> There have been plenty of acrimonious breakups in the classical world,
> indeed in the early music world, some of them involving big-name lute
> players.
>
> Art is a passionate business, which magnifies differences of opinion, and
> egos can be large, which also magnifies differences. Enormous amounts of
> money and intense press scrutiny can really blow things out of proportion.
>
> Roman's remark about a "classical personality" being unable to break up with
> himself ignores reality: most important music until the 20th century was
> vocal, and involved a writer of words and a composer of music. Mozart and
> Da Ponte, and Handel and Morell, were artistic committees no less than Elton
> John and Bernie Taupin.
Except the lyricists taking and BEING CONTENT WITH taking the back seat, in
those cases when the lyrics weren't in public domain.
RT