Name: Frédéric Chopin (1810-1849)
Hometown: Żelazowa Wola, Poland
Listen to: ‘Noctune in E flat, Op. 9, No. 2′, ’24 Preludes, Op. 28 (Raindrop Prelude)’, Piano Concerto No. 1 in E minor, Op. 11′
Suggestions that Chopin was attracted to men are not new, however, last year, music journalist Moritz Weber came across direct evidence of Chopin’s sexuality in the form of letters containing “a flood of declarations of love aimed at men”. Weber questioned why these exchanges of love with other men had been left uncovered by previous scholars, whilst the Polish media reacted by debating the truth behind these claims. Rose Cholmondeley, the president of the UK’s Chopin Society, commented on the news, saying “he is a symbol of Poland, but you’ve got a government now which is absolutely anti-gay — and were he to be gay, God knows what they would make of it. When somebody’s an icon, an awful lot of things are suppressed”. Indeed, with this new evidence, Chopin’s sexuality will continue to generate discourse for many, but his iconic compositional output will still be loved and performed for many years to come.