Edson Tadeu Ortolan ([log in to unmask]) wrote:

>Walter Meyer wrote:
>
>>As for my feelings towards the music of composers with whom I share
>>a common basis for social exclusion in some circles, I never felt more
>>attracted to the music of Mendelssohn, Mahler, Bernstein, Copland or
>>Meyerbeer than I did to that of Bach, Mozart, Haydn, Beethoven, Brahms,
>>Wagner or Bartok (just to select Aryan and non-Aryan composers at random).
>
>And Handel, Corelli, Lully: was they gay? But I agree with you, Mr.
>Meyer: music is music.  The sex and/or the sexual orientation of the
>composer is insignificant.

Absolutely.  I find it very sad when people consider that one aspect of
their personality defines them completely.

A related note: the actor Simon Callow in his wonderful "Being an Actor"
tells of how he thought long and hard when offered a part in a three-hander
about a gay couple.  Although he eventually took the role, he wrote that as
far as he was concerned he wasn't a Gay Actor he was an Actor who happened
to prefer going to bed with other men.

>Another question to increase the discussion: wasn't Beethoven an
>african-dutch descendent?

Oh no, not this again!  IIRC this is entirely based on a fundamental
misconception that when Beethoven was referred to as "Die Schwartze"
this implied african heritage.

It did nothing of the kind, as the "Black Irish" (dark-complexioned
descendants of the mariners from the Spanish Armada shipwrecked on the
Irish coast in 1588) could attest.

I don't believe there is any other evidence for this claim.

Deryk Barker
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