Fantasio
Music by Ethel Smyth · libretto by Ethel Smyth · premiered 1898
Fantasio is an opera in two acts composed by Ethel Smyth. The German-language libretto was written by Smyth and Henry Bennet Brewster. Described in the libretto as a phantastische Comödie (fantastic comedy), it was based on Alfred de Musset's 1834 play of the same name. The opera premiered at the Deutsches Nationaltheater in Weimar on 24 May 1898.
Text from the Wikipedia article "Fantasio (Smyth)", licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
About the Composer
Dame Ethel Mary Smyth (; 22 April 1858 – 8 May 1944) was an English composer and a member of the women's suffrage movement. Her compositions include songs, works for piano, chamber music, orchestral works, choral works and operas. Smyth tended to be marginalised as a "woman composer", as though her work could not be accepted as mainstream. Yet when she produced more delicate compositions, they were criticised for not measuring up to the standard of her male peers. She was the first female composer granted a damehood. Smyth was involved in the suffrage movement and spent time in Holloway Prison for breaking windows. She also composed the suffragette anthem The March of the Women.
Text from the Wikipedia article "Ethel Smyth", licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Other Operas by Ethel Smyth
- Der Wald (1899)
- Fête Galante (1909)
- Entente Cordiale (1925)