# Classical composer that were hardcore alcoholic , but had drunken genieous i explain?



## deprofundis (Apr 25, 2014)

I heard rumor about mister Frescobaldi memoire stating in a book to a friend, im not good whiteout fews glasses of red wine , his friend reply , you drink all day?

Is this a myth that Frescobaldi was ''un bon vivant saoulon'' lol '' a happy drunk''.

Than i raise the following question were they classical composer that were always waste because they felt whiteout '' rock fuel alcohol'' they were lame or unspired?

hmm ?? what about it, who was the biggest drunk of the dutch of the english, of poland renaissance , running gag alcoholics, that are kinda funny...

:tiphat:


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## Meyerbeer Smith (Mar 25, 2016)

Beethoven, apparently.


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## eugeneonagain (May 14, 2017)

Neither English, Dutch nor renaissance, but Mussorgsky was supposed to be a bit of a boozer.


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## brianvds (May 1, 2013)

NickFuller said:


> Beethoven, apparently.


Beethoven was a quite heavy drinker; not sure he would count as alcoholic. Same with Brahms. And as eugeneonagain points out, Mussorgsky. He was the first to come to mind for me here: he was a full blown alcoholic who basically drank himself to death, in between composing masterpieces. Don't know how the heck he managed.


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## Star (May 27, 2017)

Le's not forget that while leading Britain in WW2 Winston Churchill couldn't get by without alcohol running through his veins. Composers aren't alne!


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## Pugg (Aug 8, 2014)

Jean Sibelius for sure.


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## Melvin (Mar 25, 2011)

Most humans drink.

Comes to my mind is Glazunov:
As reportedly told later by his pupil Dmitri Shostakovich and echoed in the New Grove, Glazunov kept a bottle of alcohol hidden behind his desk at the St. Petersburg Conservatory, sipping it through a tube during lessons.

This is not certain, but some sources claim that Glazunov appeared to be quite visibly drunk upon the podium when he conducted the premier of Rachmaninov's 1st symphony.
Whether or not that is true, it certainly was ill performed, and mercilessly panned by prominent critics, leading young Rachmoninov into a period of severe clinical depression, self-doubt, and alcohol dependency of several painful years, through which he famously triumphed by the help of his psychologist Nikolai Dahl, to whom he dedicated his 2nd Piano Concerto, the piece that finally earned the composer fame and recognition.


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## CnC Bartok (Jun 5, 2017)

The famous portrait of Mussorgsky by Ilya Repin gives a tragic clue to the extent of his alcoholism, alas.

In Testimony, "Shostakovich" also tells of how he used to procure absolute ethanol for Glazunov from his father's place of work. Dmitri senior was a scientist, who worked under the great Mendeleev. How true this story is, is anyone's guess.


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## RICK RIEKERT (Oct 9, 2017)

Liszt biographer Oliver Hilmes writes of Liszt's ‘hair-raising episodes of drunkenness’ in his later years. The composer drank a bottle of cognac a day (and sometimes two bottles of wine) and according to his pupil Felix Weingartner was a ‘confirmed alcoholic’. 

Handel was a compulsive eater and a heavy drinker, especially of wine. It is believed that Handel's consumption of enormous quantities of wine resulted in chronic lead poisoning causing the symptoms from which he suffered: stomach colic, pain, creeping paralysis, confusion and eventually blindness. The toxin also affects mood and may have accounted for Handel's famous ill temper when working with other musicians.

During a trip to Halle in 1713 lasting 2 weeks, J.S. Bach's beer bill came to 18 groschen, which was enough to buy 8 gallons of brew with lashings of brandy totalling another 8 groschen. But in fairness, as an invited guest asked to advise on a large-scale organ project, Bach no doubt wanted to be at his best, and besides, all of his expenses were paid by the church board.


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## brianvds (May 1, 2013)

Star said:


> Le's not forget that while leading Britain in WW2 Winston Churchill couldn't get by without alcohol running through his veins. Composers aren't alne!


Not to mention all those cigars - he could probably give Brahms a run for his money in that department.



Pugg said:


> Jean Sibelius for sure.


Ah yes, Sibelius. He had a running battle with the bottle all his life, and also overindulged on cigars.

Another one that now comes top mind: John Field. As I recall, he also eventually spiraled into alcoholism.


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## eugeneonagain (May 14, 2017)

Malcolm Arnold was also quite a drunk and was treated for alcoholism. I wouldn't call it 'drunken genius' since it seems to have harmed his ability to work.


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## Potiphera (Mar 24, 2011)

drunken genieous i explain?

Polite request. Can the header spelling error be amended to genius?

:tiphat:


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## eugeneonagain (May 14, 2017)

Potiphera said:


> drunken genieous i explain?
> 
> Polite request. Can the header spelling error be amended to genius?
> 
> :tiphat:


Just the header?


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## Manxfeeder (Oct 19, 2010)

Satie liked alcohol so much that he let it ruin his liver and kill him.


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## CnC Bartok (Jun 5, 2017)

Composers may have been good at drinking, but nothing compared to the philosophers.

Apparently, Aristotle was a bugger for the bottle, Hobbs was fond of his dram, and Rene Descartes was a drunken fart.

"I drink, therefore I am"


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## Pat Fairlea (Dec 9, 2015)

eugeneonagain said:


> Malcolm Arnold was also quite a drunk and was treated for alcoholism. I wouldn't call it 'drunken genius' since it seems to have harmed his ability to work.


Malcolm Arnold was 'quite a drunk' in the sense that Usain Bolt 'can run a bit'.
But I have never been sure whether the decline in his cognitive abilities was because of the booze or because of the mental illness that dogged him his whole life. His drinking may have begun as self-medication. The odd thing is that during one of his worst phases he wrote his lovely lyrical 2nd String 4tet.


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## eugeneonagain (May 14, 2017)

Pat Fairlea said:


> Malcolm Arnold was 'quite a drunk' in the sense that Usain Bolt 'can run a bit'.
> But I have never been sure whether the decline in his cognitive abilities was because of the booze or because of the mental illness that dogged him his whole life. His drinking may have begun as self-medication. The odd thing is that during one of his worst phases he wrote his lovely lyrical 2nd String 4tet.


I didn't want to malign his reputation because he's a composer I like a lot. He is particularly a model orchestrator and I have the full scores of his Tam O' Shanter and English Dances - they are among the few full-size scores I own that aren't in the public domain, so I went to the trouble of buying them.

Having said that, I don't like all his symphonies. Some of them are quite boring material-wise, but he's never short of a melody and, again, his orchestral writing is superb.


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## elgar's ghost (Aug 8, 2010)

Max Reger was an all-rounder - heavy drinker, heavy eater and a heavy smoker yet somehow remained a workaholic before dying at 43.


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## Pat Fairlea (Dec 9, 2015)

eugeneonagain said:


> I didn't want to malign his reputation because he's a composer I like a lot. He is particularly a model orchestrator and I have the full scores of his Tam O' Shanter and English Dances - they are among the few full-size scores I own that aren't in the public domain, so I went to the trouble of buying them.
> 
> Having said that, I don't like all his symphonies. Some of them are quite boring material-wise, but he's never short of a melody and, again, his orchestral writing is superb.


Fair enough, I wouldn't want to malign Malcolm Arnold unduly, as I'm very fond of his music. Sometimes the material runs a little thin, as you say, but the craftsmanship is always impressive and, at his best, he cheers me up. But in all honesty, he was the living embodiment of that comment someone (Lady Caroline Lamb?) made about Lord Byron: "Mad, bad and dangerous to know". A genuinely tragic character.


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## Totenfeier (Mar 11, 2016)

Robert Pickett said:


> Composers may have been good at drinking, but nothing compared to the philosophers.
> 
> Apparently, Aristotle was a bugger for the bottle, Hobbs was fond of his dram, and Rene Descartes was a drunken fart.
> 
> "I drink, therefore I am"


Yes, Socrates himself is particularly missed; a lovely little thinker but a bugger when he's pissed.


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## Star (May 27, 2017)

RICK RIEKERT said:


> During a trip to Halle in 1713 lasting 2 weeks, J.S. Bach's beer bill came to 18 groschen, which was enough to buy 8 gallons of brew with lashings of brandy totalling another 8 groschen. But in fairness, as an invited guest asked to advise on a large-scale organ project, Bach no doubt wanted to be at his best, and besides, all of his expenses were paid by the church board.


 I think we must remember that in those days the water was often not good to drink and beer was a far better option for your health. Even a preacher like John Wesley would down a pint of local ale before preaching, even though he preached against tea drinking!


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## chill782002 (Jan 12, 2017)

brianvds said:


> Ah yes, Sibelius. He had a running battle with the bottle all his life, and also overindulged on cigars.


Sibelius was an alcoholic for a significant part of life, although he kept it under control better at some times than at others. I also don't think I've ever seen a picture of him without a cigar in hand. Despite both of these factors, he lived to the ripe old age of 91!


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## RICK RIEKERT (Oct 9, 2017)

Star said:


> I think we must remember that in those days the water was often not good to drink and beer was a far better option for your health.


Quite true, and copious amounts of brandy would no doubt make 60 odd pints of 'water' a little more palatable.


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## Roger Knox (Jul 19, 2017)

duplicates another post on Reger


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## eugeneonagain (May 14, 2017)

After reading this list I might start drinking again. It might get a symphony out of me.


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## joen_cph (Jan 17, 2010)

Philipp Heseltine=Peter Warlock and E.J. Moeran:

"_In 1925 Heseltine and his friend and fellow-composer E. J. Moeran moved to Eynsham, in Kent, where they shared a cottage. It was basically a three-year-long party, notable for the intake of prodigious quantities of alcohol, wherein they were assisted by a stream of fellow artists - other musicians, painters, sculptors - who would drop by for an evening, a week or longer_".

http://www.boosey.com/pages/cr/composer/composer_main?composerid=3007&ttype=BIOGRAPHY
http://www.classical.net/music/comp.lst/acc/moeran.php


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## KenOC (Mar 7, 2011)

Heseltine wrote his own obituary -- in advance, obviously.

"Here lies Warlock the composer
Who lived next door to Munn the grocer.
He died of drink and copulation,
A sad discredit to the nation."


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## chill782002 (Jan 12, 2017)

Mussorgsky, as previously mentioned. A serious alcoholic, which killed him shortly after his 42nd birthday. The famous final portrait of him by Ilya Repin, painted only a few days before his death, is chilling. A great composer though, in my opinion, truly original and innovative. It's important to remember that even the greatest composers, like the rest of us, are only human and likely to be flawed in some respect. Maybe talent like that is a heavy burden to carry in some ways.


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## Vasks (Dec 9, 2013)

eugeneonagain said:


> .I don't like all his symphonies. Some of them are quite boring material-wise


Yep. He was best at shorter pieces/movements


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## Alydon (May 16, 2012)

Although not in the highest echelons of genius but very workmanlike was Michael Haydn, brother of the great Joseph, who apparently liked 'a few' and was always in trouble throughout his life because of the demon drink. I read he was contracted to play the church organ to supplement his income but more often than not was found asleep (blacked-out) in the organ loft and was later fired. Michael's case is rather a sad one as though not quite in the same league as his brother, produced some very fine work including symphonies, choral music and one of my favourites, a very melodic violin concerto. 

Another dangerous drinker was Irishman John Field who eventually destroyed his health and concert career thanks to the bottle, but not before he had established himself as the father of the nocturne and left a very substantial body of music - mainly for his instrument, the piano - but a delightful and beguiling composer all the same.


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## Room2201974 (Jan 23, 2018)

Unwinding at the Petroleum Club in Houston, Texas, Igor Stravinsky exclaimed “My God, so much I like to drink Scotch that sometimes I think my name is Igor Stra-whisky”.


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