Composers' Dirty Laundry

[snyprrr]

Yea, I'm bored.

Anyone?...the drunkest, opium addicted, boy loving, cousin marrying, tax cheating, non-recycling,...whatever...

The worst!

[vandermolen]

Glazunov's apparently drunken appearance on the rostrum to conduct the premiere of Rachmaninov's First Symphony comes to mind. Rachmaninov evidently had to rush out of the auditorium placing his hands over his ears. The work was never performed until long after Rachmaninov's death and the composer was unable to compose until psychiatric intervention helped him to recover his muse.

[Dundonnell]

Yea, I'm bored.

Anyone?...the drunkest, opium addicted, boy loving, cousin marrying, tax cheating, non-recycling,...whatever...

The worst!

What is wrong with marrying your cousin

[The Six]

Boulez only changes his underwear once a week.

[vandermolen]

Boulez only changes his underwear once a week.

What is wrong with that? 

[Opus106]

What is wrong with that? 

It's very dirty laundry, that's all.

[snyprrr]

ok, maybe I should have asked, "Which Russian composer was NOT  a drunk?"...

...and the reason I didn't ask, "Which composer's mother wore army boots?" is because I get the feeling there is one.

C'mon, it's Saturday night!!!

We know about Mussorgsky...Sibelius...what about the addicts (Berlioz?...Merikanto?...no more???)? Americans in Paris???

What is it about artists like Vivier and Pasolini that gets them murdered by male prostitutes? Kinkiest composers?...Szymanowski?

(So...technically if you like Rachmaninov's best work you have Glazunov to thank? Interesting!...poor Rachy...)Yes, more stories like that.

Maybe I've seen too much TMZ?..."and I'm a lawya'"...arrrgh

Maybe a better question would be, "Which composer was also a lawyer?" but I think we all know the answer to that.

I fear where this thread might be by mid week. Get the clampdown ready, boys...

[snyprrr]

btw- leave poor Boulez alone...he's got enough obvious problems!

[Lethevich]

Kinkiest composers?...Szymanowski?

Grainger... Wikipedia seems to have a somewhat censored mention of it.

[snyprrr]

But wasn't he from England?

[Lethevich]

But wasn't he from England?

He only worked there for a time - he was a man of the colonies (US, Australia), which could explain the perversion 0:) If only he became famous like Ravel, then people would know him for his music rather than his bedroom habits (Ravel was apparently into handcuffs and the like).

[matti]

Saint-Saëns and Britten both liked adolescent boys.

[Sergeant Rock]

Grainger... Wikipedia seems to have a somewhat censored mention of it.

He also had a very odd and close relationship with his mother...too close, some speculate.

Sarge

[Guido]

Wow Grainger was a real character - never realised! Frantisek Kotzwara extraordinary too...

Why was Szymanowsky so kinky? And what's the story with Merikanto?

[not edward]

Szymanowski was a pederast, and even wrote a thinly-disguised novel about his adventures with boys, including the 15-year-old Boris Kochno.

[Archaic Torso of Apollo]

ok, maybe I should have asked, "Which Russian composer was NOT  a drunk?"...

Actually, the only Russian composer I can think of who was a serious alcoholic (to the point where it affected his work and life) was Musorgsky.

All the others, as far as I know, liked to imbibe now and then. But that's not the same thing.

[springrite]

Is clean laundry still laundry, or just cloths?

[Dundonnell]

Does any of this matter at all

I for one am not really interested in Szymanowski's personal life. I know that I like the music and I suppose that external influences that pertain to the music are relevant and, therefore, of interest but....the rest?

No, I can't say that I approve of or condone Britten's apparent 'interest' in young boys but it is certainly not enough to repel me from his music any more, I have to say, that Wagner's anti-semiticism repels me from the operas. I would not much like to have spent any time in Wagner's company but that goes for a lot of other composers too....Pfitzner, Reger, Orff come to mind instantly but there are plenty of others. Beethoven was pretty foul-tempered at times if I recall?

Creative artists often tend to live somewhat 'unconventional' lives(whatever that means). I used to think that Vaughan Williams was a perfect example of upper middle-class English respectability but that image too has now been blown out of the water by recent revelations about his relationship with the woman who was, eventually, to become his second wife. Delius and Bax had 'torrid' private lives. Tchaikovsky...we think that we know about now. And on and on and on.......

Yes...if a composer drank too much and this affected his creative muse or indeed curtailed that muse, that is indeed tragic. Amongst British composers...Moeran, Sir Malcolm Arnold, Humphrey Searle, Kenneth Leighton, apparently Richard Arnell(although he lived to 92!),
Malcolm Williamson the Australian. All that is sad and deeply unfortunate. The drunk Glazunov and Rachmaninov's glorious Symphony No.1-tragic.

But...the rest?

Sorry guys, I am not trying to spoil anyone's fun (honestly!) but the day that I start thinking about what Szymanowski or Britten may or may not have been doing to or with little boys whilst listening to their music will be a sad day indeed.

[Joe Barron]

No one has mentioned Henry Cowell, who spent fours year in San Quentin on a morals charge. He was eventually pardoned, but since the young men involved were underage, I can't but think that today he'd be required to register as a sex offender.

Oh, and BTW, Stravinsky married his first cousin. It was the thing to do for a while.

[Homo Aestheticus]

They say Mozart was buttocks-obsessed and probably a coprophiliac.