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