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