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