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