Sir Edward Downes, a well-known conductor, and his wife Joan, a former ballerina, choreographer and television producer, were inseparable in life during their 54 years of marriage. Last week, their lives ended the same way, together.
Sir Edward Downes was a world-renowned orchestral conductor, who in recent years, was almost blind and and was going deaf, leaving his beloved music out of reach. His wife of 54 years, Joan, had been looking after him over the last few years.
Joan was diagnosed with pancreatic and live cancer and was told by her doctors that she had only weeks to live. So, together, the Downes' decided to end their lives together and on their own terms, rather than "
struggle with serious health problems."
It is being reported in
The Star that although Sir Edward would have survived far beyond his wife's death, he decided that he didn't want to. The two traveled together to a Dignitas clinic in Zurich, Switzerland and died, hand-in-hand. In the past, Dignitas has been criticised for allowing non-terminal patients to commit suicide.
Their children issued the following statement:
After 54 happy years together, they decided to end their own lives rather than continue to struggle with serious health problems,
It is being reported that the 85-year-old Edward and his 74-year-old wife, drank "
a small amount of clear liquid and died hand-in-hand." The couples two adult children were at their side when they died. The couples son, Caractacus Downes, said:
They wanted to be next to each other when they died. They held hands across the beds. It is a very civilized way to be able to end your life.
Edward Downes joined London's Royal Opera House in 1952 and over the years, kept close ties with them, conducting 49 different operas, totaling almost 1,000 performances over the next 50 years. He was appointed as music director of the Australian Opera, and was a principal conductor and later conductor emeritus at the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra.
According to his children:
They both lived life to the full and considered themselves to be extremely lucky to have lived such rewarding lives, both professionally and personally. Our parents had no religious beliefs and there will be no funeral.
Britain has a law that punishes anyone helping a person kill themselves with up to 14 years in prison. However, no relative or friend of any of the British citizens who have killed themselves in a Dignitas clinic has been prosecuted.
P.S. The embedded video was a production done in 1992. It shows Maria Ewing in the final scene of Richard Strauss' Salome and Sir Edward Downes was conducting the Orchestra of Royal Opera.
