List of LGBT classical composers

Numerous composers of Western classical music were LGBT, from at least the 16th century to the modern day. Many of these composers faced persecution or violence as a result of their sexuality.

16th century

Name Born Died Nationality Details Ref(s)
Dominique Phinot c. 1510 c. 1556 Franco-Flemish Phinot was a composer of motets with polyphonic experimentation that predated the music of Palestrina. He was tried and executed by the French government for "homosexual practices", likely in the city of Lyon. [1]

17th century

Name Born Died Nationality Details Ref(s)
Charles Coypeau d'Assoucy 1605 1677 French d'Assoucy is believed to have been the lover of the French novelist Cyrano de Bergerac. He was arrested multiple times by the Holy Office for unspecified reasons. [2]
Jean-Baptiste Lully 1632 1687 Italian-French Lully was a composer of Baroque music employed in the court of then-king Louis XIV. He was discovered to have had sexual affairs with both men and women, and was subsequently expelled from the courtship at the orders of the king. [3]
Johann Rosenmüller 1619 1684 German Rosenmüller was a German composer who fled to Italy in 1658, after a scandal involving his homosexual activities came to light. [4]

18th century

Name Born Died Nationality Details Ref(s)
Frederick the Great 1712 1786 Prussian Frederick the Great is best known as the first King of Prussia, and had several musical works published during his lifetime. His homosexuality and numerous documented partners have been confirmed by modern historians. [5]

19th century

Name Born Died Nationality Details Ref(s)
Clement Harris 1871 1897 English [6]
Adela Maddison 1862 1929 English [7]
Ella Overbeck 1870 1919 Russo-English
Camille Saint-Saëns 1835 1921 French [8]
Ethel Smyth 1858 1944 English [9]
Pyotr Tchaikovsky 1840 1893 Russian [10]
Siegfried Wagner 1869 1930 German

20th century

Name Born Died Nationality Details Ref(s)
Walter Arlen 1920 2023 Austro-American
Ruth Anderson 1928 2019 American
Samuel Barber 1910 1981 American [11][12][9][10]
Jean Barraqué 1928 1973 French
Stanley Bate 1911 1959 English
Arthur Benjamin 1893 1960 Australian
R. R. Bennett 1936 2012 Anglo-American
Lord Berners 1883 1950 English
Leonard Bernstein 1918 1990 American [13][9][10]
Marc Blitzstein 1905 1964 American [12][13][10]
Konrad Boehmer 1941 2014 German-Dutch
Henriëtte Bosmans 1895 1952 Dutch
Pierre Boulez 1925 2016 French
Paul Bowles 1910 1999 Moroccan [13][10]
Benjamin Britten 1913 1976 English [9]
Merton Brown 1913 2001 American
Sylvano Bussotti 1931 2021 Italian
John Cage 1912 1992 American [12][10]
Wendy Carlos 1931 American [14]
Roger Sacheverell Coke 1912 1971 English
Aaron Copland 1900 1990 American [13][9][10][15][16]
John Corigliano 1938 American Married to Mark Adamo[14]
Henry Cowell 1897 1965 American [12][17][10]
Ingolf Dahl 1912 1970 German-American
Peter Maxwell Davies 1934 2016 English
David Del Tredici 1937 American [12][14][9]
David Diamond 1915 2005 American [13][10]
Hubert du Plessis 1922 2011 South African
Julius Eastman 1940 1990 American [9]
Joseph Fennimore 1940 American
William Flanagan 1923 1969 American [10]
Wolfgang Fortner 1907 1987 German
Karel Goeyvaerts 1923 1993 Belgian
Charles Tomlinson Griffes 1884 1920 American [18]
Clare Grundman 1913 1996 American
Reynaldo Hahn 1874 1947 Venezuelan-French [19]
Lou Harrison 1917 2003 American [12][17][10]
Hans Werner Henze 1926 2012 German
David Hogan 1949 1996 American
Lee Hoiby 1926 2011 American [12]
Vladimir Horowitz 1903 1989 Russian
Jerry Hunt 1943 1993 American [12]
Douglas Lilburn 1915 2001 New Zealander
Annea Lockwood 1939 New Zealander [12]
Frederick May 1911 1985 Irish
Colin McPhee 1900 1964 Canadian-American [20]
Gian Carlo Menotti 1911 2007 Italian-American [9][10]
Noel Mewton-Wood 1922 1953 Australian-English
Zygmunt Mycielski 1907 1997 Polish
Dimitri Mitropoulos 1896 1960 Greek
Pauline Oliveros 1932 2016 American [12][9]
Harry Partch 1901 1974 American [12][10]
Thomas Pasatieri 1941 American
Daniel Pinkham 1923 2006 American [10]
Francis Poulenc 1899 1963 French
Roger Quilter 1877 1953 English
Peer Raben 1940 2007 German
Ned Rorem 1923 2022 American [12][13][10]
Henri Sauguet 1901 1989 French
Kaikhosru Shapurji Sorabji 1892 1988 English
Conrad Susa 1935 2013 American [21]
Karol Szymanowski 1882 1937 Polish [22]
Virgil Thomson 1896 1989 American [13][10]
Michael Tippett 1905 1998 English [9]
Tui St. George Tucker 1924 2004 American
Ben Weber 1916 1979 American [10]
Juliusz Wertheim 1880 1928 Polish [10]
Arnold van Wyk 1916 1983 South African
Claude Vivier 1948 1983 Canadian [9]
Charles Wuorinen 1938 2020 American [23]

21st century

Name Born Died Nationality Details Ref(s)
Mark Adamo 1962 American Married to John Corigliano
Thomas Adès 1971 English [9]
William Basinski 1958 American
Eve Beglarian 1958 American [12][24]
Iain Bell 1980 English
Chester Biscardi 1948 American [12]
Roger Bourland 1952 American
Mark Carlson 1952 American [25]
David Conte 1955 American
Conrad Cummings 1948 American [12][24]
Corey Dargel 1977 American
Don Davis 1957 American
Jeremy Dutcher 1990 Canadian
Mohammed Fairouz 1985 American [24]
Gareth Farr 1968 New Zealander
Michael Finnissy 1946 English [9]
Alan Fletcher 1956 American
Trevor Grahl 1984 Canadian
Jake Heggie 1961 American
Jennifer Higdon 1962 American [14][24]
Stephen Hough 1961 Anglo-Australian [14][24]
Laura Karpman 1959 American [14]
Lowell Liebermann 1961 American
Jonathan Mills 1963 Australian
Meredith Monk 1942 American [14]
Nico Muhly 1981 American [14]
Andrew Norman 1979 American [24]
Patrick Nunn 1969 British
Thomas Pasatieri 1941 American
Albert Patron 1969 Italian
Tobias Picker 1954 American
Matthew Ricketts 1986 Canadian
Gil Shohat 1973 Israeli
Michael Tilson Thomas 1944 American
Philip Venables 1979 English [9]
Šimon Voseček 1978 Austro-Czech
Rufus Wainwright 1973 American-Canadian

References

Citations

  1. Jacob, Roger. Macy, Laura (ed.). Dominique Phinot. Grove Music Online.
  2. Dejean, Joan (1981). Libertine strategies: freedom and the novel in seventeenth-century France. Ohio State University Press. pp. 198–211. ISBN 0-8142-0325-6
  3. Haggerty (2000), p. 855-856.
  4. Randel, Don Michael (1996). The Harvard Biographical Dictionary of Music. Harvard University Press. p. 762. ISBN 978-0-674-37299-3.
  5. Blanning 2016, p. 193.
  6. Carr, Jonathan (2007). The Wagner Clan. London: Faber and Faber. p. 121.
  7. Fuller, Sophie (1994). Pandora Guide to Women Composers. London: Pandora. pp. 203–206. ISBN 0-04-440897-8.
  8. Haggerty (2000), p. 1178.
  9. Hind, Rolf (2015). "Queer Pitch: is there such a thing?" The Guardian. Retrieved 20 July 2022.
  10. Hubbs (2004), p. 67.
  11. Hubbs (2004), p. 2.
  12. Haggerty (2000), p. 562.
  13. Hubbs (2004), p. 4.
  14. Knoll, Brooke (2021). "10 contemporary queer composers to listen to in honor of Pride Month". Your Classical. Retrieved 19 July 2022.
  15. Aldrich & Wotherspoon (2020), pp. 123–124.
  16. Pollack 2000, p. 39.
  17. Hubbs (2004), p. 13.
  18. Hubbs (2004), p. 101.
  19. Gavoty 1976, p. 37.
  20. Haggerty (2000), pp. 893–894.
  21. Haggerty (2000), pp. 1309–1310.
  22. Haggerty (2000), p. 1323.
  23. Hubbs (2004), p. 84.
  24. Peterson, Catherine (2018). "10 Contemporary LGBTQ Composers You Should Know". Arts Boston. Retrieved 20 July 2022.
  25. https://www.weho.org/Home/Components/Calendar/Event/3556/

Sources

  • Aldrich, Robert; Wotherspoon, Garry (2020). Who's Who in Gay and Lesbian History: From Antiquity to the Mid-Twentieth Century. Routledge. ISBN 978-0-415-15982-1.
  • Blanning, T. C. W. (2016). Frederick the Great: King of Prussia. New York: Random House. ISBN 978-1-4000-6812-8. OCLC 994869052.
  • Gavoty, Bernard (1976). Reynaldo Hahn: le musicien de la Belle Époque (in French). París: Buchet Chastel. OCLC 954560497.
  • Haggerty, George E.; Beynon, John; Eisner, Douglas, eds. (2000). Gay Histories and Cultures: An Encyclopedia (volume 2 of The Encyclopedia of Lesbian and Gay Histories and Cultures). New York and London: Garland Publishing. ISBN 978-0-81531-880-4.
  • Hubbs, Nadine (2004). The Queer Composition of America's Sound: Gay Modernists, American Music, and National Identity. University of California Press. ISBN 978-1-41754-522-3.
  • Pollack, Howard (Spring 2000). "The Dean of Gay American Composers". American Music. 18 (1): 39–49. doi:10.2307/3052389. JSTOR 3052389.
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