Rise Up with a Song: The True Story of Ethel Smyth, Suffragette Composer

A stirring tribute to a free-spirited composer who rode roughshod over her time's constraints on women.

Following up her profile of conductor Antonia Brico, In One Ear and Out the Other (2020), illustrated by Morgana Wallace, with a look at another strong-minded woman in music, Worthey introduces a British child who preferred outdoorsy adventures to genteel pursuits, fell in love with music at age 12, and went on to compose operas and chamber pieces despite her father's displeasure, the necessity of publishing anonymously (in early years, at least), and the refusal of some orchestras to perform anything by a woman. Joining the suffragettes, she set Cicely Hamilton's anthemic "March of the Women" to music--and after getting herself arrested, led fellow prisoners in performances waving a toothbrush as a baton. Pérez García illustrates that episode and earlier scenes in canted depictions of pale-skinned marchers and musicians in Edwardian dress arranged around a redheaded force of nature aglow with self-confidence. With a final view of a racially diverse group of modern women standing together arm in arm, the author closes with lyrical lines about Smyth's music marching on to inspire women worldwide "...today, / ...tomorrow, / ...and forever." An afterword with photos, a timeline, and a select but lengthy list of sources fills in further details of Smyth's long career. (This book was reviewed digitally.)

A rare nod to a now (but undeservedly) obscure artist, eloquent and inspirational.

Gr 1-4--Ethel Smyth, born in England in 1858, was a skilled composer and fervent believer in the rights of women to participate in the world equal to men. She was also an ardent suffragist, campaigning for the right of women to vote. This sympathetic short biography presents Smyth as both a rebel and a leader beginning in early childhood and through her long and accomplished life. As a talented composer she was forced to conceal that she was a woman in order to be published and performed. As a suffragist she purposely went to prison to shine light on the fate of other women campaigning for the vote. While incarcerated she conducted her anthem to suffrage, "March of the Women," which became a paean to the movement. Charmingly illustrated in full color, in a style that recalls the works of Lois Lenski, the book makes clear the constraints placed on girls and women and the debt modern society owes to the courage of Smyth and others. The text does not mention the outcome of the suffrage protests that resulted in British women being able to vote beginning in 1928, during Smyth's lifetime. A useful work which can be included in the study of the suffrage movement as well as to show the obstacles girls and women had to overcome in times past. Back matter includes a time line and resources. VERDICT Charming illustrations and a brief text make accessible an early suffragist and lesser-known British composer. Eclectic but enjoyable.--Eva Elisabeth VonAncken