Sviatoslav Richter (1915-1997) is to many people the pianist of the century. He was a Soviet pianist who is known for the "depth of his interpretations, his virtuoso technique, and his vast repertoireâ. Richter was homosexual in Soviet Russia and having a lifelong female companion provided a social front for his true sexual orientation, because homosexuality was widely taboo at that time (and still is ) and could result in legal repercussions. Richter was stunningly handsome as a young man, suffered from many personal demons. He was withdrawn and not given to interviews, and often he insisted on performing in completely darkened halls illuminated by a single light bulb above the keyboard and as subject to periods of keen depression he traveled with a plastic lobster to cope. When he began to travel abroad in the late 1950s, he did form romantic attachments, but even these had to be kept secret, as the freedom to travel -- even for a virtuoso such as himself -- depended on the approval of Soviet authorities. The hidden aspects of his personality and the reason why he remained a remote figure in modern musical history became clear only after his death, when friends came forward to state what had been whispered for so long: Richter suffered untold miseries in his private life and public career because he was gay. He died of heart failure at the age of 82.
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