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.
Paul Hindemith at an early age playing with a toy carriage.
Dmitri Shostakovich showing off his billiard skills.
Giuseppe Verdi at a garden party surrounded by friends.
Aaron Copland eating an ice cream cone.
Antonín Dvořák having a picnic with his family.
Igor Stravinsky having breakfast.
Giacomo Puccini at the Brooklyn Bridge.
Ruth Crawford Seeger chopping wood on a beach with Carl Sandburg.
Theodor Adorno at the beach.
Tchaikovsky with his family.
Camille Saint-Saëns wearing some fancy pajamas.
Béla Bartók looking trim.
Arvo Pärt and Alfred Schnittke reenact their high school yearbook photos.
Olivier Messiaen with his son, Pascal.
Samuel Barber smoking under a tree.
Pierre Boulez and Simon Rattle chatting at a party in 1989.
Johannes Brahms having a picnic with violinist Marie Soldat and a couple other ladies.
Zoltán Kodály playing with his children.
György Ligeti pouring water on Pierre-Laurent Aimard on a train.
Richard Strauss playing cards.
Duke Ellington playing baseball.
Manuel de Falla checking out a menu.
Benjamin Britten playing tennis.
Anton Webern bowling.
Krzysztof Penderecki doing yardwork.
Jules Massenet petting his dog.
Edward Elgar smoking a cigarette with his dog Marco.
Jean Sibelius having an afternoon tea.
Erik Satie having a drink.
George Gershwin painting a picture of Arnold Schoenberg.
Sergei Rachmaninoff cutting his birthday cake.
Heitor Villa-Lobos playing billiards.
John Philip Sousa reading daily news.
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky properly dressed for winter.
Morton Feldman playing cards on a train.
Arnold Schoenberg and Winfried Zillig rocking one piece bathing suits.
Gustav Mahler at a party.
Ennio Morricone playing some ping-pong.
Leonard Bernstein going for a swim in Israel.
Richard Wagner with his family.
Sergei Prokofiev playing chess against violinist David Oistrakh with violinist Liza Gilels watching.
Gian Carlo Menotti walking his dog in the rain.
John Corigliano having a beer with an eland.
Claude Debussy holding an umbrella on a beach.
John Cage and Karlheinz Stockhausen flying a cartoon plane.
Wonderful, thanks very much for sharing the wonderful photos.
Terrific photo’s. Thanks very much!!
Very Very interesting! Thank you