List of LGBT classical composers explained

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.

17th century

Name	Born	Died	Nationality	Details
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.
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.	^[3]

19th century

Name	Born	Died	Nationality	Details
Clement Harris	1871	1897	English		^[4]
Adela Maddison	1862	1929	English		^[5]
Ella Overbeck	1870	1919	Russo-English
Camille Saint-Saëns	1835	1921	French
Ethel Smyth	1858	1944	English		^[6]
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky	1840	1893	Russian
Siegfried Wagner	1869	1930	German

20th century

Name	Born	Died	Nationality	Details
Walter Arlen	1920	2023	Austro-American
Ruth Anderson	1928	2019	American
Samuel Barber	1910	1981	American
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
Marc Blitzstein	1905	1964	American
Konrad Boehmer	1941	2014	German-Dutch
Henriëtte Bosmans	1895	1952	Dutch
Pierre Boulez	1925	2016	French
Paul Bowles	1910	1999	Moroccan
Benjamin Britten	1913	1976	English
Merton Brown	1913	2001	American
Sylvano Bussotti	1931	2021	Italian
John Cage	1912	1992	American
Wendy Carlos	1931		American		^[7]
Roger Sacheverell Coke	1912	1971	English
Aaron Copland	1900	1990	American
John Corigliano	1938		American		Married to Mark Adamo
Henry Cowell	1897	1965	American
Ingolf Dahl	1912	1970	German-American
Peter Maxwell Davies	1934	2016	English
David Del Tredici	1937		American
David Diamond	1915	2005	American
Hubert du Plessis	1922	2011	South African
Julius Eastman	1940	1990	American
Joseph Fennimore	1940		American
William Flanagan	1923	1969	American
Wolfgang Fortner	1907	1987	German
Karel Goeyvaerts	1923	1993	Belgian
Charles Tomlinson Griffes	1884	1920	American
Clare Grundman	1913	1996	American
Reynaldo Hahn	1874	1947	Venezuelan-French
Lou Harrison	1917	2003	American
Hans Werner Henze	1926	2012	German
David Hogan	1949	1996	American
Lee Hoiby	1926	2011	American
Vladimir Horowitz	1903	1989	Russian
Jerry Hunt	1943	1993	American
Douglas Lilburn	1915	2001	New Zealander
Annea Lockwood	1939		New Zealander
Frederick May	1911	1985	Irish
Colin McPhee	1900	1964	Canadian-American
Gian Carlo Menotti	1911	2007	Italian-American
Noel Mewton-Wood	1922	1953	Australian-English
Zygmunt Mycielski	1907	1997	Polish
Dimitri Mitropoulos	1896	1960	Greek
Pauline Oliveros	1932	2016	American
Harry Partch	1901	1974	American
Thomas Pasatieri	1941		American
Daniel Pinkham	1923	2006	American
Francis Poulenc	1899	1963	French
Roger Quilter	1877	1953	English
Peer Raben	1940	2007	German
Aribert Reimann	1936	2024	German		^[8]
Ned Rorem	1923	2022	American
Henri Sauguet	1901	1989	French
Kaikhosru Shapurji Sorabji	1892	1988	English
Conrad Susa	1935	2013	American
Karol Szymanowski	1882	1937	Polish
Virgil Thomson	1896	1989	American
Michael Tippett	1905	1998	English
Tui St. George Tucker	1924	2004	American
Claude Vivier	1948	1983	Canadian
Ben Weber	1916	1979	American
Juliusz Wertheim	1880	1928	Polish
Arnold van Wyk	1916	1983	South African
Charles Wuorinen	1938	2020	American

21st century

Name	Born	Died	Nationality	Details
Mark Adamo	1962		American	Married to John Corigliano
Thomas Adès	1971		English
William Basinski	1958		American
Eve Beglarian	1958		American		^[9]
Iain Bell	1980		English
Chester Biscardi	1948		American
Roger Bourland	1952		American
Mark Carlson	1952		American		^[10]
David Conte	1955		American
Conrad Cummings	1948		American
Corey Dargel	1977		American
Don Davis	1957		American
Jeremy Dutcher	1990		Canadian
Mohammed Fairouz	1985		American
Gareth Farr	1968		New Zealander
Michael Finnissy	1946		English
Alan Fletcher	1956		American
Jake Heggie	1961		American
Jennifer Higdon	1962		American
Stephen Hough	1961		Anglo-Australian
Laura Karpman	1959		American
Lowell Liebermann	1961		American
Jonathan Mills	1963		Australian
Meredith Monk	1942		American
Nico Muhly	1981		American
Andrew Norman	1979		American
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
Šimon Voseček	1978		Austro-Czech
Rufus Wainwright	1973		American-Canadian

References

Sources

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

Notes and References

1. Book: Jacob, Roger. Dominique Phinot. Grove Music Online. Macy. Laura.
2. Dejean, Joan (1981). Libertine strategies: freedom and the novel in seventeenth-century France. Ohio State University Press. pp. 198–211.
3. Book: Randel, Don Michael. The Harvard Biographical Dictionary of Music. 1996. Harvard University Press. 978-0-674-37299-3. 762.
4. Book: Carr. Jonathan. The Wagner Clan. 2007. Faber and Faber. London. 121.
5. Book: Fuller, Sophie. Pandora Guide to Women Composers. Pandora. London. 1994. 203–206. 0-04-440897-8.
6. Hind, Rolf (2015). "Queer Pitch: is there such a thing?" The Guardian. Retrieved 20 July 2022.
7. Knoll, Brooke (2021). "10 contemporary queer composers to listen to in honor of Pride Month". Your Classical. Retrieved 19 July 2022.
8. https://www.queer.de/detail.php?article_id=48857 Queer.de: Nachruf, Aribert Reimann
9. Peterson, Catherine (2018). "10 Contemporary LGBTQ Composers You Should Know". Arts Boston. Retrieved 20 July 2022.
10. Web site: Meetings This Month | City of West Hollywood . 2 June 2012 .