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