The March of the Women

Composer: SMYTH, Dame Ethel
  • The March of the Women is an anthem for unison voices with text by Cicely Hamilton. Smyth composed the work in 1910 as a protest anthem for the women’s suffrage movement.1 
  • Smyth was deeply involved in the suffrage movement in England when she wrote this piece, and was closely associated with women’s rights activist Emmeline Pankhurst. Pankhurst made this piece the official anthem of the Women’s Social and Political Union.2
  • The work’s melody is based on an Italian tune.3
  • The Women’s Press published this song in 1911 in London. The score was distributed as a pamphlet at rallies. Take a look at the pamphlet here.4
  • Smyth used The March of the Women as the closing movement of her multimovement work for chorus and optional orchestra, Songs of Sunrise.5
  • Melody and text 

Sources

  1. Sophie Fuller, “Smyth, Dame Ethel,” Grove Music Online (2001), accessed February 24, 2022, https://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/grovemusic/view/10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.001.0001/omo-9781561592630-e-0000026038. 
  2. “Ethel Smyth: The March of the Women,” The British Library, accessed February 24, 2022, https://www.bl.uk/collection-items/smyth-march-of-the-women.
  3. Ibid.
  4. Ibid.
  5. Fuller, “Smyth, Dame Ethel,” Grove Music Online.

Cut IDs

13554