Jocelyn Wang replies to me replying to Jeremey:

>>>Wasn't Chopin gay or bi? I know he had a nine or ten year affair with
>>>novelist George Sand (Dudevant), but the author of every biography I've
>>>read about Chopin questioned his sexuality.
>>
>>What were their reasons? Are they sound? Was it because he spoke French
>>with a lisp or because he was caught in bed with Franz Liszt? Do you
>>believe them? Does it ultimately matter to the music?
>
>Adam Zamoyski's Chopin biography says nothing about getting caught in bed
>with Liszt, nor does anything I've read elsewhere about either of these two
>composers.  In fact, Mr. Schwartz's mention of it here is the first I've
>seen of it.  I'd like to know the source.

It was a joke, apparently not very well indicated.  I got two queries
off-list about it.  I thought it was so outrageous that people would
immediately discount it, but, given the current state of musical bio and
what constitutes evidence for sensational assertions, I should have added
something that couldn't possibly have been true, just to make sure nobody
took me seriously.  For what it's worth, I also have no idea whether Chopin
spoke French with a lisp, or, if he did, what that might prove.

>That being said, there can be little doubt that Chopin was bisexual.
>Zamoyski quotes amply from letters Chopin wrote as a young man to another
>man that can hardly lead one to conclude otherwise.

I don't know.  It seems to me that men, especially in that era, were more
extravagent in their profession of love and friendship for other men, even
though that love was not necessarily homoerotic.  I could show you letters
of Tennyson, for example, that might lead someone insufficiently versed in
the era's cultural norms to conclude the same of him.  As far as I know, no
one has ever claimed that Tennyson was homosexual.  I'll have to read
Zamoyski, if I can work up sufficient interest.

>And, no, it does not, nor should it, matter to the music.  Anyone
>homophobic enough to hold a composer's sexual preference against him
>does not deserve Chopin.

I agree.

Steve Schwartz