composers in hiking clothes

Beyond the fields, above the valleys, from the Mont Blanc massif to the Dolomite ranges, via the Valais or Dachstein Alps, many composers have chosen to live or simply spend the summer. They went there on foot, by car, on the back of a mule or on a bicycle. Some sought better health there, like Wagner, who suffered from rheumatism, others took refuge there, like Tchaikovsky, who wanted to escape the young wife he married on a whim. Whether for political, financial or sentimental reasons, everyone has ultimately found inspiration in the heart of the mountains.

Dominique Huybrechts tells us these musical stories in a beautiful illustrated book. So let’s imagine the Alps of the 18th century^e century, without their skewers of hotels and their lines of tourists. Switzerland is then a stopover to go to Italy, but soon everything will change. While we read Rousseau and conquer Mont Blanc, we marvel at the spectacle of…