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