Essay Four: Dachshunds

A new series of essays by the very popular Fiona Stafford, Professor of Literature at Somerville College, Oxford, following her much praised series of essays The Meaning of Trees and The Meaning of Flowers, Fiona explores famous composers and their devotion to certain dog breeds.

Through surprising and insightful stories and discoveries about both the composers and their dogs, the essays provide new insights into the type of people the composers were, their lives and the features of their chosen dog breeds that brought such devotion.

Composers Benjamin Britten and Leonard Bernstein were both dachshund aficionados, with stories galore about both. Benjamin Britten was almost inseparable from his dachshunds, taking them to rehearsals and concerts. He was often to be seen walking along the Suffolk coast with his dachshunds and the famous Red House in Aldeburgh has signs in many languages (many from other famous composers and musicians) warning people to beware of the fierce dogs. This was not as fanciful as it might appear. These ‘sausage dogs’ are figures of fun, but they were bred and trained to flush out rabbits or badgers, often known as badger hounds and are fearless fighters. Research marks dachshunds out as amongst the most aggressive breeds, fiercely defending their owners. Leonard Bernstein had a succession of very badly behaved dachshunds, all named Henry. When he was abroad on tour, if he had not taken one of his dachshunds with him, he would often commandeer other peoples’ dachshunds and got a reputation for being a serial dog kidnapper ; but who was going to say “No” to the famous composer? Artists also devoted to dachshunds included Picasso.

Producer – Turan Ali
A Bona Broadcasting production for BBC Radio 3 Show less