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