The legacy of LBGTQ+ composers in classical music over the centuries

Over the centuries, most classical-music listeners just assumed that the titans of the canon followed the usual romantic conventions. But as it turns out “some of the most recognizable and beloved music in Western culture was created by gay composers — it’s a simple statement of truth,” according to the digital magazine Ludwig Van. “LGBTQ+ composers have always been part of the classical music world, whether acknowledged or not.”

For Pride Month, here’s a look at some of the many LGBTQ+ composers, either self-identified or so specified by musicologists, who have made significant contributions to classical music, in chronological order:

Francesco Cavalli (1602-1676)

A student of Claudio Monteverdi, the Italian composer Francesco Cavalli eventually succeeded his teacher to become the leading opera composer of the mid 17th-century.

More than any composer of his era, Cavalli, whom music historians believe to have been gay, shaped opera as “a living theatrical language rather than a courtly experiment,” writes Georg Predota, a music professor at the University of Hong Kong, in an article for the site Interlude HK. “Claudio Monteverdi gave opera its first monumental voice, but Cavalli taught it how to converse, argue, seduce, lament and laugh.”

Notable works: The operas Didone (1641), Ormindo (1644) and La Calisto (1651). Few composers before Cavalli wrote laments with such emotional immediacy, Predota points out. In these works, abandoned lovers express “sorrow not as noble abstraction but as raw, often contradictory feelings.”

Jean-Baptiste Lully (1632-1687)

A master of the French Baroque music style, the Italian-French composer Jean-Baptiste Lully dominated French opera in the 17th century. After spending most of his life in the court of Louis XIV, he became a French subject in 1661. To the reported annoyance of that king, Lully conducted indiscreet affairs with men and women. Meanwhile, the French film “Le Roi Danse” (2000) ("The King Dances") depicts the libertine Lully as a natural ally of Louis XIV, while harboring a romantic interest in the king.

Along with his operas, Lully remains best known for his unusual death: due to a fatal infection, after stabbing his foot with his own conducting staff.

Notable works: 17 operas, including Alceste, ou le Triomphe d’Alcide (1674), Atys (1676) and Armide (1686).

George Frideric Handel (1685-1759)

Handel’s choral and operatic compositions remain among the most influential pieces ever written: from the enduringly popular oratorio Messiah (1742) to the operas Rinaldo and Agrippina, along with his acclaimed orchestral, chamber and instrumental works.

Born in Halle, Germany, Handel studied music from a young age. His works took off after he moved in 1712 to England, where audiences in particular embraced his 1711 opera Rinaldo.

He was believed to have been gay, moving in circles in Italy and London where same-sex desire was more accepted. In her book Handel as Orpheus (2004), music historian Ellen Harris makes a case for Handel’s homosexuality, pointing out that his cantatas display a clear homosexual subtext.

Notable works: Along with the previously cited titles, his Water Music (1717), his keyboard suites, the coronation anthem Zadok the Priest (1727), Music for the Royal Fireworks (1749) and his operas Giulio Cesare (1724), Partenope (1730), Orlando (1733), Alcina (1735) and Serse (1738).

Concert alert: The Chicago Symphony Orchestra and Chorus will perform Handel’s Messiah on Dec. 17-19.

Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (1840-1893)

Born in the Russian town of Votkinsk, he began composition studies with Anton Rubinstein in 1861. Tchaikovsky went on to write works that were among the most celebrated and emotionally expressive of the Romantic era; he is considered the most popular Russian composer of all time.

To stop people gossiping about his love life, Tchaikovsky married Antonina Miliukova, a former student, in 1877. The union soon turned into a source of torment for both, and he attempted suicide by throwing himself into a freezing river. The film “The Music Lovers” (1971), directed by Ken Russell, depicts this chapter (and others) of the composer’s life. "The film is about the fact that Tchaikovsky couldn’t love anyone, Russell said, "even though he wrote some of the world’s most beautiful music."

Later, Tchaikovsky became infatuated with his nephew Vladimir Davydov. Soon thereafter, Tchaikovsky died from drinking water infected with cholera.

Notable works: His six symphonies; the ballets Swan Lake (1877), The Sleeping Beauty (1889) and The Nutcracker (1892); his 1812 Overture (1880); operas Eugene Onegin (1878) and The Queen of Spades (1890).

Concert alert: The CSO, under Nikolai Szeps-Znaider, will perform the Suite from The Sleeping Beauty on Oct. 22-25.

Dame Ethel Smyth (1858-1944)

Born in London, she was a child prodigy, composing her first hymn at age 10. She decided to study music at age 12. She enrolled at the Leipzig Conservatory, where she met Brahms, Dvořák and Tchaikovsky. She went on to become active in the women’s suffrage movement and was open about her same-sex relationships. At 71, Smyth met and fell in love with the writer Virginia Woolf (then in her 40s), who described the affair as “like being caught by a giant crab.” 

Smyth’s choral work, “The March of the Women” (1911), with lyrics by Cicely Hamilton, was dedicated to suffrage movement leader Emmeline Pankhurst (another lover of Smyth’s). It became the official anthem of the Women’s Social and Political Union and women’s suffrage worldwide.

In 1922, Smyth was named a Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire, becoming the first female composer to be awarded the honor

Notable works: Among her best known are six operas, including Der Wald (1902) and The Wreckers (1904), and her Mass in D (1891).

Karol Szymanowski (1882-1937)

Regarded as the leading Polish composer of the early 20th century, he was a member of the Young Poland modernist movement. After World War I brought the founding of an independent Polish state in 1918, Szymanowski tried to create a Polish national style,

The pianist Arthur Rubinstein wrote of Szymanowski’s sexual awakening: “Karol had changed; after his return [from Italy], he raved about Sicily, especially Taormina. ‘There,’ he said, ‘I saw a few young men bathing who could be models for Antinous [lover of the Roman emperor Hadrian]. I couldn’t take my eyes off them.’ Now he was a confirmed homosexual. He told me all this with burning eyes.”

Notable works: The operas Hagith (1913) and King Roger (1924), four symphonies, two violin concertos, the choral works Veni Creator (1930) and Litania Do Marii Panny (1930–33) and a Stabat Mater.

Francis Poulenc (1899-1963)

The French composer and pianist wrote works spanning the compositional universe. Remembered for his vibrant, witty melodies and his profoundly religious choral works, he was one of the greatest composers of French art songs, helping to revitalize the genre after Gabriel Fauré.

Devoutly Catholic, Poulenc was one of the first openly gay composers and did not deny his sexuality in the context of his religious faith. To his lover, the painter Richard Chanlaire, Poulenc sent a score of his Concert champêtre, with the inscription: “You have changed my life, you are the sunshine of my 30 years, a reason for living and working.”

Meanwhile, music scholars continue to debate whether his diverse range of styles serve as “an outward representation of an inner moral conflict.”

Notable works: The operas Les mamelles de Tirésias (1947), Dialogues of the Carmelites (1957) and La voix humaine (1959); the choral works Stabat Mater (1950) and Gloria (1959); for orchestra, Concerto for Two Pianos and Orchestra (1932), Sinfonietta (1947), Piano Concerto (1949) and Concerto for Piano and Orchestra (1949).

Aaron Copland (1900-1990)

Born in New York, Aaron Copland was one of the many acclaimed students of Nadia Boulanger, whose roster of composition, performance and conducting talents dominated 20th-century music. Dubbed “The Dean of American music,” Copland was best known for his populist or vernacular style, characterized by open harmonies and centering on themes evoked by the American frontier. His ballet Appalachian Spring won the 1945 Pulitzer Prize for Music.

Though very private, Copland wrote letters to the artist Prentiss Taylor that reflect an intimate relationship. Copland also lived with other men, including photographer-musician Victor Kraft, artist Alvin Ross, pianist Paul Moor, dancer Erik Johns and composer John Brodbin Kennedy.

Notable works: The orchestral pieces El Salón México (1936), Lincoln Portrait (1942), Fanfare for the Common Man (1942); the ballets Billy the Kid (1938), Rodeo (1942) and Appalachian Spring (1944); the opera The Tender Land (1954), and the film scores for “Of Mice and Men” (1939), “Our Town” (1940), “The North Star” (1943), “The Heiress” (1949) and “Something Wild” (1961).

Concert alert: The CSO, under Joshua Weilerstein, will perform A Lincoln Portrait on June 18-21.

Michael Tippett (1905-1998)

Often regarded as a late bloomer who stood in the shadow of countryman Benjamin Britten, British composer Michael Tippett first attracted notice with his choral work A Child of Our Time (1944). Over his career, he adapted influences from Renaissance and Baroque-era composers Byrd, Dowland, Purcell, Handel and Bach and transformed them into his own voice.

Of Tippett, Limelight magazine has written: "Unlike the tight-lipped Britten, he was out there almost waving the rainbow flag. Not that he had it easy: ’Being unable to enter into a biological relationship with a woman, it seemed that I was excluded from an understanding of half the human race,’ Tippett once declared. His relationship with the painter Wilfred Franks produced, Tippett said, ’the deepest, most shattering experience of falling in love,’ and called it ’a major factor underlying the discovery of my own individual musical voice.’ ”

Notable works: His operas A Midsummer Marriage (1952), King Priam (1961) and The Knot Garden (1969). For orchestra, his Concerto for Double String Orchestra (1939), Fantasia Concertante of a Theme of Corelli (1953) and his four symphonies. The CSO gave the world premiere of his Symphony No. 4 on Oct. 6, 1977. 

Samuel Barber (1910-1981)

Considered one of the most expressive representatives of the lyric and Romantic movements in 20th-century classical music, the American composer built on romantic structures and sensibilities. His music has been described as “at once lyrical, rhythmically complex and harmonically rich.” In contrast to Copland, Barber was open about his homosexuality in his personal and professional lives. The same went for his life partner, the Italian-born composer Gian Carlo Menotti, with whom he studied with at the Curtis Institute of Music. Barber won the Pulitzer Prize for Music twice: in 1958, for his opera Vanessa (1957) and again in 1963 for his Piano Concerto.

Notable works: Knoxville: Summer of 1915 (1947) for voice and orchestra, his Violin Concerto (1939), The School for Scandal Overture (1931) and his opera Antony and Cleopatra (1966), commissioned for the opening of the new Metropolitan Opera House at Lincoln Center in 1966. His Adagio for Strings (1936) was one of the first American-composed works to be championed by Italian-born maestro Arturo Toscanini. Often called "America’s semi-official music for mourning," Adagio for Strings has been featured in many movies, including “The Elephant Man” (1980), “Platoon” (1986), "Lorenzo’s Oil" (1992), “Sicko” (2007) and “Outlander” (2019).

Gian Carlo Menotti (1911-2007)

Though not as famous as his life partner Samuel Barber, Italian-born composer Gian Carlo Menotti was no less lauded for his works. He also was a two-time Pulitzer Prize winner: in Menotti’s case for his operas The Consul (1950) and The Saint of Bleecker Street (1954). In 1977, he founded the Spoleto Festival USA in Charleston, South Carolina.

Notable works: His 19 operas, including The Medium (1946) and Amahl and the Night Visitors (1951).

John Cage (1912-1992)

A leading figure of the post-war avant-garde music scene, American composer John Cage studied with radical innovators Henry Cowell and Arnold Schoenberg. Cage’s major influences, however, can be traced to East and South Asian cultures. In turn, Cage deeply influenced the rock groups/artists Sonic Youth, Frank Zappa, Brian Eno, Aphex Twin and Radiohead. 

Though Cage had an intimate relationship with poet-artist Don Sample, he married artist Xenia Andreyevna Kashevaroff, daughter of a Russian priest, in 1935. Later, choreographer Merce Cunningham became Cage’s romantic partner for nearly 50 years, until Cage’s death in 1992.

Notable works: 4’33," his famous work of silence, designed to explore the  concert hall ambience and what music actually means. Later, the critic Kyle Gann would describe 4’33" as “one of the most misunderstood pieces of music ever written.” Also popular: Cage’s piano sonatas In a Landscape (1948) and Music of Changes (1951) and the song cycle The Wonderful Widow of 18 Springs (1942).

Benjamin Britten (1913-1976)

One of the most acclaimed composers of English operas, choral works and songs, Britten wrote many of them for his life partner, the tenor Peter Pears. At 9 years old, the young Britten started writing music when he composed an oratorio. He studied under Frank Bridge, John Ireland and Arthur Benjamin, among others. With Pears and the librettist Eric Crozier, Britten founded the Aldeburgh Festival in Suffolk, England.

Notable works: His operas, including Peter Grimes (1945), Billy Budd (1951), The Turn of the Screw (1954) and A Midsummer’s Night Dream (1960) — and his War Requiem — tackle contemporaneous issues related to psychology and post-war trauma, as well his own homosexuality.

Concert alert: The Young Person’s Guide to the Orchestra, which the Chicago Symphony Orchestra will perform in a CSO for Kids concert March 6, 2027.

Lou Harrison (1917-2003)

A leading figure of the West Coast avant-garde, he was known for his lyricism and cross-cultural exploration; Harrison pioneered the integration of Asian musical traditions (particularly Indonesian gamelan) with Western classical forms and alternative tuning systems.

Notable works:  The dance scores The Perilous Chapel (1949) and Solstice (1950), the ballet The Marriage at the Eiffel Tower (1949) and incidental lmusic for William Butler Yeats’ dance-play The Only Jealousy of Emer (1949). Also, Mass to St. Anthony, for voices accompanied by percussion ensemble (1952). 

Leonard Bernstein (1918-1990)

The mid-century titan of the American classic music, Bernstein excelled as a composer, conductor, pianist, educator, television host and over-all tastemaker. He also studied at the Curtis Institute of Music, along with Barber and Menotti. Though he had an on-again, off-again relationship with actress Felicia Cohn Montealegre and eventually married her, Bernstein was openly gay. The book The Bernstein Letters (2013) includes a 1951 correspondence from Felicia to Lenny: “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?”

Arthur Laurents, who collaborated with Bernstein on the musical West Side Story, called him “a gay man who got married,” stating, “He wasn’t conflicted about it at all. He was just gay.”

Notable works: The ballet Fancy Free (1944); the operas Trouble in Tahiti (1951), Candide (1956) and A Quiet Place (1983); the musicals On the Town (1944), Peter Pan (1950), Wonderful Town (1953) and West Side Story (1957); the score for the film “On the Waterfront” (1954); the choral works Chichester Psalms (1965) and Missa Brevis (1988); the theater piece Mass (1971), and for orchestra, Symphony No. 1 (Jeremiah) (1942), Symphony No. 2 (The Age of Anxiety) (1949, rev. 1965) and Symphony No. 3 (Kaddish) (1963, rev. 1977).

Concert alert: The CSO, under James Gaffigan, will perform Symphony No. 2 (The Age of Anxiety) with pianist Jean-Yves Thibaudet on June 11-13.

Ned Rorem (1923-1922)

Hailed by Time magazine as "the world’s best composer of art songs," the Indiana native was also called America’s Schubert, with more than 500 in his catalog. Rorem also created an acclaimed body of literary work, including five volumes of diaries and collections of lectures and criticism. The New York Times called Rorem “an icon of gay history,” citing his confidence and openness toward his sexuality.

Notable works: His suite Air Music: 10 Variations for Orchestra (1975) received the 1976 Pulitzer Prize for Music. Also, three symphonies, four piano concertos, including the Piano Concerto No. 4 for Left Hand and Orchestra (1993), written for Gary Graffman; more than 500 songs and cycles, with Evidence of Things Not Seen (1998) regarded as his magnum opus; the operas Bertha (1968) and Our Town (2005).

Pauline Oliveros (1932-2016)

An American composer and pioneer of experimental and electronic music, she challenged traditional notions of performance. Her works relied on improvisation, meditation and “deep listening” techniques. She defined deep listening as “the difference between the involuntary nature of hearing and the voluntary, selective nature — exclusive and inclusive — of listening.” 

Oliveros identified as lesbian and was a premier figure in the LGBTQ+ and feminist music movements. Fittingly, given her experimental approach to music and sound, Oliveros liked to say that her guiding principle was: “Hear with your ears, listen with your heart.” 

Notable works: Sound Patterns (1961) for mixed chorus, Echoes from the Moon (1987), Crone Music (1989) and “Six for New Time” (1999), written for the alt-rock band Sonic Youth.

David Del Tredici (1937-2023)

Early in his career, he was drawn to the dissonant, intensely chromatic style then popular in classical music. Eventually, he changed direction and became recognized as the father of classical music’s Neo-Romantic movement. Many of his early works consisted of vocal settings of prose and poems by James Joyce and Lewis Carroll. Del Tredici composed works for nearly every major American and European orchestral ensemble, including the Chicago Symphony Orchestra (which commissioned Final Alice and performed its world premiere Oct. 7-9, 1976). Del Tredici won the Pulitzer Prize for In Memory of a Summer Day (1980, part 1 of his Child Alice series).

Notable works: An Alice Symphony (1969, rev. 1976); March to Tonality (1985), the CSO gave the world premiere June 13-15, 1985. Also, Tattoo (1986), Steps (1990), Gay Life (2001) and Paul Revere’s Ride (2005).