By Andrew Benson Brown
Many composers had pets, and most of them seem to have been dog people. Wagner had about a dozen over the course of his life. Edward Elgar also had several, and even alludes to a friend’s bulldog in No. XI of his “Enigma” variations. Beethoven formed a bond with the dog of one of this pupils he was in love with. When she rejected his marriage proposal, the canine, Gigon, followed him around that evening, comforting his wounded heart.
