Greetings, January blog visitors.  Happy New Year to everyone!

Readers of Fate, the (only) novel based on Tchaikovsky’s life, know only too well how the composer’s personal relationships, living situation, introverted demeanor, and yes– his music– were all shaped by his strong and exclusively homosexual nature. Some people do not understand why I felt it necessary to include Pyotr’s sexuality in the story at all and to them I say, You’ve missed the entire point. His sexuality is everything.  Not to mention that one cannot separate his sexuality from the specific events leading up to his sudden death at age fifty-three.

It seems the entire subject matter is shocking to many classical music lovers. They have a hard time believing that homosexuality in the “old world” (Russia/Europe) was as rampant as I suggest in the novel. Well, it was. And this is the subject of today’s blog! So fun.

One particular male, gay friend of mine actually thinks that male homosexuality began in the 1970’s.  Or, if it was earlier, it was only the ancient Greeks who practiced it until it reappeared again in the 1970’s. Weird, right?  Other more learned folks who understand that it’s been around forever may not realize just how incredibly popular and practiced it was, especially in nineteenth-century Russia and in the fourteenth to seventeenth-century (Renaissance) Italy.  Special laws against its practice became special laws because it was that rampant.

There was a definite style difference in the practice of homosexuality between the two time periods/countries mentioned above. While men in Renaissance Italy saw it as a forbidden but wildly enjoyable naughty pastime, men in Russia during the 1800’s practiced it quietly with their younger valets and servant boys (if they were of the upper class) or privately with other like-minded men in small clubs and assemblies.  It was almost always an older, dominant male taking pleasure with a younger (and therefore not very masculine) submissive.

During the Renaissance period, the slang term used across most of Europe for someone who was homosexual  was “Fiorentine,” or “Florentine.”  Surprising?  Not when you look into Florence’s sexual history.  The good men of Renaissance Florence practiced their homosexuality with wild abandon, from the private bedchambers of the palazzi to the very streets of the town. The riverside of the Arno was also a popular spot, as was the famous Ponte Vecchio bridge after dark.  It was all illegal of course, as the town leaders tried to control it (or at least be seen as trying to control it.)  In truth it was an epidemic, if I can call it that, and the worst kept secret on the continent. How do we know all this? Well, it turns out that the Florentines of that period were good at something else too: record keeping. And the arrest records, court transcripts, complaints, fines, and alleged accusations citizen by citizen –by name– from that time period have been maintained to this day.  Which brings me to mention an amazing book on the subject.

Author/researcher Michael Rocke spent years going over that city’s records and brings Florence’s homosexual past to life through the information he uncovered and organized. His book “Forbidden Friendships- Homosexuality and Male Culture in Renaissance Florence” is nothing short of stunning. Out of print for awhile now, it can be found on Amazon from time time for a price, but worth every penny if you want to have a truly eye-opening experience.  He shares the experiences of real life people and exposes idiosyncrasies of that period in often humorous descriptions of what precisely went on.  During that time for instance, it was so egregious to be caught outside without one’s hat that men wanting a sexual foray with another man could simply grab latter’s hat from his head and tell him that only the act of sodomy will win it back. Nearly all men caught in this blackmail complied; anything to get their hat back on before someone saw them without it!  I hope you look into this wonderful read.

All the best, Adin Dalton