For some reason Benjamin Britten's gayness continues to pose problems for people.

Critics and scholars squabbled over Britten's worth throughout his lifetime, but they all assumed that art was beyond sex. Within a year of his death in 1976, however, a tense debate about the artistic implications of Britten's love of men and boys had begun.
A quarter-century later, Britten resembles Patroclus in The Iliad: He's the body in the middle of the field that everyone's fighting over. As of now, the advantage seems to have passed to gay and lesbian scholars who see Britten as perhaps the most important figure in the gay history of classical music.

Of course, if you believe some people, that would probably include most classical composers who ever lived...

posted by James Russell | 4:54 PM