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