“The only love affair I have ever had was with music.”
Maurice Ravel
The history of classical music, however, is full of fabulously gifted individuals with slightly more earthy ambitions. Love stories of classical composers are frequently retold within a romanticized narrative of sugarcoated fairy tales. To be sure, happily-ever-after stories do on rare occasions take place, but it is much more likely that classical romances lead to some rather unhappy endings. Johannes Brahms had an overriding fear of commitment, Claude Debussy drove his wife into an attempt at suicide, Francis Poulenc severely struggled with his sexual identity, and Percy Grainger was heavily into whips and bondage. And that’s only the beginning! The love life of classical composers will sometimes make you weep, or alternately shout out with joy or anguish. You might even cringe with embarrassment as we try to go beyond the usual headlines and niceties to discover the psychological makeup and the societal and cultural pressures driving these relationships. Classical composer’s love stories are not for the faint hearted; they are heightened reflections of humanity at its best and worst. Accompanying these stories of love and lust with the compositions they inspired, we are able to see composers and their relationships in a completely new light.
The love story between Robert and Clara Schumann is often regarded as one of the most romantic in classical music history. Happily for historians, many of their love letters survive. They document their inner thoughts and emotions, as well as
What makes a symphony romantic? For one, a symphony can be stylistically of the Romantic Era – Romantic-with-a-capital-R, full of sweeping melodies, warm orchestral colour, and heart-tugging harmonies. But a symphony can also be romantic in a more personal sense:
Love stories in classical music aren’t always written with words; sometimes they’re written in music. Many composers have turned to music when emotions were too intense for letters or speech to express. In fact, some of the most iconic pieces
Artists and composers are famous for their wild love lives. Turns out, their love letters are just as fascinating as you’d expect. Today we’re looking at love letters from ten composers, including Janáček obsessing over a woman who was young
Gustav Mahler’s most famous love interest was his wife Alma. However, he was in his early forties when they met, and he’d spent the previous twenty years embroiled in a series of passionate – but usually short-lived – affairs. Many
Frédéric Chopin had one of the most famous love lives of the great composers due to his unconventional partnership with the great writer George Sand. From his teenage infatuation with soprano Konstancja Gładkowska to the turbulent affair with Sand, he
Artists and composers are famous for their wild love lives. Turns out, their love letters are just as fascinating as you’d expect. Today, we’re looking at love letters from ten composers, including Mozart being very saucy on a business trip,
Throughout classical music history, ostensibly professional relationships between teachers and students have sometimes turned romantic. Some of the resulting marriages ended up being loving, long-lasting partnerships built on deep mutual admiration and respect. Others curdled rapidly due to destructive power
