Edith Swepstone

Edith Mary Swepstone (4 January 1862 – 5 February 1942) was an English composer and music teacher.¹ She was born in Stepney, London, the daughter of a London solicitor.² She studied music at the Guildhall School and later worked as a lecturer at the City of London School.¹ She died in Tonbridge, Kent.³

She studied music at the Guildhall School in London, England¹ and later worked as a lecturer at the City of London School.⁴ In 1895 she was giving music lectures at the City School of London.²

As a composer, Swepstone wrote early 20th-century orchestral music, chamber music, and songs.² During the first quarter of the 20th century, she had many of her orchestral works performed by the Bournemouth Municipal Orchestra under Dan Godfey, the most by a single composer.⁵ Though the music is not located, 14 of Swepstone’s orchestral works were presented in a total of 24 performances, between 1899 and 1933. There are only three recorded instances of her orchestral music having been performed elsewhere. The minuet and rondo of her Symphony in G minor were performed in Leyton on 10 March 1887 with the composer conducting the Aeolian Ladies' Orchestra, and the opening movement at the Guildhall School of Music on 7 December 1889 as part of a concert of student works.⁵ Her overture Les Tenebres was performed at Queen's Hall, London in February 1897.²

At the South Place Concert Series, a weekly chamber music concert series in London, between 1887–1987, 1,121 works were performed and women composers make up for only 13 of those compositions.² Swepstone’s Piano Quintet in E minor was performed a total of four times at the concert series.⁶ Swepstone’s influence is apparent in that, of all the pieces played at the series and written by women, over half were her compositions.²

In total, seven of her chamber music compositions were performed at the series.² In addition to Piano Quintet E Minor, played four times, the following works were each performed once: Quintet D Hn & String Quartet, Quintet E-flat Pf and Wind, String Quartet Lyrical Cycle, Piano Trio D minor, Piano Trio G minor, Piano Trio A minor.²

Selected works include:⁷

Orchestral

• Symphony in G minor (1887, first complete performance Bournemouth, 3 February 1902)
• Les Tenebres overture (fp. Queen's Hall, 1897, Bournemouth 1903)
• Daramona, symphonic poem (fp. Bournemouth, 26 October 1899)
• The Ice Maiden, suite (fp. Bournemouth, 26 November 1900)
• A Vision, tone poem (first performed Bournemouth, 1903)
• Paolo and Francesca, prelude (fp. Bournemouth, February 1906)
• Mors Janua Vitae, funeral march (fp. Bournemouth, April 1906)
• The Wind in the Pines, symphonic poem (fp. Bournemouth, 1909)
• The Horn of Roland, overture (fp. Bournemouth, 1910)
• Moonrise on the Mountains, symphonic poem, (fp. Bournemouth, 26 November 1912)
• Woods in April, symphonic poem, (fp. Bournemouth, 1914)
• The Roll of Honour, march (fp. Bournemouth, June 1916)
• Morte d’Arthur, symphonic poem, (fp. Bournemouth, 1920)
• The Four Ships, suite (fp. Bournemouth, 3 September 1924)

Chamber

• Foreshadowings, with cello accompaniment
• Horn Quintet in D
• Lament for Violin and Piano
• Piano Quintet in E minor
• Piano Quintet in F minor
• Quintet for piano and wind in E flat
• Requiem for cello and Piano
• String Quartet Lyrical Cycle
• Piano Trio in A minor
• Piano Trio in D minor
• Piano Trio in G minor
• Une Larme, for clarinet and piano⁸

Choral and song

• The Crocuses' Lament, Two-Part Song for female voices
• Foreshadowings
• The Ice Queen, cantata, female voice
• Idylls of the Morn, cantata, female voice
• 'O may I join the Choir invisible', text George Eliot⁹
• Robert Louis Stevenson's Songs for Children Set to Music
• A Song of Twilight text by A.R. Aldrich
• Three-Part Song for female voices, with Pianoforte Accompaniment, text by F.R. Haverga