Our greatest connection to a composer is through his music. And as a lot of the music we listen to is so exceptional, it is easy to imagine that the person who created it is also entirely exceptional. While there is no doubt they would have had exceptional musical talent and artistic insight, this almost makes it impossible for us to look at the other parts of their personality and life. Here is a rare photo collection of some famous composers showing some interesting aspects of their day-to-day activities.
Olivier Messiaen with his son, Pascal.
John Philip Sousa reading daily news.
Claude Debussy holding an umbrella on a beach.
Paul Hindemith at an early age playing with a toy carriage.
Samuel Barber smoking under a tree.
Pierre Boulez and Simon Rattle chatting at a party in 1989.
Jean Sibelius having an afternoon tea.
Erik Satie having a drink.
Morton Feldman playing cards on a train.
Anton Webern bowling.
Gian Carlo Menotti walking his dog in the rain.
Arnold Schoenberg and Winfried Zillig rocking one piece bathing suits.
Heitor Villa-Lobos playing billiards.
György Ligeti pouring water on Pierre-Laurent Aimard on a train.
Ennio Morricone playing some ping-pong.
Dmitri Shostakovich showing off his billiard skills.
Richard Wagner with his family.
Sergei Rachmaninoff cutting his birthday cake.
Manuel de Falla checking out a menu.
Giacomo Puccini at the Brooklyn Bridge.
Camille Saint-Saëns wearing some fancy pajamas.
Theodor Adorno at the beach.
Ruth Crawford Seeger chopping wood on a beach with Carl Sandburg.
Igor Stravinsky having breakfast.
Aaron Copland eating an ice cream cone.
Krzysztof Penderecki doing yardwork.
Leonard Bernstein going for a swim in Israel.
John Corigliano having a beer with an eland.
Antonín Dvořák having a picnic with his family.
Igor Stravinski rocking a speedo.
Sergei Prokofiev playing chess against violinist David Oistrakh with violinist Liza Gilels watching.
Tchaikovsky with his family.
Béla Bartók looking trim.
Richard Strauss playing cards.
George Gershwin painting a picture of Arnold Schoenberg.
Gustav Mahler at a party.
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky properly dressed for winter.
John Cage and Karlheinz Stockhausen flying a cartoon plane.
Johannes Brahms having a picnic with violinist Marie Soldat and a couple other ladies.
Duke Ellington playing baseball.
Zoltán Kodály playing with his children.
Jules Massenet petting his dog.
Giuseppe Verdi at a garden party surrounded by friends.
Edward Elgar smoking a cigarette with his dog Marco.
Arvo Pärt and Alfred Schnittke reenact their high school yearbook photos.
Wonderful, thanks very much for sharing the wonderful photos.
Terrific photo’s. Thanks very much!!
Very Very interesting! Thank you