“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.
While Benji Britten was delighting in his fondness for the young of his own sex, he himself became the object of the desires of the poet WH Auden and the composer Lennox Berkeley. In 1935, the General Post Office Film
It is a rather thankless task to write about Benjamin Britten in the context of a column entitled “In Love.” His long-time relationship with the tenor Peter Pears, which is clearly a love story, is not the issue and I
Paul Hindemith: Die Serenaden, Op. 35 “Duett for Viola and Violoncello” At the beginning of 1940, Gertrude was still stuck in Switzerland and desperately looking for a way to join her husband, who had secured lectureships at the University of
Paul Hindemith: Der Schwanendreher (Viola Concerto), II If you have ever taken wedding vows, you might still remember uttering the words “for better or for worse.” For Gertrud and Paul Hindemith, the “worse” was slightly more threatening than merely worrying
In most cases, prenuptial agreements or matrimonial regimes include provisions for division of property and spousal support in the event of divorce or breakup of marriage. However, these contracts rarely regulate issues relating to the children of a marriage, particularly,
Paul Hindemith: String Quartet No. 3 in C major, Op. 16 The attentive and regular reader of my “In Love” column has surely come to understand that when it comes to musicians, artists and composers, love might not be the
Giuseppe Verdi: Messa da Requiem, “Agnus Dei” In psychology, empathic accuracy refers to how precisely a person can infer the thoughts and feelings of another person. Contrary to popular urban myth, women do not seem to possess superior empathic abilities
Giuseppe Verdi: La Forza del destino, Act 1, “Me pellegrina ed orfana” Having finally tied the knot, Peppe Verdi and Peppina Strepponi enjoyed an extended period of matrimonial peace. Whenever possible, they spent quality time at the Villa Verdi, located
