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