Contemporary queer composers

Started by Mandryka, October 30, 2019, 10:04:06 AM

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Spotted Horses

#60
Quote from: not edward on April 05, 2022, 11:13:10 AM
Alternative perspective: Peter Grimes is an opera written at a time when an explicitly gay character in an opera would lead to the opera not being performed and those associated with it being likely to be prosecuted for obscenity. The role of Grimes was written by a gay composer for his same-sex life partner, and in the opera, Grimes experiences the type of social ostracism typically experienced by people known to be gay at the time the opera was written. What is there in the opera to suggest that he is not gay?

That is is based on a story published by Crabbe in 1810? The libretto was written by a man who was a socialist and a heterosexual? Britten may have been attracted to the story because the themes of social and class alienation he saw in it were evocative of the experience of a homosexual in England, but I see it as a story of social alienation and class conflict. 


There are simply two kinds of music, good music and the other kind. - Duke Ellington

Mandryka

Quote from: Mandryka on April 05, 2022, 09:47:01 AM
If that's true, then it suggests that opera is way behind novels in this respect -- I'm thinking a lot about Balzac at the moment and there's a gay character in Pere Goriot (Vautrin)


And clearly we have the example of A la recherche du temps perdu, which I forgot yesterday. Proust's Contre Sainte Beuve is very relevant to this discussion in fact.
Wovon man nicht sprechen kann, darüber muss man schweigen

Mandryka

Wovon man nicht sprechen kann, darüber muss man schweigen

Mandryka

Michael Finnissy's Hammerklavier

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fgoodfghmwg&ab_channel=ZubinKanga
https://www.artforum.com/music/immortal-homosexual-poets-michael-finnissy-s-hammerklavier-87866

"Are there inroads into Beethoven's work that are available to homosexual people that are not open to heterosexuals? . . . My own discourse about the Hammerklavier is underscored by my homosexuality. Do I 'misread' the work?"

Wovon man nicht sprechen kann, darüber muss man schweigen

greg

A mystery to me that I've noticed a long time ago is how it just seems like compared to the classics (from baroque to late romantic era), there are so few gay composers- yet after that era, especially in the US, it seems like almost half of them are gay. Is it a misperception, or is it just that they are able to be more open about it, or what?
Wagie wagie get back in the cagie

Jo498

The very concept of hetero/homosexuality as "identity" exists only since the mid-19th century or later. There might have been lots of men with homosexual desires or affairs earlier but it was just that, not an "identity". And of course it was usually at best barely tolerated if handled discreetly, in other cases it could exclude one from polite society or get into real legal trouble (historically it's also frequently connected with and was rarely distinguished from an inclination towards teenaged boys) so obviously people since the mid/late-20th century are more open about it.
Tout le malheur des hommes vient d'une seule chose, qui est de ne savoir pas demeurer en repos, dans une chambre.
- Blaise Pascal

Mandryka

Maybe this is the place to mention this year's last night of the Proms


https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=sDtyJyidhlc
Wovon man nicht sprechen kann, darüber muss man schweigen

CRCulver

Quote from: Mandryka on September 04, 2022, 09:21:18 AM
Maybe this is the place to mention this year's last night of the Proms

Your link is to the last night of the 2019 Proms.

Mandryka

Quote from: CRCulver on September 04, 2022, 11:23:23 AM
Your link is to the last night of the 2019 Proms.

Ah . . . my bad . . . let's see what happens.
Wovon man nicht sprechen kann, darüber muss man schweigen