麻豆社

Donald Macleod explores a musician also remarkable for her sporting prowess. Today, looking at Ethel Smyth鈥檚 relationship with her first great love, Elisabeth von Herzogenberg.

British composer Dame Ethel Smyth was one of the early 20th century鈥檚 most original cultural voices. A prodigious musical talent who was best known for her operas, she was a force of nature, an unapologetic eccentric who didn鈥檛 suffer fools gladly, and a rule-breaking, trailblazing feminist. Alongside music, she was an accomplished sportswoman, and her driven and playful nature - as well as her endurance - would not only shape her career but her personal life too. All this week, Donald Macleod explores Smyth鈥檚 story through what she termed her 鈥減assions鈥� 鈥� the key all-consuming relationships that changed the course of her life, and how they were a necessary force for her creativity.

Today, we meet the first of Ethel鈥檚 major loves - Elisabeth von Herzogenberg. 鈥淟isl鈥� was the wife of Ethel鈥檚 composition teacher in Leipzig, and the intensity of her infatuation led her to a dramatic collapse. Lisl nursed her back to health and they developed a maternal intimacy 鈥� Ethel becoming a 鈥渟emi-detached member鈥� of the Herzogenberg household. But little did Ethel know her loyalty to Lisl would eventually be tested鈥�

F锚te Galante: Overture/Sarabande
Ensemble Lontano
Odaline de la Martinez, conductor

Aus der Jugendzeit!
Liana Serbescu, piano

Kom, s眉sser Tod
Sansara
Tom Herring, conductor

Lieder, Op 4 No 2: Schlummerlied
Maarten Koningsberger, baritone
Kelvin Grout, piano

Violin Sonata (3rd movement 鈥� Romanze)
Tasmin Little, violin
John Lenehan, piano

Variations on an Original Theme (of an Exceedingly Dismal Nature)
Marie Catherine Girod, piano

String Quintet, Op 1(3rd-5th movements)
Mannheim Quartet
Joachim Griesheimer, cello

Produced by Amelia Parker for 麻豆社 Audio Wales and West