Ethel Smyth lived from 1858 to 1944, spanning two centuries and two major periods in music. She was an avid feminist as well as an eminent composer, and her March of the Women became a suffragette anthem. Smyth received two honorary doctorates, and in 1922 she was made a Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire (the female equivalent of knighthood). She was a great writer in many formats, from chamber music to masses to comic operas—in fact, she is the only female composer ever to have an opera presented at the Met.
In short, Dame Ethel Smyth is a fine and fitting figure with whom to close my presentation. She represents the shift toward modern music and the modern woman at the beginning of the twentieth century, and during her lifetime was truly a force to be reckoned with.