Maestro Virtuoso

May 3, 2002 1:35 PM

Maestro Virtuoso Sir Andre Previn, George Solti, Arturo Toscanini, Giuseppe Verdi. "Conductors have the liveliest, longest and most rewarding sex lives of any human organism....Toscanini loved to give as much pleasure as he took, and he lasted long and well into a lascivious old age. For the supreme maestro, sex was not so much a reward as a repayment." Even Verdi was reputed to give "a certain kind of kiss that, somehow, bestowed the benediction of genius on his indulgence." Maybe its that constant exposure to heavenly music, heavy doses of Mendelhsson instead of Sildenafil Nitrate Tablets.
posted by Voyageman (8 comments total)

Many conductors also live to a very old age, and doctors suspect that it may be partially due to their effectively getting lots of cardiovascular exercise as part of their work. Being happy can't hurt either.

I'm reminded of the Toscanini story about his threat to an orchestra that wasn't playing the way he desired. He told them that in the afterlife he would run a whorehouse and not let any of them in.

BTW, in the Wall Street Journal review (which was glowing), they quoted the compiler as saying that he left out a lot of the more salacious stuff.
posted by pmurray63 at 2:28 PM on May 3, 2002

I guess these conductors have a lot more in common with Mike Tyson (see post below) then you might think at first encounter. Mike says he likes to have sex more often than the normal (non-conductor) person. And why not? He, too, makes his living waving his arms around in front of an audience.
posted by Faze at 2:48 PM on May 3, 2002

The Letters of Arturo Toscanini (Faber and Faber) and from Wall Street Journal review [reg req] : "...a bonanza was struck in 1995, when nearly 1,000 letters from Toscanini to his mistress, Ada Colleoni Mainardi, came up for auction in Berlin...The letters to Ada Mainardi are particularly revealing: Toscanini wrote her often about both his musical performances and his love for her, providing abundant detail -- which, in the second case, is frequently pornographic."
posted by Voyageman at 2:57 PM on May 3, 2002

When I was 22 or so I had the major hots for Dory Previn and could never understand while Andre dumped her.

I guess there were just a lot of other fish in the sea. . . .
posted by Danf at 3:08 PM on May 3, 2002

He, too, makes his living waving his arms around in front of an audience.

Once again, the dichotomy between creative energy and destructive.
posted by rushmc at 3:41 PM on May 3, 2002

Great post. Thanks!
posted by UrbanFigaro at 4:26 PM on May 3, 2002

Andre Previn dumped his wife for Mia Farrow. Dory Previn then wrote a beautiful but extremely melancholy song called "Beware of Young Girls". It's hard to listen to once you know the story behind it.

I'm sure men everywhere will feel really sorry for John Lennon and the way he had to perform stud service on queues of groupies, as related in the first link.
posted by iconomy at 5:38 PM on May 3, 2002

I'm sure men everywhere will feel really sorry for John Lennon and the way he had to perform stud service on queues of groupies,

It would be quite dreary, I think. There might have been a time when it might have been appealing.

And I think that Dory Previn got a lot of material from this breakup. One of her albums is full of "you left me" songs. But "Lady with a Braid" . . .that still plays now and then on my internal jukebox.
posted by Danf at 9:17 AM on May 4, 2002