Thread: Great partnerships in classical music...

By 'great' I mean things like simply your favourite, or particularly fruitful or prolific, stuff like that (to get the semantic games out of the way, thank you).

Anwyay, give us the partnerships that you think gave us great music! Can be between a composer and a soloist, a lyricist, poet or impresario, anything like that.

Three of mine, which I might come back to elaborate on later:

- Brahms and the violinist Joseph Joachim - Lifelong friends and colleagues, this partnership produced things like Brahms' Violin Concerto, his Double Concerto and he consulted the Hungarian on string writing and technique when composing a number of his chamber works, masterpieces all.

- George Gershwin and his brother, lyricist Ira - making a huge chunk of what is called the 'Great American Songbook.'

- Stravinsky and the ballet impresario Sergei Diaghilev of the Ballets Russes - producing three ballets central to the 20th century repertoire. I don't even have to name them, you all know them!

Richard Wagner and King Ludwig II, which resulted in massive development in the form of "modernising" German Romantic music well ahead of archconservative Johannes Brahms and his supporters.

Originally Posted by Rapide

Richard Wagner and King Ludwig II, which resulted in massive development in the form of "modernising" German Romantic music well ahead of archconservative Johannes Brahms and his supporters.

Yep!

And Mozart with da Ponte

And Puccini with Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa

Benjamin Britten and Peter Pears.

Originally Posted by Art Rock

Benjamin Britten and Peter Pears.

They were gay lovers.

No one has mentioned this yet I don't think, so what about John Eliot Gardiner and all Baroque and Classical music.

Originally Posted by Rapide

They were gay lovers.

Indeed......

Originally Posted by Rapide

They were gay lovers.

Your point being?

Originally Posted by Art Rock

Your point being?

Love was involved. That was probably a good thing as far as the music was concerned. Relatively unusual in the "great partnership" theme of the thread. Many would have been professional and or patronage.

A few others that come to mind:

Dutoit and Argerich
Handel and Senesino
Mozart and Da Ponte
Mozart and Leutgeb
Mozart and Stadler
Rostropovich and Vishnevskaya
Sibelius and Kajanus
Sutherland and Bonynge
John Tavener and Patricia Rosario
Verdi and Piave

R. Strauss and Hofmannsthal

Originally Posted by Sid James

Stravinsky and the ballet impresario Sergei Diaghilev of the Ballets Russes - producing three ballets central to the 20th century repertoire. I don't even have to name them, you all know them!

Yes: Pulcinella, Agon and Apollo.

Shostakovich and Stalin

Bach and his sons.

Florestan and Eusebius