Ethel Smyth
Overture to The Wreckers

Information

Year of arrangement:  2020

Composer:  Ethel Smyth (1858–1944)

Duration: 10mins

Instrumentation:  1[/pic] 1[/ca] 1 1 – 2 1 1 0 – 2perc, opt. hp or pno, str (min. 1 1 1 1 1)

World Premiere: Rep Orchestra/George Morton, April 2022

Sample Recording

Sample Score/Part

Wreckers FULL SCORE Demo
File Size: 214 kb
File Type: pdf
Download File

​Hire/License Information

Published by Steel City Music Publishing
Hiring and licensing information available here
    SMYTH Overture to The Wreckers
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Work Introduction

Smyth's Overture to The Wreckers (one of six of her operas) is an exuberant curtain-raiser, with lively outer sections representing the stormier aspects of the plot. A lyrical middle section first showcases the winds, followed by a sumptuous and sturdy theme for the strings. The Wreckers, an opera telling the story of a Cornish community who’d entice ships to the rocks then pillage the wreckages, was initially a huge success (Mahler considered it in Vienna before he was driven from his job).

Written for individual woodwinds, a small brass section, timpanist, percussionist, optional harp/piano and a small string section, this new reduction of enables chamber ensembles to explore the overture from Dame Ethel Smyth's masterpiece The Wreckers. 

Video
© George Morton 2024