We’re going back to ten miserable marriages from traditional music history now.
Next time, we looked at the wedding tales of Leonard Bernstein, Gabriel Fauré, Richard Wagner, Gustav Mahler, and Joseph Haydn.
Now, we’re ready to resume our timer. So get ready for startling tales of marriage, a murder attempt, a terrible murder, and more.
5. Giacomo Puccini and Elvira Bonturi Gemignani
In the fall of 1884, musical artist Giacomo Puccini began having an affair with a girl named Elvira Gemignani, a twenty-four-year-old wife and mother stuck in an unhappy relationship with a philanderer.
She fell in love with Puccini after finding protection in him. In the early spring of 1886, she became pregnant with Puccini’s baby, giving conception that December to a boy named Antonio.
Puccini and Elvira were just able to get married in 1904 after her husband’s passing, despite moving in up.
Manon Lescaut – Donna non vidi mai ( Jonas Kaufmann, The Royal Opera )
However for Elvira, Puccini was even a person. For his need for his beautiful young colleagues and his unfaithfulness, Piccini was legendary.
Elvira grew insecure and accused their housekeeper, Doria Manfredi, of having slept with her father. Manfredi’s death was the claim because she was so devastated. Manfredi was a lady, according to an examination. Puccini paid money so that Elvira would n’t have to go, despite the fact that she was convicted of slander and given a five-month sentence.
The story does n’t end there, though: in 2007, documents were discovered revealing that Puccini was indeed having an affair with a Manfredi woman…but it was Giulia Manfredi, not the dead woman.
4. Hector Berlioz and Harriet Smithson
Harriet Smithson was one of her generation’s wonderful women. She was born in Ireland in 1800 to a community that worked in the theater industry.
She made her step album in Dublin when she was only fourteen years old, and she soon began to tour throughout the United Kingdom. She made her 1818 London album, and she spent a number of years trying to make a lasting impression there.
Harriet Smithson as Ophelia in Shakespeare’s Hamlet
But, all changed when she went to Paris in 1827 and played the role of Ophelia in Hamlet. She was cast as Juliet in Romeo and Juliet within a few days of her first performance. In the end, she completely revolutionized the position. Over the years, theater companies had dismissed Juliet’s significance, going so far as to cut some of her lines. Smithson restored them, and her performance was a discovery.
Hector Berlioz saw her conduct Shakespeare and, at least, fell in love with her. In her honor, he wrote the pioneering Composer Fantastique in 1830.
Berlioz: Masterpiece Fantastique
In the first 1830s, Smithson made a comeback to Paris, but her reputation had waned. Sensing that her job was on a upwards direction, she found herself flattered by Berlioz’s obsession with her. He threatened to kill himself by overdosing himself if she rejected his marriage request, which was unhelpful.
Anyone thought it was a good idea, but the two married in 1833, and in August 1834, she gave birth to a child.
Her wellness deteriorated, and as Berlioz’s career took off, hers stagnated, leading to fight. In 1840, Berlioz met a song named Marie Recio, and the two fell in love.
Hector and Harriet’s marriage, one of the great quintessential like tales of the Romantic Time, ended in 1843 when Harriet Smithson moved out of Berlioz’s house.
3. Antonina Miliukova and Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
Antonina Miliukova and Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky met at her brother’s supper party when she was 24 years older. She could n’t stop thinking about him because she fell in love with him.
Four years later, in 1876, she inherited some wealth that she wanted to use as a bride. She declared her love and committed suicide if they were unable to reconcile the subsequent year. She wrote a letter to Bach the following year, and she did so once more.
Tchaikovsky and his family Antonina Miliukova
Tchaikovsky was faced with a problem. He was a queer man who had no sexual preference for people. However, some queer men of the time married in order to have a home life, protection, companionship, and a weapon to use against any improper rumours that may arise. He proposed to Antonina in 1877, and they were married that July. ( His violinist crush served as a witness. )
Determinant instrument symphony is performed by Janine Jansen.
Almost instantly, Tchaikovsky realised he’d made a terrible mistake. The relationship was not consummated, and he had a nervous breakdown, also contemplating the idea of ultimately fleeing Russia completely for a time. ( Perhaps not surprising, he also wrote a violin concerto in his honor with his ex-girlfriend. )
In 1878, Tchaikovsky began pushing for a breakup. Antonina resisted. But, by mid-1880, she seemed to realise that their marriage was severely broken, and she moved in with another partner.
Their dangerous relationship continued until Tchaikovsky’s dying in 1893. Antonina’s existence was ended in a psychiatric institution.
2. Rosalie Texier and Claude Debussy
Rosalie Texier was born in 1873 and grew up in Tonnerre, Burgundy, France. In the 1890s, she began working as a unit at a high-end versace house in Paris.
In 1898, she met Claude Debussy, a musician. She was twenty-five, and he was thirty-seven. They were friends for a while, but after Debussy’s girl broke up with him, he set his gaze on dating Rosalie.
In the flower of 1899, they became lovers. Debussy felt compelled to join a number of his companions who were or were getting married. They got married on 19 October 1899.
Alice Sara Ott – Debussy: Rêverie, L. 68
However, as the wedding period came to an end, Debussy started finding Rosalie somewhat boring and unadventurous, and he drifted apart from her.
Four decades after his marriage, he met a girl named Emma Bardac and, in the first month of 1904, fell in love with her. While Rosalie and her parents were in Jersey that summer, he and Emma took a covert vacation there that summer. He was persuaded that his relationship was over thanks to this journey.
Claude Debussy with Emma Bardac
In a revoltingly everyday letter dated August 11, 1904, he chose to write the news in person rather than communicate it to Rosalie.
Now, pardon me for what follows. We are no longer kids, but let’s try to escape this history slowly and without getting people involved because I may have had better to tell you during my journey to Bichain, but I could not find the time or perhaps the courage to tell you…
On 13 October 1904, the week before what would have been their second wedding celebration, Rosalie, unable to manage the emotional problems of the divorce, shot herself. A spine lodged the gun into her belly.
When Debussy found out that she would endure, he left the hospital…without paying any of her medical expenses. To cover the costs, friends organized a set.
Soon, the two divorced, and he married Emma Bardac, who by this moment was expectant with his child. A huge scandal ensued, forcing his companion group to take sides, and the aftermath was n’t really.
Read Debussy’s full biography and the ladies of his.
1. Carlo Gesualdoand Donna Maria d’Avalos
The union of Donna Maria d’Avalos and Carlo Gesualdois unquestionably the worst relationship in traditional music history.
Carlo Gesualdowas born in Venosa, Italy, in 1566. His nephew Luigi was supposed to become the next lord of Venosa, while his brother Luigi was chosen to pursue a career in the church.
But, in 1584, Luigi died, throwing the mother’s ideas into revolution, with Carlo entering the line of succession. He gave up on the idea of pursuing a temple job, and in 1586, he married his second cousin, Donna Maria d’Avalos, but that he could keep the line of succession going.
Carlo Gesualdo– Se la mia Morte Brami
Horrifying tragedy struck in October 1590 when Gesualdo and his guards discovered his wife with a fellow gentleman in sleep. With a knife, Georgioso killed both his family and her partner. He left the room to check that they were dying before coming back. They were.
When it came to avenging prostitution, European law of the time was weak. Gesualdo’s identity was determined after a crime-finding conclusion. If his sister’s family came for him, he would only have to fret about it.
Due to Gesualdo’s stunning crime, his marriage will forever be remembered as the worst in classical music history.
For more of the best in traditional music, for our E-Newsletter
