About the work
Opera in three acts by Ethel Smyth to a libretto by Henry Brewster, first performed on 11 November 1906 at the Neues Theater in Leipzig – in German translation under the title Strandrecht, since no house in England had been willing to give the premiere.
Plot
In a Cornish coastal village that lives off plundering wrecked ships, the young fisherman Mark and Thirza, wife of the respected lay preacher Pascoe, secretly light warning beacons to save ships from the rocks. When their betrayal of the community is discovered, the lovers are sentenced to die in a sea cave, while suspicion first falls on Pascoe, who has secretly been warning ships as well.
Cultural significance
Smyth drew on her own childhood memories of Cornwall for the opera. Only in 1909 did the conductor Thomas Beecham champion an English-language version, which was also given at Covent Garden in 1910; the work is still regarded as her most significant work for the stage.