Animal, vegetable or mineral – who or what is Dorothy Howell’s Lamia?

Wed 21 Oct, 2026

Dorothy Howell's symphonic poem Lamia was premiered at the Proms in 1919, when Howell was just 21 years old. It brought her overnight fame, favourable comparisons with Richard Strauss, and rave reviews, with headlines like 'Girl Composer's Triumph'. After 20 years of popularity it went out of fashion, until its return to the Proms in 2010. But what is it about?

Dorothy Howell’s Lamia is a musical retelling of a poem of the same name by John Keats, published in 1819. In the poem, we first encounter Lamia as a beautiful multi-coloured snake:

“Vermilion-spotted, golden, green and blue
Striped like a zebra, freckled like a pard,
Eyed like a peacock, and all crimson-barred.”

But she is no ordinary snake – she has the mouth of a woman, and in fact she began her life as a beautiful (and human) queen. Other stories from Greek mythology explain her first transformation: she had an affair with the god Zeus and bore his children, but Zeus’s wife Hera took her children away (or in some versions, forced Lamia to kill them herself). This drove Lamia insane and she began hunting and eating others’ children, and because of this horrifying behaviour, she was transformed into a serpent. In modern Greek folklore, Lamia is still associated with the sudden death of young children.

Keats mercifully skips the child-eating part of Lamia’s story, and begins his poem with her bargaining with the god Hermes to return her to human form:

“When [shall I] move in a sweet body fit for life,
And love and pleasure…?”

In return for Lamia giving Hermes the ability to see a beautiful nymph whom she has made invisible, he grants her request. Keats vividly describes Lamia’s change back into human form: eyes flashing, mouth foaming, body writhing “convuls’d with scarlet pain”. At last she is a beautiful woman once again – though she seems to have retained a supernatural ability to bewitch the young man of her choice with both her looks and her singing. And as soon as her target Lycius sets eyes on her, it’s love.

The pair return to Corinth together (avoiding Lycius’s mentor Apollonius, who almost crosses paths with them), and spend a few blissful days in Lycius’s palace, before he asks Lamia to marry him. Against her better judgement, Lamia agrees, but she insists he cannot invite Apollonius to the wedding. While Lycius is out gathering the guests, Lamia transforms his palace with magical carvings, lamps, incense, silks and precious stones, and conjures up a sumptuous wedding feast.

The banquet in full swing, Lycius raises a goblet of wine and asks Apollonius to drink a toast with him to his new bride. But Apollonius cries out:

“Fool, fool… from every ill
Of life have I preserv’d thee to this day,
And shall I see thee made a serpent’s prey?”

At the word ‘serpent’, Lamia utters “a frightful scream” and vanishes, and poor Lycius dies of shock – never expect a ‘happily ever after’ from a Greek myth!

Keats’s poem is a gift to a composer, with its vivid imagery, intense emotions, and many mentions of music, from the irresistible songs Lamia sings into Lycius’s ear when they first meet to the “strains of powerful instruments” at the wedding feast. The violence and eroticism of the story made it a racy choice for a young Edwardian ‘girl composer’, but surely that can only have contributed to its success. And there’s no doubting Dorothy Howell’s skill as a composer and orchestrator. Proms founder Henry Wood was such a fan that he programmed this piece in six successive Proms seasons, and also championed her piano concerto (in which she frequently performed as soloist) and other works. Here at the London Philharmonic Orchestra, we’re glad to be playing our part in the rediscovery of her fantastic (and fantastical) music.

You can hear Lamia live at the Southbank Centre in London on Friday 23 October 2026. Also on the programme: another magical tale, Stravinsky’s ballet score The Firebird, and the world premiere of Mark Simpson’s Piano Concerto. Tickets: The Firebird – London Philharmonic Orchestra

Images:
John Keats by William Hilton
Lamia by John William Waterhouse
Dorothy Howell courtesy of the University of Birmingham