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