23 historic photographs of classical composers doing incredibly normal things

[80sFan 108]

I like the two of JW with Luciano Pavarotti & Jessye Norman

 

https://www.classicfm.com/discover-music/historic-photos-classical-composers-doing-normal-things/

[Fabulin 3,506]

Local copies:

Spoiler

1999 "John Williams dropping by to visit Luciano Pavarotti in his dressing room at the Grammy Awards".

 

 

2012 "Opera legend Jessye Norman and film maestro John Williams share a moment".

 

 

[Thor 7,462]

There is a whole site devoted to this (Prokofiev walking his dog and stuff like that, Stravinsky doing normal things in LA), but I can't remember what it was called. I love the one with Franz Waxman on a boat, I think outside New York.

[Jurassic Shark 12,023]

On 7/12/2021 at 4:18 PM, Fabulin said:

1999 "John Williams dropping by to visit Luciano Pavarotti in his dressing room at the Grammy Awards".

 

Pavarotti: If I hold my hand upwards and you hold your hand horizontally, it will look like we're about to shake hands. Are you game?

 

JW: Yes, Giorgio.

 

 

Strauss: Scheisse, I definitely should have removed that butt plug.

 

 

Prokofiev: Who farted?

 

...

 

 

JW: Jessye, I just love sucking on your eyeballs.

 

Jessye: And I love to... MWAHAHA!

 

Dedicated to @Sweeping Strings.

[mrbellamy 6,272]

Anybody remember Blume's caption contests?

[Tom 4,632]

It is nice to see how much these performers love him.  No one's perfect, but he exudes class like no other.  

[karelm 2,903]

Very nice pictures but some captions are a bit inaccurate.  The 1910 picture showing Mahler enjoying family time includes his two daughters Anna and Maria but Maria died in 1907 and Mahler would have been quite sickly in 1910 just months from his own death from heart failure.  The picture is probably from 1906 placing it just before he would work on his Symphony No. 8.

[Sweeping Strings 2,344]

On 7/12/2021 at 8:09 PM, Jurassic Shark said:

 

Pavarotti: If I hold my hand upwards and you hold your hand horizontally, it will look like we're about to shake hands. Are you game?

 

JW: Yes, Giorgio.

 

 

Strauss: Scheisse, I definitely should have removed that butt plug.

 

 

Prokofiev: Who farted?

 

...

 

 

JW: Jessye, I just love sucking on your eyeballs.

 

Jessye: And I love to... MWAHAHA!

 

Dedicated to @Sweeping Strings.

Umm ... thanks? 

[Marian Schedenig 8,172]

22 hours ago, karelm said:

Very nice pictures but some captions ar a bit inaccurate.  The 1910 picture showing Mahler enjoying family time includes his two daughters Anna and Maria but Maria died in 1907

 

Or if the captions are accurate, the title isn't, because in that case Mahler isn't doing "incredibly normal" things in that photo…

[Jurassic Shark 12,023]

I'd say enjoying time with your family is incredibly normal.

[Tom 4,632]

I used to hang out with Pavarotti all the time--turns out we both liked Dily Bars.  

[Marian Schedenig 8,172]

3 hours ago, Jurassic Shark said:

I'd say enjoying time with your family is incredibly normal.

 

Sure, but enjoying time with your dead family…?

[Jurassic Shark 12,023]

Now you're being picky.

[Tom 4,632]

3 hours ago, Marian Schedenig said:

 

Sure, but enjoying time with your dead family…?

A threat?  

[Jurassic Shark 12,023]

Where are the mods when you need them?

[Tom Guernsey 2,279]

Those are great, even if the ordinariness of them is variable (I mean, who hasn't dropped into the Grammys...?!). Of the many downsides to social media and the ease of taking photos, it's much less of a thrill seeing pictures of contemporary composers. The daily updates on John Powell's (admittedly adorable) dog don't have quite the magic of gaining a tiny insight into the life of people of such historic importance. Even retrospectively, I'm not sure people in 100 years will get quite the same thrill seeing the picture of (for example) Sally Beamish in a hammock as the one of Shostakovich watching the footie.

[Jurassic Shark 12,023]

If they'd been topless, I know which one I'd been the most thrilled of.