{"id":49129,"date":"2024-11-05T11:05:51","date_gmt":"2024-11-05T10:05:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/b22f3bd0-36ec-4c74-a536-902f1f834866"},"modified":"2024-11-05T12:08:29","modified_gmt":"2024-11-05T11:08:29","slug":"murder-schemes-all-night-drinking-saucy-shenanigans-15-reckless-and-rebellious-composers","status":"publish","type":"rss_feed","link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/rss_feed\/murder-schemes-all-night-drinking-saucy-shenanigans-15-reckless-and-rebellious-composers\/","title":{"rendered":"Murder schemes, all-night drinking, saucy shenanigans: 15 reckless and rebellious composers"},"content":{"rendered":"

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By <\/p>

Published: Tuesday, 05 November 2024 at 10:05 AM<\/p>

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Each month, when putting together BBC Music Magazine<\/em>, we are constantly reminded how composers past and present operate on a different creative plane from us normal beings.<\/p>

And which of us, when in thrall to a sublime Sibelius symphony or miraculous Mozart mass, haven\u2019t allowed ourselves to be drawn into the conclusion that such genius can only have come from some sort of superhuman presence? <\/strong><\/p>

<\/div> <\/figure> <p>Allow us to break the spell for a while. Of course, the great composers were all human. In fact, in terms of their faults and foibles, many of them were all <em>too<\/em> human.<\/p> <p>Vanity, greed, recklessness, temper, lust, you name it \u2013 as a collective group, there is scarcely a vice that composers haven\u2019t embraced in one way or another. By and large, most kept their unacceptable side fairly low key.<\/p> <p>Some, however, really did push the boat of bad behaviour out with gusto. Such as\u2026<\/p> <h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-badly-behaved-composers\">Badly behaved composers<\/h2> <h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-1-ludwig-van-beethoven\"><strong>1. Ludwig van Beethoven<\/strong><\/h3> <p>He had many amazing qualities, but tidiness was not among them. Yes, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/features\/composers\/ludwig-van-beethoven\"><strong>Beethoven<\/strong><\/a> was desperately messy, and the smell from his lodgings wasn\u2019t too good either, as uneaten trays of food piled up in the corner, right next to his manuscript paper.<\/p> <p>Unsurprisingly, he was always at odds with his landlords, though, from their point of view, his squalid lifestyle was possibly the least of his faults.<\/p> <ul class=\"wp-block-list\"> <li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/features\/articles\/beethoven-what-did-19th-century-think\/\"><strong>Beethoven: What did the 19th century think?<\/strong><\/a><\/li> <\/ul> <p>People complained he kept odd hours and played the piano too loudly, and, worst of all, he had a habit of shouting at his servants for stealing from him \u2013 the <em>Rondo a capriccio<\/em> of 1795 later gained the nickname <em>Rage Over A Lost Penny<\/em>\u2004because on the night he was writing it, the composer was sure a maid had stolen his gold penny and he turned his entire apartment over looking for it.<\/p> <ul class=\"wp-block-list\"> <li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/features\/works\/beethoven-fifth-symphony\"><strong>Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony: the iconic work that begins with Fate’s hammer blows – and never looks back<\/strong><\/a><\/li> <\/ul> <figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"> <div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\"> <iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Beethoven - Rage Over a Lost Penny [60k special]\" width=\"800\" height=\"450\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/32YX6qhTGi8?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen=\"\"\/> <\/div> <\/figure> <h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-2-jean-sibelius\"><strong>2. Jean Sibelius<\/strong><\/h3> <p>Perhaps what Beethoven needed was the steadying influence of a good wife, such as <a href=\"https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/features\/composers\/jean-sibelius\"><strong>Sibelius<\/strong><\/a>\u2019s other half, the long-suffering Aino. The Finnish composer, a notorious <em>bon viveur <\/em>in his youth, founded Symposium, a drinking club that met in Helsinki\u2019s Hotel K\u00e4mp to binge on Benedictine for days on end while discussing art and life.<\/p> <ul class=\"wp-block-list\"> <li><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/articles\/composers-wives-2\">The wives of the great composers: why behind every great man is often an even greater woman<\/a><\/strong><\/li> <li><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/features\/works\/sibelius-a-life-in-10-masterpieces\">Sibelius: a life in ten masterpieces<\/a><\/strong><\/li> <\/ul> <p>Stories of Sibelius\u2019s excesses are legion \u2013 on one occasion, for instance, he had to be dragged away from feasting on oysters and champagne in a restaurant to conduct a concert worse for wear \u2013 and it was inevitably down to Aino to pick up the pieces.<\/p> <p>As well as asking friends to keep an eye on her wayward spouse, particularly when his best drinking buddy <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/features\/composers\/busoni-ferruccio\">Ferruccio Busoni<\/a><\/strong> was in town, she regularly trawled the bars of Helsinki herself to drag him back home when a composition\u2019s deadline was looming.<\/p> <ul class=\"wp-block-list\"> <li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/features\/articles\/top-5-sibelius-works\/\"><strong>Top 5 Sibelius works<\/strong><\/a><\/li> <\/ul> <h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-3-henry-purcell\"><strong>3. Henry Purcell<\/strong><\/h3> <p>For 1900s Helsinki and Sibelius, read 1680s London and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/features\/composers\/henry-purcell\"><strong>Purcell<\/strong><\/a>. A more-than-regular in the English capital\u2019s inns, Purcell\u2019s list of compositions includes a fair number of bawdy drinking songs. Sadly, however, his habit of coming home late, drunk and disorderly may well have proved his downfall.<\/p> <figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"> <div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\"> <iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Purcell - Come, let us drink! (Z 245) - Animation\" width=\"800\" height=\"450\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/CzyYt3zJpM8?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen=\"\"\/> <\/div> <\/figure> <p>In contrast to Aino Sibelius\u2019s watchful approach, Frances Purcell is said to have simply locked her wayward husband out one chilly evening \u2013 the bout of pneumonia that soon followed proved to be fatal.<\/p> <h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-4-gabriel-faure\"><strong>4. Gabriel Faur\u00e9<\/strong><\/h3> <p>Maybe Purcell would have done better to have simply carried on drinking through the night? This is just what <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/features\/composers\/gabriel-faure\">Gabriel Faur\u00e9<\/a><\/strong> once did while working as a church organist in Rennes in the 1860s, turning up for the morning service still dressed in his evening tie and tails.<\/p> <p>The clergy, who already took a stern view of his tendency to pop out of the organ loft for a cigarette during the sermon, were none too impressed.<\/p> <ul class=\"wp-block-list\"> <li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/article\/best-recordings-faures-requiem\"><strong>The best recordings of Faur\u00e9’s <em>Requiem<\/em><\/strong><\/a><\/li> <\/ul> <h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-5-thomas-weelkes\"><strong>5. Thomas Weelkes<\/strong><\/h3> <p>Faur\u00e9\u2019s organ loft antics seem positively saintly when compared to the list of misdemeanours that got Thomas Weelkes the sack from Chichester Cathedral in 1616.<\/p> <p>Already in trouble for urinating on the Dean during evensong a couple of years earlier, <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/articles\/thomas-weelkes-sacked-for-being-drunk-in-charge-of-a-choir\">Weelkes was finally given his marching orders<\/a><\/strong> when his habit of being drunk at the console and swearing loudly in services got too much.<\/p> <p>Extraordinarily, he was soon reinstated and, despite there being no let-up in his love of either bottle or blasphemy, continued in the post until his death in 1623.<\/p> <ul class=\"wp-block-list\"> <li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/features\/composers\/best-fictional-composers\"><strong>Five of the best fictional composers<\/strong><\/a><\/li> <\/ul> <h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-more-badly-behaved-composers\">More badly behaved composers<\/h2> <h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-6-nicolas-gombert\"><strong>6. Nicolas Gombert<\/strong><\/h3> <p>Few composers have found their career trajectory stopped in its tracks as suddenly as Gombert, who until 1540 held the prestigious post of \u2018ma\u00eetre des enfants\u2019 (\u2018master of the children\u2019) in the royal chapel of Holy Roman Emperor Charles V.<\/p> <p>Abusing his position by foisting his attention on an unwilling chorister, the master of <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/features\/musical-terms\/polyphony-music-definition\">polyphony<\/a><\/strong> soon found his rowing skills being put to the test when he was sentenced to \u2018hard labour in the galleys\u2019.<\/p> <p>Being consigned below deck didn\u2019t seem to have affected Gombert\u2019s work as a composer \u2013 in fact, some of his finest music, much of it of an unsurprisingly penitential nature, comes from his time of exile at sea, and he was eventually granted a pardon by the emperor.<\/p> <ul class=\"wp-block-list\"> <li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/article\/15-penniless-composers\"><strong>15 penniless composers<\/strong><\/a><\/li> <\/ul> <h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>7. Modest Mussorgsky<\/strong><\/h3> <p>Russian composer <a href=\"https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/features\/composers\/modest-musorgsky\"><strong>Modest<\/strong> <strong>Mussorgsky<\/strong><\/a> was a legendary tippler, as shown by the somewhat unflinching portrait of him at the top of this article.<\/p> <ul class=\"wp-block-list\"> <li><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/articles\/best-russian-composers\">Ten of the best Russian composers<\/a><\/strong><\/li> <li><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/articles\/musorgsky-style-guide\">Mussorgsky: a style guide<\/a><\/strong><\/li> <\/ul> <p>In his case, the habits and mores of his particular social clique can probably share the blame: drinking to excess was apparently considered somewhat <em>de rigueur<\/em> for those of Mussorgsky’s age and social circle who wanted to adopt an anti-establishment stance. As one contemporary notes, ‘an intense worship of\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Bacchus\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><strong>Bacchus<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0was considered to be almost obligatory for a writer of that period. It was a showing off, a ‘pose,’ for the best people of the [eighteen-]sixties.’<\/p> <figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube\"> <div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\"> <iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Mussorgsky: Night on Bald Mountain - Radio Filharmonisch Orkest - Live concert HD\" width=\"800\" height=\"450\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/52iOdAVU4C8?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen=\"\"\/> <\/div> <\/figure> <p>Whatever the social context, we do know that\u00a0Mussorgsky liked his drink. And, indeed, that on one occasion he spent an entire day and night in the Maly Yaroslavets, a Saint Petersburg tavern of ill repute, in the company of other, let’s call them bohemians.<\/p> <h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-7-joseph-haydn\"><strong>8. Joseph Haydn<\/strong><\/h3> <p>Given his \u2018Papa\u2019 sobriquet and reputation as all-round good egg, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/features\/composers\/joseph-haydn\"><strong>Haydn<\/strong><\/a> would be the last name one would expect to find in a list of composers behaving badly.<\/p> <p>But that would be to overlook his naughty streak, evident both in a number of his compositions and, more manifestly, in an episode from his youth: in 1849, the 17-year-old Haydn found himself expelled from school when he decided it would be a good wheeze to cut off a fellow pupil\u2019s pigtail. Good lad. We approve.<\/p> <ul class=\"wp-block-list\"> <li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/features\/works\/haydn-creation-3\"><strong>The story of Haydn’s <em>Creation<\/em><\/strong><\/a><\/li> <li><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/features\/composers\/haydn-marriage\">Why Haydn’s marriage was doomed from the start<\/a><\/strong><\/li> <\/ul> <h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-8-wolfgang-amadeus-mozart\"><strong>9. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart<\/strong><\/h3> <p>As befits a pupil of Haydn, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/features\/composers\/mozart\"><strong>Mozart<\/strong><\/a> was also a great practical joker. Take for instance, the fun he had during a run of his <em>Magic Flute<\/em> at Vienna\u2019s Freihaus Theatre.<\/p> <p>In a letter to his wife Constanze, Mozart admitted sneaking backstage and sabotaging the great Emanuel Schikaneder as the latter sang \u2018Ein M\u00e4dchen oder Weibchen\u2019. When Schikaneder, as Papageno, went up on his magic bells, Mozart, playing the glockenspiel in the wings, went down. And vice versa.<\/p> <figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"> <div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\"> <iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Papageno - "Ein M\u00e4dchen oder Weibchen"\" width=\"800\" height=\"450\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/NNhoxzUXPt0?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen=\"\"\/> <\/div> <\/figure> <p>Then he stopped playing altogether, leaving Schikaneder silently miming. Finally, he came in when Schikaneder wasn\u2019t playing, causing the actor to bellow \u2018Shut up!\u2019 into the wings.<\/p> <ul class=\"wp-block-list\"> <li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/article\/10-mozart-works-you-might-not-know\"><strong>10 Mozart works you might not know<\/strong><\/a><\/li> <\/ul> <h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-9-george-frideric-handel\"><strong>10. George Frideric Handel<\/strong><\/h3> <p>More fun and games, but this time with composer as victim rather than perpetrator. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/features\/composers\/george-frideric-handel\"><strong>Handel<\/strong><\/a>\u2019s rages were legendary, and his ear was so sensitive that he couldn\u2019t bear to hear an orchestra tuning up. Consequently, musicians were required to tune well ahead of the maestro\u2019s arrival in the concert hall.<\/p> <p>Once this interregnum proved just too tempting for a wag who sneaked in and untuned some of the instruments while the musicians were off having a drink. When Handel arrived and the <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/articles\/what-instruments-make-up-an-orchestra\">orchestra<\/a><\/strong> struck up, the cacophony was so distressing to the composer that he tore off his wig and advanced on the unfortunate musicians, fists flying. Oh dear.<\/p> <ul class=\"wp-block-list\"> <li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/article\/best-recordings-handel-s-messiah\"><strong>The best recordings of Handel’s <em>Messiah<\/em><\/strong><\/a><\/li> <\/ul> <h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-10-arnold-bax\"><strong>11. Arnold Bax<\/strong><\/h3> <p>Write down all the composers who were unfaithful to their partners, and you\u2019ll rapidly reach the end of your sheet of A4. The likes of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/features\/composers\/claude-debussy\"><strong>Debussy<\/strong><\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/features\/composers\/frederick-delius\"><strong>Delius<\/strong><\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/features\/composers\/richard-wagner\"><strong>Wagner<\/strong><\/a> would undoubtedly be near the top of most people\u2019s list but, when it comes to raising the artistry of infidelity to a whole new level, <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/features\/composers\/arnold-bax\">Arnold Bax<\/a><\/strong> remains peerless.<\/p> <p>With love nests dotted around the country, the composer proudly marked his most famous affair \u2013 with the 19-year-old Harriet Cohen \u2013 by depicting it in music.<\/p> <p>The action portrayed in the 1917 symphonic poem <em>November Woods<\/em>\u2004may begin with Bax and Cohen quaintly sheltering from the storm in a copse\u2026 but it soon moves into a cosy hotel room nearby. You can guess the rest.<\/p> <figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-4-3 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"> <div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\"> <iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Arnold Bax "November Woods" Tone-poem\" width=\"800\" height=\"600\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/JuZJWkXk89k?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen=\"\"\/> <\/div> <\/figure> <ul class=\"wp-block-list\"> <li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/article\/15-composers-and-their-dogs\"><strong>15 composers and their dogs<\/strong><\/a><\/li> <\/ul> <h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-murder-and-motorbikes-berlioz-warlock-and-more\">Murder and motorbikes: Berlioz, Warlock and more<\/h2> <h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-11-hector-berlioz\"><strong>12. Hector Berlioz<\/strong><\/h3> <p>It may be better to have loved and lost than not to have loved at all, but <a href=\"https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/features\/composers\/hector-berlioz\"><strong>Berlioz<\/strong><\/a> clearly decided he\u2019d be happier if he could also bump off the woman in question. When, in 1832, he learned that the mother of his fianc\u00e9e, the pianist Marie Moke, had decided instead to marry off her daughter to the piano manufacturer Camille Pleyel, the composer decided drastic action was needed.<\/p> <ul class=\"wp-block-list\"> <li><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/features\/composers\/berlioz-camille-moke\">Why did Berlioz intend to murder ‘two guilty women and an innocent man’?<\/a><\/strong><\/li> <\/ul> <p>Setting out from Italy to Paris, he equipped himself with a pair of double-barrelled revolvers with the intention of killing the three of them before turning the gun on himself. Leaving nothing to chance, he also packed some poison as a back-up method and the disguise of a dress, wig and hat so he could gain access to Moke\u2019s home.<\/p> <ul class=\"wp-block-list\"> <li><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/features\/works\/love-story-behind-berliozs-symphonie-fantastique\">Berlioz’s <em>Symphonie fantastique<\/em> is a pathetic tale of a composer desperately seeking a girlfriend<\/a><\/strong><\/li> <\/ul> <p>Fortunately, by the time he had reached the French border, he realised he\u2019d left his disguise somewhere <em>en route<\/em>, and gave up his nascent career as a homicidal maniac. And as for Mr and Mrs Pleyel? His persistent infidelity soon put an end to their wedded bliss.<\/p> <h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-12-carlo-gesualdo\"><strong>13. Carlo Gesualdo<\/strong><\/h3> <p>Unlike Berlioz, Italian composer <a href=\"https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/features\/composers\/carlo-gesualdo\"><strong>Carlo Gesualdo<\/strong><\/a> actually carried out his murderous intent. When he discovered his wife and the Duke of Andria <em>in flagrante<\/em> at his palace in 1590, he did not hesitate to draw the knife, and so earned himself the reputation of the most notorious composer of all time.<\/p> <p>This being <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/articles\/a-guide-to-renaissance-music\">Renaissance<\/a><\/strong> Italy, however, and with Gesualdo coming from noble stock, his crime went relatively unpunished. In those days, it was all about mixing within the right circles\u2026<\/p> <ul class=\"wp-block-list\"> <li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/article\/5-composers-synesthesia\"><strong>5 composers with synaesthesia<\/strong><\/a><\/li> <li><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/features\/composers\/best-renaissance-composers\">Best Renaissance composers<\/a><\/strong><\/li> <\/ul> <h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-13-lord-berners\"><strong>14. Lord Berners<\/strong><\/h3> <p>Quite how composer Gerald Tyrwhitt, better known as Lord Berners, escaped the attention of the RSPCA is anyone\u2019s guess. His delight in catching pigeons, painting them various colours and making them wear masks, has already been mentioned in this publication.<\/p> <p>Previously unremarked upon in these pages, however, has been the sign erected at his house warning that \u2018Trespassers will be prosecuted, dogs shot, cats whipped\u2019 or, more disturbingly, the occasion when he dropped his mother\u2019s dog out of a window to see if it would fly.<\/p> <p>The eccentric Brit clearly had a ghoulish fascination with living things falling from high places. Deciding to build a 100-foot viewing tower in his garden, he accompanied it with another ominous sign: \u2018Members of the Public committing suicide from this tower do so at their own risk\u2019.<\/p> <ul class=\"wp-block-list\"> <li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/article\/best-contemporary-female-composers\"><strong>Nine of the best contemporary female composers<\/strong><\/a><\/li> <\/ul> <h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-14-and-15-peter-warlock-and-ej-moeran\"><strong>15 (joint). Peter Warlock and EJ Moeran<\/strong><\/h3> <p>Finally, onto the great double-act of badly behaved composers. If the people of Eynsford, Kent initially welcomed seeing two such prestigious figures as <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/features\/composers\/who-was-philip-heseltine-also-known-as-peter-warlock\">Peter Warlock<\/a><\/strong> and EJ Moeran move into a house in their village in the mid-1920s, their opinion soon changed.<\/p> <p>Hopes of the dulcet strains of the piano or a nice <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/features\/musical-terms\/what-is-chamber-music\">chamber music<\/a><\/strong> recital wafting from the windows were dashed, as the air reverberated instead to the sound of yet another bottle being opened or the cries of pleasure from three-in-a-bed sessions.<\/p> <p>Not that the pair kept the fun within four walls, with Moeran\u2019s antics including drunkenly driving his car into a hedge. And Warlock? He chose to shock the locals by riding into the village on a motorbike. Naked.<\/p> <p><em><strong>This article appeared in the December 2021 issue of BBC Music Magazine.<\/strong><\/em><\/p> <p><em>Illustration: <strong><a href=\"http:\/\/davidlyttleton.com\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">David Lyttleton<\/a><\/strong><\/em><\/p> <p\/> <\/body><\/html>\n<hr class=\"no-tts wp-block-separator\"\/>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Published: Tuesday, 05 November 2024 at 10:05 AM Each month, when putting together BBC Music Magazine, we are constantly reminded how composers past and present operate on a different creative plane from us normal beings. And which of us, when in thrall to a sublime Sibelius symphony or miraculous Mozart mass, haven\u2019t allowed ourselves […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":49130,"template":"","categories":[1,17],"acf":{"readingTimeMinutes":"10"},"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2024\/11\/murder-schemes-all-night-drinking-saucy-shenanigans-15-reckless-and-rebellious-composers.jpg",1200,800,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2024\/11\/murder-schemes-all-night-drinking-saucy-shenanigans-15-reckless-and-rebellious-composers-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2024\/11\/murder-schemes-all-night-drinking-saucy-shenanigans-15-reckless-and-rebellious-composers-300x200.jpg",300,200,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2024\/11\/murder-schemes-all-night-drinking-saucy-shenanigans-15-reckless-and-rebellious-composers-768x512.jpg",768,512,true],"large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2024\/11\/murder-schemes-all-night-drinking-saucy-shenanigans-15-reckless-and-rebellious-composers-1024x683.jpg",800,534,true],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2024\/11\/murder-schemes-all-night-drinking-saucy-shenanigans-15-reckless-and-rebellious-composers.jpg",1200,800,false],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2024\/11\/murder-schemes-all-night-drinking-saucy-shenanigans-15-reckless-and-rebellious-composers.jpg",1200,800,false]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"importmanagerhub@sprylab.com","author_link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/author\/importmanagerhubsprylab-com\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"By Published: Tuesday, 05 November 2024 at 10:05 AM Each month, when putting together BBC Music Magazine, we are constantly reminded how composers past and present operate on a different creative plane from us normal beings. And which of us, when in thrall to a sublime Sibelius symphony or miraculous Mozart mass, haven\u2019t allowed ourselves…","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed\/49129"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/rss_feed"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/24"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/49130"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=49129"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=49129"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}