“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.
In an interview, conducted by a special correspondent to the New York Times in London on 2 June 1874, Georgina Weldon defiantly declared “according to some authorities, an atmosphere of scandal is not only favorable to the development of musical
Georg Philipp Telemann TELEMANN, G.P.: Pimpinone [Opera] (1725) For one reason or another, scholarship has been unable to ascertain the exact number of children sired by Georg Philipp Telemann (1681-1767). This numerical uncertainly—not all together uncommon in the history of
Felix Mendelssohn Song without words Book 1, Op 19No. 6 Andante sostenuto in G minor “Venezianisches Gondellied” (Venetian Boat Song) No. 1 (1830) Piano Concerto No. 1 in G minor Op. 25 (1830-31) On his way to Italy, Felix Mendelssohn
Story Behind Tchaikovsky’s Violin Concerto in D major Op.35 Following his separation from his wife Antonina Miliukova, Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (1840-1893) hastily fled to the town of Clarens. This small and peaceful Swiss resort village on the shores of Lake
Alexander Zemlinsky Die Seejungfrau (The Mermaid) (1902-3) He only stood 157 centimeters, and his asymmetrical face featured bulging eyes, a large pointy nose and a receding chin. She towered at a statuesque 172 centimeters, with large hazel eyes, finely chiseled
Gustav Mahler Symphony no.2 in C minor “Resurrection” (1894) After conducting a performance of Carl Maria von Weber’s comic opera Die drei Pintos (The three Pintos) on January 20, 1888—with Peter Illyich Tchaikovsky in the audience—Gustav Mahler (1860-1911) went home
Yosif Kotek with Tchaikovsky The interaction between teacher and student, at its most fundamental level, might be described as the attempt to forge a meaningful relationship to the past. This relationship depends on the extent to which it takes traditions
The actress Madam Félicité Saillot Desmousseaux, better remembered as the dutiful wife of César Franck (1822-1890), greeted the arrival of her husband’s Piano Quintet in F minor with public condemnation, fiery scorn and a deeply professed hatred. Surprisingly, the same
