Kaikhosru Shapurji Sorabji - Private Life

Private Life

Many details of his life were for a long time hard to come by, as Sorabji was extraordinarily private. He almost always refused requests for interviews or information, often with sharp messages and warnings not to approach him again. This has led to numerous misunderstandings, for instance, that he lived in a castle, because he lived in the Dorset village of Corfe Castle. Since he had independent financial means, he felt no need to be tactful in his dealings with the public, critics and musicians interested in performing his works. "The Eye", Sorabji's home in Corfe Castle, had a sign at the gate stating: "Visitors Unwelcome". Nevertheless, he had numerous friends, including the Scottish composer Alistair Hinton, who is the founder and director of the Sorabji Archive.

Sorabji was a homosexual, and in the early 1920s consulted the British psychologist and writer on sexual psychology Havelock Ellis on matters related to his sexual orientation. Ellis held progressive views on the subject and Sorabji expressed high admiration for him, and dedicated his Piano Concerto No. 7, Simorg-Anka (1924) to him as an expression of gratitude. Although Sorabji experienced racial harassment in his youth, his homosexuality caused him greater trouble, as he was apparently once blackmailed over it.

Sorabji changed his name to demonstrate his strong identification with his Parsi heritage. He explained why he did that thus:

It is also stated that my name, my real name, that is the one I am known by, is not my real name. Now one is given one's name—one's authentic ones—at some such ceremony as baptism, Christening, or the like, on the occasion of one's formal reception into a certain religious Faith. In the ancient Zarathustrian Parsi community to which, on my father's side, I have the honour to belong, this ceremony is normally performed, as in other Faiths, in childhood, or owing to special circumstances as in my case, later in life, when I assumed my name as it now is or, in the words of the legal document in which this is mentioned "... received into the Parsi community and in accordance with the custom and tradition thereof, is now and will be henceforth known as ..." and here follows my name as now.