My passion of music (I)

Music is an important part of our life as it is a way of expressing our feelings as well as emotions. No matter where you are living on this globe.  Some people consider music as a way to escape from the pain of life. It gives you relief and allows you to reduce stress. ... Music plays a more important role in our life than just being a source of entertainment.

Music affects our emotions. When we listen to sad songs, we tend to feel a decline in mood. When we listen to happy songs, we feel happier. Upbeat songs with energetic riffs and fast-paced rhythms (such as those we hear at sporting events) tend to make us excited and pumped up. 

Music means the world to me. It makes me think about how it relates to life and I love the beats. Music is a way to express yourself, keep you company while you're alone, and always give you something to do. Music is a way of expressing me and being able to relate to other people.

It won't be a surprise to most that music can affect the human brain emotionally. ... Happy, upbeat music causes our brains to produce chemicals like dopamine and serotonin, which evokes feelings of joy, whereas calming music relaxes the mind and the body.

Music is a form of art; an expression of emotions through harmonic frequencies. ... Most music includes people singing with their voices or playing musical instruments, such as the piano, guitar, drums or violin. The word music comes from the Greek word (mousike), which means "(art) of the Muses.

Music is love. David Crosby sang this wonderful song already in 1971. "Everybody's sayin' music is love

Everybody'sayin' it's, you know it is..."

Music tells stories. Well, composers and musicians use music to tell stories. From all over the world.  Music can be used to depict characters, places, actions and even emotions. Music is often used to heighten a mood, or to express a thought or feeling when mere words are not enough.

“[Music] can propel narrative swiftly forward, or slow it down. It often lifts mere dialogue into the realm of poetry. It is the communicating link between the screen and the audience, reaching out and enveloping all into one single experience.” The best stories engage all of the senses.

One of the great things about music in general, and in particular concert music, is that playing it opens up a whole new world of experience that further enhances the mind, physical coordination, and expression. Music lovers, who are also amateur performers, may choose to play in community ensembles (orchestra, band, choir), take lessons, perform with others, compose, and nearly anything else a professional musician may do, while maintaining their regular lives. All of this involves intense physical coordination in performing an instrument alone or with others, while reading musical notation, and adding delicate or strong nuanced changes to the music that only a performer can bring. In general, to an amateur musician, music can provide an escape from everyday life or an alternative means of expressing one's own capabilities. It is an important part of their lives and fills a need or an urge to create music.

I have been a music lover since my 4th birthday. Meanwhile, living as a German expat in the Philippines, I found out that Filipinos and Germans are music lovers. Among indigenous Filipinos, one important function of music is to celebrate or commemorate important events in the human life cycle. Fortunately, until today, these rich indigenous musical traditions live on. They serve as a reminder of the Filipinos' long history of musical talent and ingenuity.

Such is the case of Philippine music which today is regarded as a unique blending of two great musical traditions – the East and the West. ... The majority of Philippine Music revolves around cultural influences from the West, due primarily to the Spanish and American rule for over three centuries.

Becoming a German expatriate in the Philippines already 1999, I have attended many music events. I fell in love with Filipino classical music. So what does music really mean to Filipinos? It simply tells them where they've been and where they could go. It tells a story that everyone can appreciate and relate to, which is why it's a big part of every Filipino culture. 

Music of the Philippines (Filipino: Himig ng Pilipinas) include musical performance arts in the Philippines or by Filipinos composed in various genres and styles. The compositions are often a mixture of different Asian, Spanish, Latin American, American, and indigenous influences.

Notable folk song composers include the National Artist for Music Lucio San Pedro, who composed the famous "Sa Ugoy ng Duyan" that recalls the loving touch of a mother to her child. Another composer, the National Artist for Music Antonino Buenaventura, is notable for notating folk songs and dances. Buenaventura composed the music for "Pandanggo sa Ilaw".

(To be continued!)

7 Steps to Start Your Music Career

 

Technology has opened a host of new professions and opportunities for people around the world. In fact, the music industry has been part of the growth – changing, expanding and evolving to meet new demands. Instead of competing for traditional jobs in an orchestra, among chamber musicians, or as soloists, emerging string musicians are looking at alternative careers that utilize their skills in new ways.

Undergraduate students have more opportunities than ever to enter a music career. With social media and global communications, the prospects are wide open. In fact, you can build your music career on your own terms. However, there are certain steps you need to take to ensure that you reach the goals you have in mind.

1. Build your entrepreneurial mindset

To forge a new path, you have to be willing to take risks. That’s what entrepreneurs do. They take an idea and develop strategies that will allow them to make it a reality. The most successful use determination and drive to make their vision materialize. This means that you’ll need to learn to write a business plan. There are many free resources available online if you search ‘music business plan.’ Remember, you’ll need to do your homework on this. The greatest idea will fail without the right planning.

2. Understand exactly what you want to do

This is sometimes easier said than done. Perhaps you know you want to have a professional music career, but the exact nature of the idea is rather hazy. While writing your business plan, you’ll discover that you’ll need to outline your specific goal. To understand that point, you'll need to be able to articulate your specific intent. Having a few, explicit sentences ready when people ask you about your plan will also keep you on the path of success. Your intent should outline your immediate and future goals.

3. Build a network of contacts that support your idea

In the music industry, much like other industries, who you know can make all the difference between success and failure. For your career, cultivate relationships with new and old colleagues. People who can help you gather ideas and new perspectives for your career projects. It’s also a good idea to build an advisory board of your closest contacts to help counsel your decisions. Effective entrepreneurs understand that they can’t do it alone. They need alternate insights and other's specialties to succeed.

4. Build your selling skills

This doesn’t mean take a course in used car salesmanship. It means that you need to build your charisma. Can you easily describe your vision so that it inspires others? That’s what you need to cultivate. Your performance ability is just as important as your verbal and written skills. Cover letters, grant proposals and other solicitations require strong communication to be effective. If you can articulate your dream so that it compels others, you’ll be able to achieve your goals faster.

5. Plan your work, work your plan

This adage applies to every activity. In order to realize your short and long term goals, you must plan and then do. Break down the steps you need to accomplish to achieve a specific objective. This means having daily “to-do” lists that work toward the end result. Each objective should be part of the steps required to complete another stage in your plan. Although this is part of your initial business plan, writing down a series of tasks to fulfill each day helps keep you motivated and on track.

6. Utilize the Internet in every way

Successful promotions no longer require huge amounts of money to ensure they work. The Internet has leveled the playing field for a number of business enterprises, including the music industry. You can build a following for your music on social media, websites, and YouTube. If you aren’t really computer savvy, there are self-help books available by the millions. Do a little research before launching your online marketing campaign. You can also employ experts to fulfill that part of the process, but remember, the Internet is essential for building a music career.

7. Employ sound budgeting and outreach strategies

No business can operate without a clear budget. By understanding your income and expenses, you’ll be able to make smart decisions about the next steps in your plan. Also, consider employing an agent, if you don’t already have one. An agent will work from commission, so you can earn funds and keep your performance skills sharp while you’re building your music career.

Establishing a music career has never been easier, but that doesn’t mean the journey won’t be hard. Remember to keep your love of music alive and motivate yourself during the process. It’s rare that entrepreneurs become successful overnight. If you maintain your strategies, you can successfully realize your dreams.

Published by StringOvation Team on July 25, 2017

Victor Borge - His Music and His Life

Early life and career

Victor Borge was born Børge Rosenbaum on 3 January 1909 in Copenhagen, Denmark, into an Ashkenazi Jewish family. His parents, Bernhard and Frederikke (née Lichtinger) Rosenbaum, were both musicians: his father a violist in the Royal Danish Orchestra,[5][6] and his mother a pianist.[7] Borge began piano lessons at the age of two, and it was soon apparent that he was a prodigy. He gave his first piano recital when he was eight years old, and in 1918 was awarded a full scholarship at the Royal Danish Academy of Music, studying under Olivo Krause. Later on, he was taught by Victor Schiøler, Liszt's student Frederic Lamond, and Busoni's pupil Egon Petri.

Borge played his first major concert in 1926 at the Danish Odd Fellow Palæet (The Odd Fellow's Lodge building) concert hall. After a few years as a classical concert pianist, he started his now famous "stand-up" act, with the signature blend of piano music and jokes. He married the American Elsie Chilton in 1933; the same year he debuted with his revue acts.[8] Borge started touring extensively in Europe, where he began telling anti-Nazi jokes.

When the German armed forces occupied Denmark on 9 April 1940, during World War II, Borge was playing a concert in Sweden and managed to escape to Finland.[9] He travelled to America on the United States Army transport American Legion, the last neutral ship to make it out of Petsamo, Finland,[10][11] and arrived 28 August 1940, with only $20 (about $365 today), with $3 going to the customs fee. Disguised as a sailor, Borge returned to Denmark once during the occupation to visit his dying mother.[12]

Move to America

Even though Borge did not speak a word of English upon arrival, he quickly managed to adapt his jokes to the American audience, learning English by watching movies. He took the name of Victor Borge, and in 1941, he started on Rudy Vallee's radio show.[13] He was hired soon after by Bing Crosby for his Kraft Music Hall programme.[14]

Borge quickly rose to fame, winning Best New Radio Performer of the Year in 1942. Soon after the award, he was offered film roles with stars such as Frank Sinatra (in Higher and Higher). While hosting The Victor Borge Show on NBC beginning in 1946,[15] he developed many of his trademarks, including repeatedly announcing his intent to play a piece but getting "distracted" by something or other, making comments about the audience, or discussing the usefulness of Chopin's "Minute Waltz" as an egg timer.[16] He would also start out with some well-known classical piece like Beethoven's "Moonlight Sonata" and suddenly move into a harmonically similar pop or jazz tune, such as Cole Porter's "Night and Day" or "Happy Birthday to You."

Borge's style

One of Borge's other famous routines was "Phonetic Punctuation," in which he read a passage from a book and added exaggerated sound effects to stand for all of the punctuation marks, such as periods, commas, and exclamation marks.[17] Another is his "Inflationary Language," in which he added one to every number or homophone of a number in the words he spoke. For example: "once upon a time" becomes "twice upon a time", "wonderful" becomes "twoderful", "forehead" becomes "fivehead", "anyone for tennis" becomes "anytwo five elevennis", "I ate a tenderloin with my fork and so on and so forth" becomes "I nined an elevenderloin with my fivek and so on and so fifth".[14]

Borge performing before an audience in 1957

Borge used physical and visual elements in his live and televised performances. He would play a strange-sounding piano tune from sheet music, looking increasingly confused; turning the sheet upside down or sideways, he would then play the actual tune, flashing a joyful smile of accomplishment to the audience (he had, at first, been literally playing the tune upside down or sideways). When his energetic playing of another song would cause him to fall off the piano bench, he would open the seat lid, take out the two ends of an automotive seat belt, and buckle himself onto the bench, "for safety." Conducting an orchestra, he might stop and order a violinist who had played a sour note to get off the stage, then resume the performance and have the other members of the section move up to fill the empty seat while they were still playing. From off stage would come the sound of a gunshot.

His musical sidekick in the 1960s, Leonid Hambro, was also a well-known concert pianist.[18] In 1968, classical pianist Şahan Arzruni joined him as his straight man, performing together on one piano a version of Liszt's Second Hungarian Rhapsody, considered a musical-comedic classic.[19]

He also enjoyed interacting with the audience. Seeing an interested person in the front row, he would ask them, "Do you like good music?" or "Do you care for piano music?" After an affirmative answer, Borge would take a piece of sheet music from his piano and say, "Here is some," and hand it over. After the audience's laughter died down, he would say, "That'll be $1.95" (or whatever the current price might be). He would then ask whether the audience member could read music; if the member said yes, he would ask a higher price. If he got no response from the audience after a joke, he would often add "...when this ovation has died down, of course." The delayed punchline to handing the person the sheet music would come when he would reach the end of a number and begin playing the penultimate notes over and over, with a puzzled look. He would then go back to the person in the audience, retrieve the sheet music, tear off a piece of it, stick it on the piano, and play the last couple of notes from it.

Making fun of modern theater, he would sometimes begin a performance by asking if there were any children in the audience. There always were, of course. He would sternly order them out, then say, "We do have some children in here; that means I can't do the second half in the nude. I'll wear the tie (pause). The long one (pause). The very long one, yes."[20]

In his stage shows in later years, he would include a segment with opera singer Marilyn Mulvey. She would try to sing an aria, and he would react and interrupt, with such antics as falling off the bench in "surprise" when she hit a high note. He would also remind her repeatedly not to rest her hand on the piano, telling her that if she got used to it, "and one day a piano was not there – Fffftttt! " After the routine, the spotlight would rest on Mulvey, and she would sing a serious number with Borge accompanying in the background.

Later career

Borge appeared on Toast of the Town hosted by Ed Sullivan several times during 1948. He became a naturalized citizen of the United States the same year. He started the Comedy in Music show at John Golden Theatre in New York City on 2 October 1953. Comedy in Music became the longest running one-man show in the history of theater with 849 performances when it closed on 21 January 1956, a feat which placed it in the Guinness Book of World Records.[21]

Continuing his success with tours and shows, Borge played with and conducted orchestras including the Chicago Symphony Orchestra,[22] the New York Philharmonic[23] and London Philharmonic.[24] Always modest, he felt honored when he was invited to conduct the Royal Danish Orchestra at the Royal Danish Theatre in Copenhagen, Denmark, in 1992.

His later television appearances included his "Phonetic Punctuation" routine on The Electric Company in a filmed sketch.[25] He would also use this sketch on The Electric Company's LP record to follow, during its "Punctuation" song.[26] In addition, he appeared several times on Sesame Street,[27][28][29][30] and he was a guest star during the fourth season of The Muppet Show.[31][32][33]

Victor Borge continued to tour until his last days, performing up to 60 times per year when he was 90 years old.

Other endeavors

Borge made several appearances on the long-running TV show What's My Line?, both as a celebrity panelist, and as a contestant with the occupation "poultry farmer" (the latter was not a comedy routine; as a business venture, Borge raised and popularized Rock Cornish game hens starting in the 1950s).[34]

Borge helped start several trust funds, including the Thanks to Scandinavia Fund,[35] which was started in dedication to those who helped the Jews escape the German persecution during the war.[35]

Aside from his musical work, Borge wrote three books, My Favorite Intermissions[36] and My Favorite Comedies in Music[37] (both with Robert Sherman), and the autobiography Smilet er den korteste afstand ("The Smile is the Shortest Distance") with Niels-Jørgen Kaiser.[38]

In 1979, Borge founded the American Pianists Association (then called the Beethoven Foundation) with Julius Bloom and Anthony P. Habig. The American Pianists Association now produces two major piano competitions: the Classical Fellowship Awards and the Jazz Fellowship Awards.[39]

Research shows huge surge in Millennials and Gen Zers streaming classical music

Huge surge in Millennial and Gen Z-ers streaming classical music. Picture: Derek Bremner/Getty

By Maddy Shaw Roberts, ClassicFM London

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With the rise of streaming services, young people are listening to more Mozart and Bach than they did 10 years ago. And during lockdown, classical music has experienced a second boom.

Classical music is becoming more popular among young people, according to new joint research by the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, streaming service Deezer, and British Phonographic Industry (BPI).

Of those streaming classical music in the last year, a third (34 percent) were 18 to 25 years old. Over the same period, classical streams by listeners under 35 rose by 17 percent.

A decade ago, data published by BPI showed just a tenth of classical listeners were under 30, while the vast majority (70 percent) were over the age of 50.

Classical had a second ‘spike’ when lockdown hit in March, as both modern classical artists and more traditional composers were suddenly a hit among younger listeners. The report, which looks at official streaming data on Deezer, a competitor of Spotify, shows that over three months, global plays of classical music among 18 to 25-year-olds grew by 11 per cent.

Mozart and Bach are the platform’s most popular classical composers, while streams of female pianists including Khatia Buniatishvili and Martha Argerich soared during that three-month period.

Read more: Classical music boosts mental wellbeing in isolation, study finds >

Mozart is Deezer’s most popular classical composer. Picture: Getty

According to an earlier report from the RPO, more than a third (35 percent) of respondents under 35s felt listening to orchestral music during lockdown had helped them relax and maintain a sense of calmness and wellbeing.

The joint research also reveals how classical music habits are changing among young people. Young classical talent and crossover playlists, like ‘Classical Goes Pop’, are proving popular.

Playlists linked to mood, like ‘feel good’, ‘calm’ and ‘sleep’, have also been well-liked during the pandemic, as young people turned to classical music as a means of finding solace, reassurance and relaxation in an uncertain time.

Calming piano music is a favourite among young listeners. ‘Calm Piano’ continued to be classical music’s most popular playlist in March. And those under 35 listening to the ‘Classical For Sleep’ playlist shot up by 10 per cent. Streams of this playlist also spiked by a huge 284 per cent across all age groups during this time.

Among the top performing artists and composers of 2020 worldwide, were Italian artists Einaudi and Andrea Bocelli, and Game of Thrones composer Ramin Djawadi.

Albums are seeing a resurge too, as classical listeners streamed more in full than fans of other genres, despite previous research showing that fewer people than ever are listening to whole albums.

Female pianists, such as Khatia Buniatishvili, are increasingly popular. Picture: PA

Classical artists have been voicing their support for the positive findings, including Max Richter, Ray Chen, Jess Gillam and Alexandre Desplat.

Oscar-winning film composer, Desplat, said: “It’s heartening that the appeal of classical music is clearly expanding and connecting with a broader and younger audience.

“The ease of discovery and connectivity through streaming must be playing its part, but so too is the global reach and power of film soundtracks, which draw such inspiration from classical composition.”

Read more: Vote for your favourite film soundtrack, and you could win £500 >

Renowned composer Max Richter added: “It is wonderful that new audiences are coming to classical music during this time of anxiety. Streaming offers listeners the chance simply to follow their enthusiasms through the musical universe without any boundaries, and I’m really happy to hear that many people are turning to classical music for the first time.

“As well as being a historical art form, classical music is also part of what is happening now and it is great to see more people embracing it.”

(C) 2020 by ClassicFM London

14 great classical composers who also happened to be gay

Great composers who happened to be gay. Picture: Getty

By Rosie Pentreath, ClassicFM London

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From Copland to Corelli, we celebrate some of the greatest LGBTQ+ composers in classical music history.

With Pride season in full swing, we take a moment to celebrate the incredible contributions queer composers have made to the history of classical music.

1. Benjamin Britten (1913-1976)

   Edward Benjamin Britten is one of the finest composers of English operas, choral works, and songs, many of which he wrote for his life partner, tenor Sir Peter Pears.
   Britten started writing music as young as nine, when he wrote an oratorio. He studied under Frank Bridge, John Ireland and Arthur Benjamin among others, and was also a fine pianist.
   His ground-breaking operas, which include Peter Grimes (1945), and The Turn of the Screw (1954) – and his famous War Requiem – tackle contemporaneous issues around psychology and post-war trauma, as well his own homosexuality, which was illegal in Britten’s lifetime.
   Britten founded the Aldeburgh Festival in Suffolk with Pears and librettist Eric Crozier.

   

   Sir Benjamin Britten on Aldeburgh Beach. Picture: Getty

2. Dame Ethel Smyth (1858-1944)

   Ethel Smyth was a prolific composer and an active member of the women’s suffrage movement, and she made no secret of her relationships with women.
   Born in South-East London, Smyth studied at the Leipzig Conservatory and there met composers that included Grieg, Tchaikovsky, Clara Schumann and Brahms. Her best-known works are the opera The Wreckers and her Mass in D.
   Her 1911 song, ‘The March of the Women’, which had lyrics by Cicely Hamilton, was dedicated to movement leader Emmeline Pankhurst – documented to have been a lover of Smyth’s – and became the official anthem of the Women’s Social and Political Union and women’s suffrage activism around the world.
   At the age of 71 Smyth, by all accounts, met and fell in love with Virginia Woolf (who would have been in her 40s at the time). Woolf described it as “like being caught by a giant crab”, for better or worse...

   

   Dame Ethel Smyth. Picture: Getty

3. Francis Poulenc (1899-1963)

   As well as being one of the first openly gay composers full stop, Poulenc also didn’t eschew his sexuality in the context of his religious faith.
   His compositions spanned from intimate chamber sonatas with sublime, twisting melodies and delicate impressionist harmonies (think the 1957 Flute Sonata), to his Piano Concerto and epic one-act opera for soprano and orchestra, La voix humaine.
   Music scholars continue to debate whether or not the diverse range of styles in his music serve as an outward representation of an inner moral conflict in Poulenc.

4. Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (1840-1893)

   Tchaikovsky was born in Votkinsk, a small town in the Russian Empire, and began composition lessons with Anton Rubinstein in 1861. His great works include his ballets like Swan Lake, The Sleeping Beauty, and The Nutcracker, and his 1812 Overture.
   He had a disastrous marriage to one Antonina Miliukova in 1877 and attempted suicide. Tchaikovsky was gay at a time when it was illegal in Russia. His marriage was designed to stop people gossiping about his love life – but it turned into a source of misery and torment for both him and Miliukova.
   Tchaikovsky apparently fell in love with his own nephew Vladimir Davydov, a complication that was cut short by the older man’s tragic death from cholera – or another cause if other theories are to be believed – in 1893.
   Listen to a rare recording of Tchaikovsky's voice

   The wax cylinder recording is from 1890

5. George Frideric Handel (1685-1759)

   Handel’s choral and operatic compositions remain among the most influential pieces ever written – from the enduringly popular Messiah, to the operas Rinaldo and Agrippina – not to mention his fine orchestral, chamber and instrumental works.
   The great composer was born in Halle, Germany, and studied music from a young age. He moved to England as an established composer, after English audiences particularly took to his 1711 opera Rinaldo.
   He was believed to have been gay, moving in circles in Italy and London where same-sex desire was accepted. Music historian Ellen Harris leads on the case for Handel’s homosexuality, arguing that his cantatas exhibit a clear homosexual subtext in her book Handel as Orpheus.
   Zadok the Priest – Handel

   The Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra and Choir perform at Classic FM's 25th birthday concert

6. Jean-Baptiste Lully (1632-1687)

   The operatic composer and violinist Jean-Baptiste Lully worked in the court of King Louis XIV and was an ambitious figure in court and operatic music, dominating French opera in the 17th century.
   As well as being known for rising up influential ranks impressively quickly, Lully is thought to have had quite the colourful private life, embarking on affairs with both men and women – to the extent it got him in hot water with the King.
   Lully died relatively young, succumbing to a fatal infection in a wound on his foot, inflicted by his own conducting stick.

   

   Jean-Baptiste Lully. Picture: Getty

7. Arcangelo Corelli (1653-1713)

   Corelli was a contemporary of both Lully and Handel (see above), moving in the same sexually-fluid circles as them. And like them, he was associated with gay clergyman, Cardinal Pietro Ottoboni.
   The Baroque composer and violinist is known for his chamber sonatas and concerti grossi, and has gone down in history for refusing to play a section of Handel’s oratorio, The Triumph Of Time And Truth, because a violin note went higher than Corelli believed appropriate for the instrument.
   Corelli: Christmas Concerto, from The Swingle Si

8. Frederick the Great (1712-1786)

   King Frederick II of Prussia once wrote “Fortune has it in for me; she is a woman, and I am not that way inclined” following a particularly bitter defeat in battle.
   History has documented the King as having an early affair with Peter Karl Christoph von Keith, a page boy of his father Frederick William I’s, as well as Lieutenant of the Prussian Army, Hans Hermann von Katte, whom Frederick William had killed in response to these revelations about his son.
   Frederick the Great composed several concertos and sonatas, and was also a flautist who studied with Johann Joachim Quantz.

9. Aaron Copland (1900-1990)

   New York-born composer, Aaron Copland, was one of the many renowned composition students of Paris Conservatoire’s Nadia Boulanger, whose roster of composition, performance and conducting students pretty much dominated 20th century music – from Astor Piazzolla, Philip Glass and Quincy Jones, to Daniel Barenboim and John Eliot Gardiner.
   Copland, whose best-known works include Appalachian Spring and Fanfare for the Common Man, was a famously private man, but unearthed letters between him and artist Prentiss Taylor indicate an intimate relationship. Copland also didn’t hide the fact he lived and travelled with other men, including photographer Victor Kraft and artist Alvin Ross.
   10-year-old Peter Leung plays Aaron Copland's 'The Cat and the Mouse'

   The child prodigy performed at the Oxford Piano Festival

10. Samuel Barber (1910-1981)

    Unlike Copland, US composer Samuel Barber made no effort to keep his homosexuality out of explicit view and his life partner was composer Gian Carlo Menotti, who he studied with at the Curtis Institute.
    Barber won the Pulitzer Prize for Music twice – in 1958 for his opera Vanessa, and again in 1963 for his Piano Concerto.
    His Adagio for Strings was one of the first works by an American composer to be championed by the indomitable Arturo Toscanini, and featured famously in Oliver Stone’s 1987 film, Platoon.
    ThatCelloGuy performs Samuel Barber's 'Adagio for Strings'

11. Gian Carlo Menotti (1911-2007)

    Not as much of a household name as his life partner Samuel Barber (see above), Italian composer Gian Carlo Menotti was no less lauded for his works. He was also a Pulitzer Prize-winner, having earned the accolade for his operas The Consul and The Saint of Bleecker Street.
    He founded the Spoleto Festival in the US in 1958, and 10 years later expanded it to the Melbourne Spoleto Festival, now known as the Melbourne International Arts Festival.

12. Leonard Bernstein (1918-1990)

    Leonard Bernstein also studied at the Curtis Institute with Barber and Menotti (see above), and although he had an on-again-off-again relationship with actor Felicia Cohn Montealegre and eventually married her, he was openly gay.
    Montealegre herself wrote publicly about it in her book, The Bernstein Letters, “you are a homosexual and may never change – you don’t admit to the possibility of a double life, but if your peace of mind, your health, your whole nervous system depend on a certain sexual pattern what can you do?”.
    And Bernstein’s West Side Story collaborator Arthur Laurents is known to have called Bernstein “a gay man who got married”, stating, “He wasn't conflicted about it at all. He was just gay.”
    West Side Story (1961) – Official Trailer

    Credit: United Artists/The Mirisch Company Seven Arts Productions

13. Franz Schubert (1797-1828)

    In his short life – he died even younger than Mozart, at just 31 – the great Romantic composer Franz Schubert composed 600 Lieder (songs), nine symphonies and numerous other large and smaller-scale works.
    In 1989, music historian Maynard Solomon suggested (controversially at the time), that Schubert’s song lyrics carry the evidence that Schubert was romantically attracted to men – something that has been hotly contested, including by historian Rita Steblin who believes Schubert was “chasing men”. Others have picked up on the former theory more recently, but it seems the Jury is still out.

14. John Cage (1912-1992)

    John Cage – who famously “wrote” 4 minutes and 33 seconds of silence to explore concert hall ambience and what music actually means – married artist Xenia Andreyevna Kashevaroff, the daughter of a Russian priest, in 1935.
    But before that, Cage had had an ongoing relationship with Don Sample, as well as an affair with the wife of architect Rudolf Schindler, Pauline Gibling – so his sexuality was clearly fluid.
15. (C) 2020 by ClassicFM London
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