Was Chopin gay? The awkward question in one of the EU’s worst countries for LGBTQ rights Sun, November 29, 2020, 3:35 AM EST·8 min read A drawing of Polish-born composer and pianist Frederic Chopin on his deathbed in 1849. Credit: Kean Collection/Archive Photos/Getty Images / Getty Images Each year, millions of visitors to Poland are introduced to the country’s favorite son before they even set foot on its soil. Warsaw’s Chopin Airport, the nation’s largest transport hub, greets more than 1 million people every month. And it’s far from theRead More

Legendary composer Frédéric Chopin wrote a ‘flood’ of homoerotic love letters that were ‘deliberately erased from history’ Lily Wakefield Sat, 28 November 2020 Gay love letters written by Polish composer Frédéric Chopin were deliberately mistranslated by historians to conceal his sexuality, a music journalist has claimed. According to The Guardian, Swiss music journalist Moritz Weber had been researching letters written by Chopin during lockdown earlier this year when he discovered a “flood of declarations of love aimed at men”. His findings were explored in the two-hour radio show Chopin’s Men,Read More

Професор Колумбийского Университета Джеймс Шапиро использует психоаналитику анализируя 3 версии Гамлета The Question of Hamlet It wasn’t until 1711 that anyone wrote at length about Hamlet and another century would pass before it became Shakespeare’s most celebrated play James Shapiro Program for a nineteenth-century production of Hamlet. Credit: Private Collection / Look and Learn / Peter Jackson Collection / Bridgeman Images. In the decades after it was first staged, probably in 1600, Hamlet seems to have been popular, though not especially so. It was performed at the Globe Theatre, inRead More

Зачем читать Боэция сегодня? Написанное в ожидании казни, Утешение философии ставит вопросы о человеческом разуме, которые остаются актуальными и сегодня.   John Marenbonis a fellow of the British Academy, senior research fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge, and honorary professor of mediaeval philosophy, as well as visiting professor at the Philosophy Department of Peking University in China. His latest book is Pagans and Philosophers (2015). For nearly a millennium, The Consolation of Philosophy by Boethius was a bestseller throughout Europe. It was read not only by those who could understand itsRead More

How Einstein Reconciled Religion to Science As Einstein would have it, there is no necessary conflict between science and religion—or between science and “religious feelings.” Brian Gallagher What Einstein said was nearly as scathing as any contemporary critique of religion you might hear from Richard Dawkins, Sam Harris, or Christopher Hitchens. Photo by spatuletail / Shutterstock. I recently heard an echo of Albert Einstein’s religious views in the words of Elon Musk. Asked, at the close of a conversation with Axios, whether he believed in God, the CEO of bothRead More

The Mysterious Deaths of 6 Historical Figures Was Napoleon murdered by his wallpaper? Was Mozart done in by a pork chop? Bess Lovejoy A portrait of Napoleon by Antoine-Jean Gros. Credit: Photos.com via Getty Images. You might think that dying while famous means a well-documented death proceeding from an obvious cause, but nothing could be further from the truth. Throughout history, notable figures have spent their final hours in situations clouded with uncertainty, rumor, and suspicion. Whether the deceased is an ancient emperor or a modern aviator, the potential culpritRead More