A BRITISH WOMAN'S OPERA.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 250, 15 July 1908, Page 5

A BRITISH WOMAN'S OPERA.

■,;It has often.;been said . that- a British operatic composer who wishes to.' have .'a chance 'of. seeing ••his'work-,produced' at.' Co'v- • erit Gardcnmustbegiri by borrowing.a foreign . name. Many'people supposed thiit : tliis was m'ere malicious tittle-tattlo of budding musicians; whose resemblance to Mozart existed only -in their own imagination. 'But it is ' certainly the case (says a London paper) that Miss E: M. Smyth's operaj -" The Wreckers," portions of which were given beforo a large ' and representative audience at Queen's Hal] ; recently, has a first claim for recognition ' from even , the , most exacting impresarios,, ,-Jf tljere ,' is no prejudice against British. • f opcriitio music as . such. I have' no pretehsibn to be a musical' critic, and' can only distinguish the. music I like from that which I do not ; -but :in'- the opinion of very high authorities indeed, the stirring-and fascinating score which Miss Smyth has written for a': dramatic and well-conceived -libretto by " H. 13." possesses morit .of an exceptionally high order. And it may bp added ttat'it has already found favour in Leipzig,-where they understand these things; Our country does not too often produce a composer of unmistakable talent; when f it does, the last thing that should happen is that ho, or she, should be-neglected'because .of British nationality!