Licence to Continue to Sing

In March I took a look at some of the early James Bond theme songs and music, whether used or rejected, that were created by lgbt+ artists. Today I finish off with the music from Daniel Craig’s term as 007.

Casino Royale (2006) – This “official” film version, as opposed to the 1967 cult spoof version I mentioned last time, was Daniel’s first appearance as James Bond. The music and theme song were not written or performed by an lgbt+ artist, but one of the “rejected” songs (which was never actually written!) was.

In 2006, when talk of the new James Bond was filling the internet rumour machines, news that the British electro-band Goldfrapp had been asked to write and perform the “Casino Royale” theme song.

Goldfrapp consists of Alison Goldfrapp (b.1966) and Will Gregory (b.1959). Alison has been reported to have been in relationships with both men and women (not at the same time). In an interview in 2010 she said that her then current relationship was with a woman, and that she was not a big fan of labels. This was reiterated in another interview given last year, when she was in a relationship with a man. In that interview she described her sexuality as “straight-ish”.

Back in 2006 the British tabloid press was full of news “confirming” that Goldfrapp had been asked to write the theme song. This was followed up with later reports that they had been dropped because the producers had decided on a more hard-edged Bond and needed a hard-edged theme to go with it, which they thought Goldfrapp could not supply. As with the Pet Shop Boys and “The Living Daylights” (see part 1) the truth wasn’t quite the same.

Both Alison Goldfrapp and Will Gregory knew David Arnold, the main Bond composer since “Tomorrow Never Dies” in 1997. Will’s impression was that Goldfrapp was just one of several bands whose name was thrown around as possible Bond theme writers. There was never an actual official approach from the producers, despite the tabloid press “confirming” it. So Goldfrapp never even started to write a Bond theme.

We have to move on almost a decade before another lgbt+ artist had an impact on Bond music, and a very divisive and controversial impact it has had. I have to admit that I have never been a fan of this artist who, in my opinion, can’t sing, and who has consistently proven to be a laughing-stock to the majority of the UK lgbt+ community.

Opinion is divided over Sam Smith’s (b.1992) song “Writing’s On The Wall” for 2015’s Bond film “Spectre”. Writing with Jimmy Napes, it is said that the song took just 30 minutes to write, and it shows in its poor quality and blandness. For many aficionados of Bond music, like myself, who have a best and least favourite, the best Bond song varies considerably among us. The least favourite (or worst) is usually “Writing’s On The Wall”, often vying for bottom position with Madonna’s “Die Another Day”.

The fact that Sam’s song won an Oscar for Best Original Song is not the honour it used to be. An analogy can be a barrel of rotting apples – how do you chose the least rotten? I’m not saying that Sam’s song or all recent Oscar winning songs are rotten, just that they’re not as good as they used to be. Relatively few songs are written for films these days, and their quality has suffered.

Which leads us to the blunder that cemented Sam Smith’s place in history as a laughing-stock, which was to claim to be the first lgbt+ person to win an Oscar in front of the audience at the Oscar ceremony itself and millions of media viewers. Almost immediately, many people who knew what they were talking about (i.e. many previous lgbt+ Oscar winners) took to social media to show how ignorant Sam Smith is. Until Sam does anything to earn my respect, I am not obliged to give it.

The latest Bond film was 2021’s “No Time To Die”. The theme song was co-written (with her brother) and performed by Billie Eilish (b.2001). Again, opinion is divided over this song among aficionados. It’s considered to be a good song (winning an Oscar, but see the previous paragraph), but many feel it is too slow paced to reflect the atmosphere of the film.

Billie broke a Bond record when she recorded “No Time To Die”. She was the youngest performer to do so. Billie and her brother Finneas O’Connell (Billie’s real family name) had often made up songs which they thought would make good Bond themes, and little did they know that one day they would actually be doing it.

Their chance came after performing at the annual Electric Picnic arts and music festival at Stradbally Hall, Ireland, in 2020. This is one of Billie’s favourite festivals because it connects her to her Irish heritage. “I’m part Irish, dude… This is my home”, she is quoted as saying.

Barbara Broccoli, one of the Bond producers, saw Billie’s performance and contacted her to discuss the Bond film then in production, “No Time To Die”, and asked Billie and her brother if they’d like to write the title song. There was no hesitation in their reply.

It took three days for them to write the song. They met Hans Zimmer, the overall music director of the film, and together they developed the final version that appears in the film.

Now we’re up to date. What will the future hold for Bond theme songs? Will they continue to be a significant part of the franchise? Which lgbt+ artists and composers will be invited to contribute? Will “Writing’s On The Wall” ever be liked? Only time will tell.

There are quite a few “rejected” Bond songs out there. Most of them are available on YouTube, and if you want to hear some of them (including songs by Jonny Cash and Alice Cooper) see this video.

License to Sing

Among the many days that have traditional names ascribed to them (e.g. New Year’s Day, Shrove Tuesday, Mother’s Day) is Spy Wednesday, which is today. It’s the name given to the Wednesday before Easter Sunday and marks the day that Judas Iscariot decided to betray Jesus, as recorded in the Bible. Some Christian denominations still mark this day in their services.

So, as I did a few years ago I’ll mark Spy Wednesday by writing about the world’s most famous spy, James Bond. My intention was to write about the gay artist who designed many of the original book covers, but I had already done a bit about that last time. What I hadn’t done is write about the Bond themes and their lgbt+ connections. This is the first of two articles about the music of 007.

Music has always been a significant element of the Bond films, especially the title songs and the iconic Bond theme itself. I’m a fan of the Bond themes (except the bland Daniel Craig songs). Over the years a handful of lgbt+ singers and songwriters who have contributed to the Bond franchise. Some of the songs and music were rejected or used elsewhere, and these will also be covered.

Here is the chronological list of known lgbt+ singers and songwriters from the pre-Daniel Craig era.

“From Russia With Love” (1963) – The second Bond film and the first to include the film’s title in the theme song. He writer of the song was Lionel Bart (1930-1999), perhaps best known for writing the musical “Oliver!”

It may sound strange to some of you, but Lionel Bart is one of the many songwriters and musicians (like Elton John and Paul McCartney) who can’t read or write music, but could play an instrument (it’s like speaking without knowing how to read or write, as long as you make the right sound). Lionel would play the song on piano, perhaps record it, and a fellow musician would convert what he or she heard into musical notation. In the case of “From Russia With Love” it appears that John Barry, the main Bond composer of the 1960s, wrote down Lionel’s song and gave it the full orchestral arrangement for the film. That is why John Barry is often given a co-writing credit for the song.

“Thunderball” (1965) – Several other artists recorded a theme song, including Johnny Cash, which were all rejected. Twelve years ago, some 47 years after the film was released, a rejected theme for “Thunderball” by the above-mentioned Lionel Bart was rediscovered by Bond music expert Jon Burlingame.

As well as the title song, Bart also composed several variations which were probably intended to be used as incidental music. These all may have been demo recordings and not submitted officially to the Bond producers.

“Casino Royale” (1967) – Although not a part of the official James Bond franchise, this spoof film has become something of a cult. The film score was composed by music legend Burt Bacharach who, with his lyricist Hal David, came up with what is regarded as the film’s signature song, “The Look of Love”. In fact, the song almost never made it into the film at all.

The sequence in which “The Look of Love” features was directed by James McGrath. He played the song “The Girl From Ipanema” on set many times. When he came to shoot the seduction sequence with Peter Sellers and Ursula Andress he felt “The Girl From Ipanema” fitted the scene. However, the producers thought this would be too “arty” and threatened to cut the scene out altogether. So, McGrath asked Bacharach and David to come up with a song that gave the same feeling. They came up with “The Look of Love”. Thank goodness McGrath decided to keep the scene against the producer’s wishes or we wouldn’t have had the pleasure of hearing one of the best Bond songs ever.

Credit for the success of the song must also be given to its singer, the lesbian icon Dusty Springfield (1949-1999). A favourite singer of Burt Bacharach, Dusty’s smoky voice emphasises the sensual nature of the scene. Bacharach always referred to “The Look of Love” as a sexual song, not a love song. Fortunately for all concerned, the song was a massive hit and was nominated for an Oscar (it lost to “Talk to the Animals” from “Doctor Doolittle”).

“The Living Daylights” (1987) – It would be another 20 years and 12 films later that any lgbt+ singer or songwriter is known to have written for Bond. However, this time the song never made the film. It also connects us quite neatly with Dusty Springfield, because the group whose song was rejected was the Pet Shop Boys, featuring openly gay Neil Tennant (b.1954). The Pet Shop Boys are often wrongly credited with bringing Dusty Springfield out of “retirement” in 1987, when in fact Richard Carpenter had done so several months beforehand with the song “Something In Your Eyes”, but that’s another story.

The Pet Shop Boys wrote their “The Living Daylights” theme song in 1986. The story goes that someone connected with the production of the film had remarked that the group may be approached to write the theme song. The identity of that production crew member is uncertain, as is the exact nature of the “approach”. Perhaps it was just a rumour, or a case of the Pet Shop Boys being one of many names mentioned informally as a possibly suitable commercial choice. In the end the Pet Shop Boys wrote their song and recorded it, only to find that the band A-ha had been chosen instead.

Not letting a good song go to waste, the Pet Shop Boys reworked the song into a track called “This Must Be The Place I Waited Years To Leave”. It was featured on their 1990 album “Behaviour”. Recording the theme song for a Bond film only to have it rejected is not uncommon.

“Tomorrow Never Dies” (1997) – Moving on another ten years, we come to the film with one accepted and one rejected son featuring lgbt+ artists.

Not all Bond films have their signature song played over the opening credits. One or two are played over the closing credits. The most famous of these is “We have All the Time In the World” (“On Her Majesty’s Secret Service”). One less well-known end credit song is overshadowed by the opening credit title song in “Tomorrow Never Dies”. The end credit song is sung by another lesbian icon, k. d. lang (b.1961).

Unlike many other Bond songs, the producers of this film let it be known that they would be willing to accept any prospective Bond theme from any artist and writer. This led to more possible Bond songs that before, 12 in all, officially. One of the songs was written and sung by Marc Almond (b.1957). Unfortunately, his song is one of several that has never been released commercially or has been reworked and recorded fro public release, so we may never hear it.

The story of how k. d. lang ended up singing the closing theme and not the opening one was different. In 1997 British film composer David Arnold (“Stargate”, “Independence Day”, and the London 2012 Olympic opening ceremony, amongst other projects) produced a Bond music tribute album called “Shaken and Stirred”, consisting of Bond songs covered by other artists. For “Diamonds Are Forever” Arnold chose gay singer-songwriter David McAlmont (b.1967). The Bond producers heard the album and offered Arnold the job of scoring the whole “Tomorrow Never Dies” film. However, the first thing Arnold did was to ask McAlmont to co-write the theme song. Basically, the melody is McAlmont’s, the arrangement is Arnold’s, and the lyrics are by Bond legend Don Black. McAlmont was the singer on the demo tape.

However, the Bond producer’s had decided that none of the artists who submitted songs would be commercial enough to use, so they chose a popular singer of that period, Cheryl Crow, to write and perform the eventual Bond opening song instead.

Not to be outdone, Arnold rescored his theme, now retitled “Surrender”, with k. d. lang as the singer. The producers agreed to put the song at the end of the film over the closing credits. It’s a typical Bond song, with blaring trumpets, strong bass chords, and soaring vocals. I wonder it wasn’t chosen for the opening titles precisely because it too stereotypically Bond.

There’s actually a video on YouTube in which someone has put k.d. lang’s “Surrender” over the opening credits of “Tomorrow Never Dies” (below). I think you’ll agree, you can’t get any more “Bondy” than that.

That’s about it for today. I’ll continue this look at 007’s queer music in May.

What a Way To Go!

The covid pandemic has made a lot of us think about death more often, especially, as in my case, close members of your family have passed away in the last twelve months. Most of us hope for a peaceful and painless death but some are less fortunate. Some of the most horrific deaths have been caused by war, murder or natural accident. The lgbt community still suffers murderous attacks because of our genders and sexual identities.

There’ll never be an appropriate time to ignore death and it’s more ironic and unusual causes, those that are so weird, bizarre or unique that they stand out. No doubt you’ve heard of the Darwin Awards. Named after Charles Darwin these are imaginary awards given to people who, through their own mistakes, have removed themselves from the human gene pool permanently.

Below are examples of unusual causes of deaths in the lgbt community. Not all of them qualify for a Darwin Award but are no less notable. With one exception I am excluding murders and suicides that were deliberate or premeditated.

Sir Francis Bacon, 1st Viscount St. Alban (1561-1626) – statesman, scientist and philosopher. Perhaps Bacon’s death is one of the most famous Darwin Awards, despite it being questioned in recent years. It was Bacon’s scientific curiosity that led to his demise. On a cold and snowy afternoon in March 1626 Bacon was riding in his carriage just outside London when he had an idea. Could snow preserve meat? So, he stopped the carriage and obtained a dead chicken for a nearby household (most people kept chickens in those days) and began stuffing and packing it with snow. I suppose he took the chicken back home with him to observe the effects, but he never got to find out if he was right. He caught a chill which soon developed into bronchitis and he died about a week later.

Jean-Baptiste Lully (1632-1687) – French composer, pioneer of modern opera and military bands. Lully was Master of the King’s Music to Louis XIV of France. In those days the conductor of an orchestra didn’t wave a baton around. They kept time by tapping a staff on the floor (orchestras were quite small in those days so musicians could easily see and hear the staff tapping). This staff evolved into the big ornamental staffs that leaders of marching bands carry today. In late 1686 King Louis XIV recovered from surgery and Lully decided to celebrate by organising a performance of his “Te Deum”. During a rehearsal he stabbed himself in the foot with his conducting staff. Blood poisoning and gangrene set in and he died. This cause of death, like that of Sir Francis Bacon’s, has been questioned in recent years.

Arrhichion (d.564 BC) – Olympic champion in the sport of pankration, a mixture of boxing and wrestling in which virtually anything goes. Arrhichion was a native of the city of Phigalia. Like all ancient Greek athletes he would undoubtedly have become the boy-lover of an older athlete during his training and took a boy-lover of his own when he got older. At the 52nd Olympic Games in 572 BC he became champion for the first time. He successfully defended his title at the next games and was hot favourite to win it three times in a row. He made it to his third Olympic final in 564 BC. His opponent, whose name we don’t know, got the upper hand in the final round. He wrapped his legs around Arrhichion and put him in a strangle hold. Arrhichion managed to free one of his legs and trapped his opponent’s foot behind his knee. He twisted his leg so sharply that his opponent was in so much agony that he surrendered. Arrhichion had won his third title. Unfortunately, by this time he had lost consciousness due to the strangle hold and died. The victor’s wreath was placed on his dead body. Incidentally, the oldest known statue of an Olympic champion is believed to be of Arrhichion. It is currently on display at the museum at Olympia.

Tiberius, Emperor of Rome (42 BC- 37 AD) died twice – sort of. This is the exception to my “no premeditated murder” rule. Despite being emperor he lived his final years in semi-retirement at his villa on Capri. There he allegedly trained young boys to nibble at bits of him when he went swimming! He was an old man by this time, and as he was approaching his 78th birthday he began to show signs that he was dying. Courtiers gathered around his bed and watched him breathe his last breath. At the villa was Caligula and the courtiers wasted no time in proclaiming him the new emperor. Meanwhile, Tiberius began to revive! Reports of what happened next vary but they all agree on one thing. To ensure that Caligula was the legal emperor someone smothered Tiberius with his own bedclothes. This time they made sure he was dead.

Pietro Aretino (1492-1556) was an Italian satirist, playwright, blackmailer and self-proclaimed sodomite. He was once described as the Father of Pornographic Literature. His death, like that of Tiberius, has several variations but the ultimate cause is the same in all of them. One account says that he was at a party hosted by his sister when someone told a very risqué or rude joke. Pietro laughed so much that he couldn’t breathe. He fell backwards off his chair and smashed his head on the floor. Whether is was his inability to breathe or his head smashing on the floor that caused his death at least he died with a smile on his face.

The same cannot be said of Isadora Duncan (1877-1727), the bisexual American dancer and dance teacher whose death is one of the most well-known in the theatrical world. She was staying in the south of France and accepted a lift in an open-topped car. One of her friends advised her to put on a coat because the evening was a bit chilly, but Isadora refused, preferring instead to wear a long scarf. As the car sped away the flowing end of the scarf got caught in the spokes of a rear wheel and yanked Isadora from the back seat, throwing her onto the road, breaking her neck.

I’m sure none of us would like to endure these death, except perhaps Pietro Aretino’s. The world will never be short of unusual deaths as long as there is an infinite number of possibilities of passing away. I hope I “meet my maker” in the same manner as my grandfather – peacefully in bed at the age of 101.

Homohoax: Legacy of a Nobody

[Homohoax: A hoax, prank, deception or fraud committed by, targeted at, or attributed to the lgbt community]

There are many composers who were huge celebrities in their lifetime and national heroes, yet there are also once-famous composers who are virtually unknown in the modern music world and yet have become cults because of it. One such composer is Dag Esrum-Hellerup (1803-1891).

Born in the Danish city of Aarhus Dag was blessed with having a musical father (very little is known about his mother and he says little about her in his own memoirs published in 1883, or in the biography of him written by Prof. A. Pirro published in 1909). Dag’s father, Johan Henrik Esrum-Hellerup (1773-1843), was a humble railway crossing guard who became a self-taught virtuoso on the flute and the ophicleide, a precursor of the modern tuba.

Johan’s musical talent was spotted by a member of the court orchestra of the Duke of Mecklenburg-Schwerin who happened to be waiting at the station crossing where Johan worked and who heard him playing the ophicleide during a break from his duties. Johan was duly invited to join the Duke’s court orchestra. The whole family, including young Dag, moved to Schwerin. Not long after that Johan was appointed to the chamber orchestra of King Christian IX of Denmark. With this background Dag was able to mix with the top musicians in Scandinavia.

Dag studied the ophicleide under his father but efforts proved unsuccessful and Dag turned to the flute. He studied under Friedrich Kuhlau, a pianist and composer known as the “Beethoven of the Flute” (despite not being able to play the flute himself!). Dag became an accomplished flautist and began to gain a reputation in his early 20s as a composer. He rapidly became popular with the public, fellow musicians and royalty. Richard Wagner called him “the Danish Wagner”.

For a while Dag was the toast of the upper class musical circles of Europe. Recently discovered documents at Windsor Castle have revealed that he gave a recital of one of his flute quartets for Queen Victoria. This was shortly after the marriage of the Prince of Wales (later King Edward VII) to Princess Alexandra of Denmark (the princess had known Dag at the Danish court of her father King Christian IX).

For reasons not entirely understood Dag’s reputation and popularity faded quickly in the 1860s. Neither his memoirs nor the 1909 biography give any details. His final years were spent in seclusion and he died in 1891, choking on a fish bone while attending a performance of Wagner’s “Parsifal” (at the invitation of Wagner’s gay son, Siegfried). His death attracted only one sentence in a Danish newspaper. He was remembered by few and even his 1909 biography went largely ignored.

Dag Esrum-Hellerup was rediscovered in the late 1970s by musicologist and authority on Nordic music, Robert Layton (1930-2020) who came across one of the few remaining copies of the biography. It immediately sparked his interest and he began researching deeper. At the time Robert was involved in preparations for the publication of the New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians and thought Dag Esrum-Hellerup deserved an entry. Robert quickly wrote an entry on Dag and submitted it just before publication.

Even though next to no music by Dag has survived his legacy remains. More details of his life have been emerging slowly over the years and he has become something of a cult figure. In 2013 he became the inspiration for a contest organised by Grove Music/Oxford Music Online. This legacy is remarkable because – Dag Esrum-Hellerup didn’t exist.

Everything you’ve read in this article so far, except for the two immediately preceding paragraphs, is fiction. Dag Esrum-Hellerup was the brainchild of the above-mentioned Robert Layton, who was indeed a respected musicologist, expert on Nordic music, and contributor to the New Grove Dictionary.

Before we look at Robert Layton I’ll just separate some facts from the above fiction. The ophicleide is a genuine musical instrument. Friedrich Kuhlau was a real person who composed flute music and called the “Beethoven of the Flute”, and it’s true that he didn’t play the instrument. Esrum and Hellerup are names of real villages with railway crossings.

Robert Layton’s expertise in classical Nordic music led to him writing several articles for the New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians. He was known for his sense of humour and some people were on the receiving end of his practical jokes, which included the global musical world with his entry on Dag Esrum-Hellerup.

The hoax article was revealed very quickly when a Danish musician read the fake entry and tried to find Dag’s birth certificate. When Robert admitted it was all a hoax the editor of the dictionary, Stanley Sadie, was furious and had it removed from the second edition. However, Dag Esrum-Hellerup became a cult when Stanley Sadie acknowledged the hoax in an article on this and other musical hoaxes in “Musical Times”, which he also edited. Other musical writers and critics have added to the story over the years with fictional additions to Dag’s life story, as I have above.

Robert Layton was a leading authority on the Finnish composer Jean Sibelius and in 1986 was awarded the Sibelius Medal by the Sibelius Society of Finland. In 1988 Robert was made a Knight of the order of the White Rose of Finland, and in 2001 was made a Knight of the Royal Order of the Polar Star (Sweden). Robert was survived by his civil partner Chuan Chiam.

The Dag Esrum-Hellerup hoax was the main inspiration for the Grove Music Spoof Article Contest organised by Grove Music/Oxford Music Online. There could be a danger that Dag Esrum-Hellerup will become more famous than Robert Layton, the gay man who invented him.

Running the Birthday Boy's Flag Up the Pole

There’s nothing guaranteed to cause an argument than to claim a famous person from history was gay, especially if that person is a national hero in a predominantly homophobic country. The most recent argument has been the furore over renewed claims that the Polish composer Frédéric Chopin (1810-1849) was gay.

Today is the anniversary of his birth (the date most accepted by historians), so it seems appropriate to have a look at his queer credentials. The latest researcher to fly Chopin’s gay flag up the pole (sorry, I couldn’t resist the pun) is Moritz Weber, a Swiss concert pianist and music journalist.

Moritz isn’t the first person to look at Chopin’s sexuality. There has always been some ambiguous nature attributed to him, even in his own lifetime. He was never in really good health and his physical frame and appearance could be quite androgynous, often described as effeminate by his contemporaries and biographers alike. Chopin’s music was also often described as effeminate, or even childlike.

When Chopin was living in Paris his pieces were popular with female pianists, of which there were many. One music historian, Jeffrey Kallberg, has said that this would have coloured people’s attitude towards Chopin and his music making it less popular with musicians and music lovers who preferred more robust compositions from the likes of Beethoven. Attempts to “butch up” performances of Chopin’s works became common among male pianists in the 20th century.

Chopin’s sexuality has become such a big topic in recent decades. Early biographers often ignored or down-played and sexual aspect in his life, except in two instances which I’ll mention later.

One of the more recent biographies, “Chopin” by Bernard Gavoty published in 1977, took the closest look at that time into Chopin’s sexuality and his supposed love affairs. This led one reviewer to remark that Chopin was portrayed by Gavoty as a “sexually repressed man-child”.

By the end of the 20th century Chopin had become established within the lgbt community. The defunct, though partly archived, website glbtq.com, an online encyclopedia, contained a reference to him in one short matter-of-fact sentence in its article on classical music published in 2002. It said “More certain is the bisexuality of Frédéric Chopin”.

In 2018 Alan Walker wrote “Fryderyk Chopin: A Life and Times” (Fryderyk is the Polish spelling of his name). Walker addressed the issue of letters Chopin wrote to Tytus Woyciechowski (1808-1879), Chopin’s fellow student at the Warsaw Lyceum and later a pioneering agriculturalist and freedom fighter. These letters are also the ones which Moritz Weber studied but Alan Walker is “much inclined to doubt” that there is anything romantic contained within them.

We have the covid lockdown to thank for the new examination of the letters. While in lockdown Moritz began looking more closely at the composer’s letters. It is known that some were missing. This isn’t unusual considering how long ago that were written. I’m sure most of you have thrown away or lost a lot of the letters you have received.

Another problem with Chopin’s letters is that when they have been translated from Polish the personal pronouns have been changed. The use of gender in grammar affects different languages in different ways. If you’ve ever used a Google translation you’ll know gender pronouns get mixed up in many languages. In pre-Google translations of Chopin’s letters phrases he used in writing to men, such as “I love him”, have usually been translated as “I love her”.

Chopin’s letters to Tytus Woyciechowski have survived but not those from Tytus to Chopin. Because of this there interpretation is based purely on one side of the correspondence. The precise relationship Chopin had with Tytus, therefore, can never be definitively labelled. Despite the romantic overtones in Chopin’s letters there’s nothing to indicate that there was ever any physical relationship, or that Tytus was anything other than heterosexual.

It has been suggested that Chopin was asexual throughout his life though he felt a deep love fore several other men. These included Julian Fontana (1810-1869), a fellow Polish composer and Chopin’s musical executor who lived with him in Paris for two years. There was also Antoni Wodzinski (d.1928), a writer who had also lived with Chopin in Paris. Both of them received romantic letters from Chopin.

Critics of any suggestion that Chopin was not heterosexual point out his love affairs with two women, most notably with a French novelist George Sand, the pen-name of Aurore Dupin (1804-1876). Before that Chopin is supposed to have got engaged to Maria, the sister of Antoni Wodzinski. Maria was one of those many female pianist who loved Chopin’s works. She was also a talented artist. The portrait of Chopin at the top of this article was painted by her when she was 16 years old.

Although most early biographers present the engagement between Chopin and Maria as fact there is no written evidence from either of them that one existed. Likewise with George Sand. There’s no written evidence that they were romantically or sexually involved. True, George Sand wanted a relationship and asked some of Chopin’s friends if he was single. However, for Chopin any relationship may have not been conceivable. After their first meeting Chopin is said to have remarked “Is she a woman?” George often dressed in male clothes and smoked cigars, and she was never regarded as particularly good looking.

Even though the “couple” lived together on Mallorca for a couple of years there was no relationship. Chopin’s health was getting worse at that time and the two eventually fell out and separated.

Today it is generally accepted that Chopin and George Sand were not romantically involved. Even the Fryderyk Chopin Institute in Warsaw, the world’s leading protector of the composer’s legacy, admits there isn’t any evidence of one. I’m sure that opinions and new theories will continue to emerge. For now perhaps we should think of Chopin as a romantic asexual who may never have had sex at all. It seems apparent to me that he was attracted to men more than he was to women, even though he lived in a society where men regularly expressed their affection for each other.

80 More Gays Around the World: 1) A Battle in Calgary

We’ll get straight into 2020 with the latest series of “80 Gays”. As before, each of the people in the sequence of connections are numbered sequentially so that you can see how far we are through the 80 names. One change is that I’ve slightly altered the series title.

Because this is an Olympic year I’ve chosen to start and finish with a well-known lgbt entertainer who has performed at two Olympic Games closing ceremonies, 1) k. d. lang (b.1961).

1) k. d. lang has performed at both of the closing ceremonies of the two Olympics that have taken place in her native Canada. The first was the Winter Games in Calgary in 1988.

The 1988 closing ceremony is one of my favourites. It can be regarded as the first of the modern-style Winter closing ceremonies in that it was more than just the Olympic champions giving a gala performance of their best routines, as was traditional. The gala is now a separate event. The Calgary closing ceremony was a spectacular theatrical production. It had several set pieces, as well as the customary speeches, and had non-skating entertainers for the first time at a Winter closing ceremony.

Fortunately, the whole ceremony is on the Olympic Channel and you can see it here.

For me, one of the highlights of the ceremony is the sequence on the ice that represents a Victorian skating party. Throughout this sequence many former Olympic champions take part, either separately or with other champions. These include lgbt skaters Toller Cranston, Brian Pockar (who was the artistic director of the ceremony) and Robin Cousins.

Brian Pockar wasn’t the only gay skating Brian to make his mark at the 1988 Calgary Winter Olympics. Two other Brians provided one of the more anticipated battles over an Olympic title just a week earlier. Naturally, the media called it the Battle of the Brians.

2) Brian Orser (b.1961) and 3) Brian Boitano (b.1963) were the top two male figure skaters of the inter-Olympic period since the 1984 Sarajevo Winter Olympics. They had both been in the top three skaters in the world at the World Championships in 1985, 1986 and 1987. By the time the 1988 Calgary Olympics arrived Brian Orser was the world champion. Brian Boitano, the previous champion, came second. Orser was also the first person to land five triple axels in a World Championship (1987) and had become Canada’s first male figure skating singles world champion. Canada had hopes of him winning the Olympic title as well. To show their respect Orser was chosen to carry the Canadian national flag and lead the team into the opening ceremony.

I’ve never made any secret on this blog or on social media that I’m a big fan of Brian Orser, mainly because I like figure skating and also because of my Canadian connections. My grandfather lived in Toronto (in 2017 the city actually named a little community alleyway after my grandfather’s younger brother), and the place where Orser is based, the Toronto Cricket Skating and Curling Club, is only two miles from where my grandfather’s farm was in Willowdale.

Some of the big names in international skating were, or still are, trained by Orser. I have a little game at the Olympics. Every time figure skating is broadcast I count how many times in one competition Orser has to change his jacket when he’s sitting next to skater’s he has trained as the points are being announced, a different team jacket for each skater – Canada, Japan, South Korea and Spain at the 2018 PyeongChang Olympics (he’ not the only  one who does this, other trainers and choreographers also dash around swapping jackets).

Back in 1988 Orser and Boitano were poised to provide an epic showdown, and it certainly didn’t disappoint. I wrote very briefly about the Battle of the Brians in my 2012 Olympic series. Below is a YouTube video of the whole battle. There were three elements to the singles figure skating contest in those days. First there were the compulsory figures which gives the sport its name. Skaters have to skate in perfect geometric circles repeatedly. The second element is the short programme. In Calgary 1988 Orser was leading the contest by the end of this. The final element, the long programme, was perhaps the most eagerly anticipated.

Boitano skated first, followed by Orser. In what became the last time a contest was decided on the technical scores Boitano just pipped Orser to take the title.

Boitano’s performance in the short programme was to music from a ballet called “Les Patineurs”. This ballet is reminiscent of the skating sequence at the Calgary closing ceremony mentioned earlier. It is set in the Victorian period and takes place on a frozen pond. It was premiered in 1937 and was an instant success, playing in London every year until 1968 (except 1960). The ballet was choreographed by 4) Sir Frederick Ashton (1904-1988).

In the next “80 More Gays”: A dancing legacy leads us to ancient Greece and two gender-swapping characters.

Around the World in Another 80 Gays: Part 35) What a Performance

Previously on “Another 80 Gays” : The English politician 72) John Hervey, Lord Hervey (1696-1743) was satirised as 73) Sporus (c.49-69), the youth married to 74) Emperor Nero (37-68), famous for having watched Rome burn from the gardens of 75) Gaius Maecenas (68 BC-8 BC), an arts patron who fell in love with a pantomime performer called 76) Bathyllus (c.60 BC –c. 2 BC).

75) Gaius Maecenas loved all forms of entertainment and was patron to many writers and performers. In his villa in Rome, from where Nero is said to have watched the city burn, Meacenas built performing areas similar to modern stages.

At this time one form of entertainment was increasing in popularity. It was a poetry and dance act called pantomime performed by a solo artist, usually based on stories from mythology. Different characters were represented by different masks and gestures. There was quite a lot of erotic and lewd content in the performances and as such pantomime was seen as a career for the lower classes. However, pantomime was very popular with all classes.

76) Bathyllus was one of the Maecenas’s slaves before becoming one of the most famous pantomime performers. Whether Maecenas had fallen in love with him while he was his slave is unlikely, but by the time Bathyllus had become a household name several years later the poet Horace (another of Maecenas’s protégés) was writing poems about their love affair. Perhaps Bathyllus was already a talented performer during his slave years and Maecenas recognised a future star in the making, granting him his freedom and became his mentor and lover.

Bathyllus made comedy his speciality. He quickly became a super-celebrity and it was thought at one time that he was the person who actually introduced pantomime into Rome, though it is now known that it existed beforehand.

Bathyllus had his rivals. Just like modern times when, at one time, you were either a Kylie fan or a Madonna fan, in Rome you were either a Bathyllus fan or a Pylades fan. Pylades was another super-celebrity pantomime performer. The two may have met before their careers began, for when Bathyllus was a slave of Maecenas Pylades was a slave of Emperor Augustus, Maecenas’s boss. The rivalry between the Bathyllus fans and the Pylades fans can be likened to that of football fans, or the British Mods and Rockers of the 1960s. Just like the Mods and Rockers, the fans of Bathyllus and Pylades clashed violently in the streets. In fact, Augustus banned Pylades from Rome until the rival gangs calmed down.

We don’t know when Bathyllus died. Pylades produced a pantomime festival in 2BC when he was too old to perform personally. We assume Bathyllus was about the same age and equally too old to perform, if he was still alive by then.

Even though Roman pantomime dropped in popularity in the 7th century elements of it survived in Italian theatre and partly influenced the “commedia dell’arte” of the 17th century. With the development of stock characters such as Harlequin, Columbine, Scaramouche and Pantaloon commedia dell’arte influenced the extremely popular modern form of British pantomime.

At this time of year almost every city, town and village in Britain puts on a pantomime. I’ve been in quite a few myself, dating back to my childhood days. One pantomime regularly tops the list of the most performed in any one year – Cinderella. The popularity of the story has, of course, spread beyond British theatre. The Disney cartoon is perhaps the most famous version. My personal favourite, however, is the 1976 British film “The Slipper and the Rose”. This was a significant film for the lgbt community, not because the Prince was played by (the now openly gay) Richard Chamberlain, but because it was the first film for which a transgender person received an Oscar nomination. That person was 77) Angela Morley (1924-2009).

Apart from the actual songs and main themes all of the music in “The Slipper and the Rose” is Angela’s – composer, arranger, orchestrator and conductor. In 2011 I wrote about Angela’s musical successes which ranged from surreal radio comedy to Holocaust biography.

It’s difficult to explain briefly what an arranger and orchestrator does. Basically and arranger takes the music from a composer and decides arranges the tune to sound like heavy rock, burlesque, romantic ballet music or country and western. The orchestrator decides how many instruments play the finished piece of music and which part of the tune they play. Often the composer is also the arranger and orchestrator.

I can’t do justice to Angela Morley’s massive contribution to television and film music, so I suggest you look at her IMDb page. But here’s a video of famous scene from a famous film in which all the music you hear was composed by Angela Morley based on the main theme of the film written by her most famous regular collaborator, John Williams.

Angela Morley first came to my attention when I was a child listening to his music in BBC radio comedies. I’m still listening to them. Both of her main comedies are currently being repeated on BBC Radio 4 Extra every week. BBC radio was Angela’s big break in music, as it was for a star of one of those radio comedies, “Hancock’s Half Hour”. That other British comedy legend was 78) Kenneth Williams (1926-1988).

Next time : We Carry On with more comedy and end up being Mad About the Boy.

Around the World in Another 80 Gays : Part 30) Songs and Deadly Fires

Previously on “Another 80 Gays” : The royal pretender 60) Dmitri I (d.1606) gained his throne in one of the Russian succession conflicts that had previously seen the assassination of 61) St. Boris (590-1015) and 62) George the Hungarian (d.1015), with Boris having dragon legends built up around him, a popular Medieval folk motif which influenced an opera by Richard Wagner whose hero he named his son after – 63) Siegfried Wagner (1869-1930).

Following his father’s death 63) Siegfried Wagner became guardian of the Wagnerian legacy. The main foundation of this was the Bayreuth Festival. Siegfried, already an established composer and opera writer, was always living under his father’s shadow even though his compositions were also popular.

Even though he was named after one of the most famous heroes in German folklore Siegfried’s favourite opera of his father’s was “Tannhäuser”. Richard Wagner completed it in 1845 but was always tinkering with it because he wasn’t satisfied with the result. Siegfried was keen to produce “Tannhäuser” at the Bayreuth Festival for years but couldn’t afford to finance the extravagant production he envisaged. He finally got the chance in 1930, the year of his death.

Several of Siegfried’s gay friends were brought into the production. He chose two for the two lead male roles. Kurt Söhnlein, also gay, designed the sets. The choreographer was asked to include homoerotic elements into sections of set in the subterranean grottos of the goddess Venus. With Richard Wagner’s reputation of being right-wing, and the growing popularity of his operas in the emerging extreme right-wing politics in Germany, traditionalists objected to this aspect of the 1930 production.

Despite this Siegfried’s “Tannhäuser” was a resounding success, and it even had the great Arturo Toscanini as conductor. It was also probably the first musical production that was subsequently recorded as an “original cast” album (except for a replacement for Toscanini).

The character of Tannhäuser was a legendary knight and minstrel. During the 19th century he appeared in various collections of folk tales, with embellishments. One embellishment was his participation in a minstrel song contest, which may have been the final piece of inspiration for Richard Wagner to include that contest in his opera halfway through the second act. The contest was a very specific one. It was one that featured in folklore and is sometimes called the Sängerkreig. It is also sometimes called the Wartburgkrieg because it was held at Wartburg Castle in 1207.

Even though Tannhäuser was a man of folklore some of the songs attributed to him made it into print. The earliest of these is in a collection of medieval German minstrel songs called the Codex Manesse. This book is acclaimed as the most comprehensive source of German minstrel songs and was produced just over a hundred years after the Wartburgkrieg. The Codex contains songs composed by 140 minstrels, including kings, counts and commoners, most of them illustrated with portraits of the minstrels themselves.

Tannhäuser is illustrated with his songs (below left) as was another minstrel referred to as “Der Püller” (below right). He has been identified as Konrad Püller of Hohenburg Castle in present day French Alsace (where it is known as the Château du Hohenbourg). The castle is now in ruins but is still a very popular tourist attraction and a protected national monument.

Most of the castle has been rebuilt over the centuries. One of the last members of the family to live in Konrad’s castle was his grandson 64) Richard Püller von Hohenburg (d.1482).

Being located in the border country where France and medieval German states meet Hohenburg Castle often changed ownership during border disputes. Richard had more than territorial conflicts which threatened his possession of the castle. Several times he was accused of homosexuality. The first time was in 1463 when one of his servants was detained after being seen wearing clothes that were reserved for the aristocracy (there were laws on who could wear what in those days). Under torture the servant admitted that he bought the clothes with money he had blackmailed out of Richard Püller in return for his silence on Richard’s homosexual activity.

Richard was arrested, then released without trial after his family estates in Strasbourg were confiscated. But once accusations of homosexuality are made they are easy to be make again. In 1474 Richard was arrested again. He was stripped of Hohenburg Castle and held in custody for two years, managing to escape the death penalty because of his noble rank. He was released on condition that he signed a confession of sodomy and spent the rest of his life in a monastery. He did the former but not the latter. Instead he escaped to Switzerland where he tried to get support for his campaign to regain his Strasbourg and Hohenburg estates.

In Zurich Richard found some support. Negotiations were lengthy, mainly because Strasbourg was a Swiss ally. Then, suddenly, negotiations stopped and Richard found himself arrested yet again for homosexuality. This time the outcome was different. The Swiss didn’t recognise German titles and Richard was treated as a commoner. He was found guilty and sentenced to be burnt at the stake as a heretic.

Richard went to his death denouncing the Zurich authorities for betraying him, putting most of the blame on a man called Hans Walmann. As it happens, Hans Waldmann would meet the same fate seven years later. In between he was seen as a popular political figure. He was elected Mayor of Zurich the year after Richard Püller’s execution and was regarded as a great statesman, even beyond the borders of Switzerland.

Very soon Hans Walmann was accused of sodomy by other Zurich officials who resented his popularity and they succeeded in having him burnt at the stake just like Richard Püller von Hohenburg. Being a popular politician was no guarantee of a long career.

The present Mayor of Zurich, however, has enjoyed a long and popular career. In fact she has been nominated for the title of World Mayor 2018. Her name is 65) Corine Mauch (b.1960).

Next time : World Mayors and a return to the American Revolution.