel to Fantasio
223*2 4231 Tp Str // length 4-4.5 mins
The first version of Fantasio had a Vorspiel, with the overture (above) being written to replace the Vorspiel for the opera’s second production in 1901. The musical material is quite different from the overture, but is also light-hearted.
Cost: £85 (c.$115)
3. Overture to The Boatswain’s Mate
2*222 4231 Tp+1 (or 2) Str (see below for alternative instrumentations) // length c.7 mins
The Boatswain’s Mate was once Smyth’s best loved opera in the UK. Performances still happen – in particular because she arranged it as a chamber opera, making it more accessible to smaller opera companies – although rarely. It is often credited, in my opinion correctly, with being one of the first feminist operas, and contains Smyth’s famous tune, The March of the Women, which because an anthem for the British Suffragette movement in the early 20th century. The overture is a relaxed, charming and uplifting introduction to the opera.
The perusal score below is of the original version – I have made two arrangements for smaller orchestras: 2222 4200 Tp Str / 2222 2200 Tp Str.
Cost: £95 (c. $129)
4. Symphonie für kleines Orchester
2202 2000 Str (see below for an alternative instrumentation) // length c.7 mins
This piece (Symphony for small orchestra) has always been catalogued as unfinished. Hence my surprise when, on examining the original manuscript in the British Library, I discovered that it is indeed a complete work – Smyth even signs it off at the end. It is only one movement, and of course, in our minds, symphonies need more than one movement (there are, of course, some notable exceptions!) which is I think the reason for it being classed as unfinished. It is probably a work dating from her student days in Leipzig in the late 1870s. It has a celebratory feel, with some nice contrapuntal writing.
The perusal score below is of the original version – I have also made an arrangement for a slightly larger orchestra: 2222 2200 Str
Cost: £75 (c. $101) for one version or £95 (c. $129) for both versions.