Basil Howitt delves into the love lives of a cluster of the great composers from Gesualdo to Wagner and finds much to delight, surprise, shock, and even appall his readers -- but never bore them!

About the Author

Talked out of becoming a professional musician when he left Cambridge University in 1963, Basil Howitt pursued a successful career in academia for 15 years. At the age of 38, Howitt finally hit the road as a freelance cellist, working with many orchestras and ensembles.

Writing is Howitt's third career, which he began with a series of lighthearted pieces on the freelance lifestyle for Classical Music magazine. These led to his enthusiastically received first book Life in a Penguin Suit, published by the Manchester Camerata. At the same time he began steeping himself in the lives of the great composers for his popular pre-concert talks in Manchester UK, discovering that his audiences were sometimes more fascinated by noggins and nookie than ninth-cords and natural harmonics.

Howitt has also written for The Guardian, The Sunday Times and Private Eye.

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