# Composer decor



## Tapkaara (Apr 18, 2006)

Do you decorate your home with images or memorabilia pertaining to your favorite composers?

I certainly do!

I will get pictures of my stuff soon, but for now I will settle with a description.

I have two original paintings of Sibelius and Ifukube. Both were done by a local artist here in San Diego who also happens to be a good friend. They are both in temporary frames, but at least they are hanging on the walls of my living room, which is in need of some renovation. It'll all get done, eventually.

I have original autographs of Sibelius, Ifukube and Khachaturian, all framed. My Ifukube and Sibelius are on display, Khachaturian not at the moment. 

I have an original pencil drawing of Ifukube also framed an hanging on the wall under his autograph.

On my desk I have two busts: Beethoven and Sibelius.

In my office I have various framed images of Sibelius and Ifukube. One of these images is an original potcard of Sibelius from, I believe, 1912. Next to that framed postcard I have placed a stone and a pine cone, both of which I collected at his estate. I also have a rock on display from Ifukube's house.

Perhaps I am the only person on this forum who collects rocks from composer's homes?

Am I a fanatic? You bet. Fanaticism makes life worth living.

Pictures of all I describe soon...


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## Sid James (Feb 7, 2009)

Tapkaara said:


> Do you decorate your home with images or memorabilia pertaining to your favorite composers?...


Short answer is no...


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## elgar's ghost (Aug 8, 2010)

Not me - I've been put off the idea ever since I spotted a reproduction print of Beethoven's death mask on Alex's bedroom wall in A Clockwork Orange.


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## Ravellian (Aug 17, 2009)

No, I really don't like to idolize any particular composer... my tastes change fairly quickly anyway.


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## Tapkaara (Apr 18, 2006)

Wow, I guess I am kind of alone in this...


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## clavichorder (May 2, 2011)

I have a portrait of Brahms and a W.F. Bach framed printout, as well as an interesting painting of Haydn on a ship traveling the stormy english channel. The last one is the only one that I have nailed to the wall of my room.


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## Tapkaara (Apr 18, 2006)

clavichorder said:


> I have a portrait of Brahms and a W.F. Bach framed printout, as well as an interesting painting of Haydn on a ship traveling the stormy english channel. The last one is the only one that I have nailed to the wall of my room.


Very interesting. Is the painting of haydn original?


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## clavichorder (May 2, 2011)

Tapkaara said:


> Very interesting. Is the painting of haydn original?


Its not, but its no pixilated printout either. I got it as a gift, so its logical to assume that its a professional photograph of the original.


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## clavichorder (May 2, 2011)

I also have plastic "action figures" of Mozart, Beethoven, and Bach.


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## Manxfeeder (Oct 19, 2010)

I don't have anything, either, outside of a Bach mug and a CD signed by David Zinman. But I could kick myself; yesterday I saw a dead ringer for Anton Bruckner, and I didn't take the opportunity of a photograph with him. That would have been frame-worthy.


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## clavichorder (May 2, 2011)

My friend has a Taneyev shirt pin to name one of the many things he has.


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## elgar's ghost (Aug 8, 2010)

I've been a little hasty - I remember seeing a Shostakovich t-shirt that I'd like - there is no picture as I recall, just a stave with the four-note 'DSCH' motif.


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## Sid James (Feb 7, 2009)

I saw a woman the other day wearing a Beethoven t-shirt. First time I've seen that. It's better than wearing a t-shirt of someone like that **** Che Guevara, imo, the guy sentenced people to death, people don't know about the horrible things he did. At least Beethoven gave us good things, not death, political killings, etc. But I don't think I'd wear a t-shirt with Beethoven, although a caricature of Satie or one of Hindemith's doodled self portraits wouldn't be bad. Anything whimsical and a bit less ponderous...


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## Tapkaara (Apr 18, 2006)

I am still very surprised that I seem to be the most fetishistic of the bunch here.


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## Sid James (Feb 7, 2009)

^^Well, here in Australia, I think sports memorabilia is a HUGE industry. Esp. in relation to cricket. I'm no sports-buff, but I've come across people who are, it's everywhere. As for composers, I saw a bust of our own Peter Sculthorpe at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music, but I'd doubt that anyone here has that type of thing in their homes. I think a Beethoven bust is like cliche almost, to be on the piano etc., esp. if you're a classical musician, but maybe some younger people would see it as too much cliched, boring and old hat. I don't know...


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## Meaghan (Jul 31, 2010)

I found wall busts of Bach and Beethoven at a thrift store, made to look like terra cotta or something, but actually plastic. They were only a dollar each, so I couldn't resist.


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## Sid James (Feb 7, 2009)

Liszt had THIS rather kitschy music stand with the heads of his three idols, Schubert, Beethoven and Weber (& his own head in the middle). A bit of a bizarre bit of memorabilia, it's now in the Liszt apartment museum in Budapest, Hungary...


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## Couchie (Dec 9, 2010)

My eventual plan is to simply buy Mt. Rushmore and reshape it into Bach, Beethoven, Mozart, and Wagner.


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## Sid James (Feb 7, 2009)

^^Well that's probably better than what they were seriously considering a few years back, adding Ronald Reagan's head to that of the other guys on Mt. Rushmore  ...


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## Guest (Nov 5, 2011)

elgars ghost said:


> Not me - I've been put off the idea ever since I spotted a reproduction print of Beethoven's death mask on Alex's bedroom wall in A Clockwork Orange.


I have an original Beethoven death mask by Walter Kuhlman--he's looking down from above--quite chilling! I also have busts of Bach, Beethoven, Liszt, and Mahler.


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## Tapkaara (Apr 18, 2006)

Kontrapunctus said:


> I have an original Beethoven death mask by Walter Kuhlman--he's looking down from above--quite chilling! I also have busts of Bach, Beethoven, Liszt, and Mahler.


An original death mask? Can you say more?


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## Tapkaara (Apr 18, 2006)

Here are my two paintings. First, I took them on my camera's built-in camera so they are fairly fuzzy. Plus, they are in temporary frames; I plan to frame them nicely in the future. Also, they are in my living room, which need to be remodeled. I hate the current wall color.


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## Tapkaara (Apr 18, 2006)

And here are clear views of the paintings.


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## Couchie (Dec 9, 2010)

Your camera has a built-in camera?


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## Tapkaara (Apr 18, 2006)

Couchie said:


> Your camera has a built-in camera?


Hahahaha, I meant my computer's built-in camera. Thanks for catching that!


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## Elgarian (Jul 30, 2008)

Tapkaara said:


> I am still very surprised that I seem to be the most fetishistic of the bunch here.


I wouldn't describe this sort of activity as fetishistic. I share it to a considerable degree, but it's no different in essence to wanting signed CDs or books by artists and writers we admire. For me, I think it's about personalisation, and grows from feelings of empathy, admiration, and gratitude.

I don't have anything signed by Elgar, but I do have a small collection of contemporary published scores. Most of this is on shelves, but there's a framed old copy of _Salut d'Amour_ in the bathroom:

















I don't have bits of rock etc, but that's because I'm able to visit Elgar's birthplace quite often - several times a year - so I get plenty of 'hands-on' opportunites. If it were not for that, I'm sure I'd have acquired a few stones from his garden here at home.

I have some opera and concert programs that are signed by many of the artists who were performing, but again they're not displayed on the walls (too many pictures on the walls anyway - there isn't room). But the point is - I have all the potential to be a gatherer of the sort of material you've collected, and I don't think it's the least bit odd.


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## Almaviva (Aug 13, 2010)

Tapkaara said:


> I am still very surprised that I seem to be the most fetishistic of the bunch here.


I do have a few things.
On my fridge door I have postal card-sized pictures of Verdi, Wagner, Bizet, Rossini, and Puccini. My screen-saver at work is a mosaic of composers pictures (Mozart, Beethoven, Handel, all of the above quoted, and others).

Now, as far as opera memorabilia, I have a lot more. Paper weight with the words from the Traviata Brindisi. La Traviata pillow from the Met Opera Shop. Tosca puzzle. Various opera coffee table books. A miniature of an opera scenario. Five large framed posters from opera company productions (Salome, Orpheo et Eurydice, La Traviata, La Boheme, Carmen). A framed mosaic with scenes from the Metropolitan Opera and its artists. A framed autograph of Anna Netrebko and my picture with her.


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## Almaviva (Aug 13, 2010)

Couchie said:


> Your camera has a built-in camera?


Mine does. I thought all of them did.


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## presto (Jun 17, 2011)

No, the two things are quite separate, I love the Baroque but my house is all Art Deco…………..I suppose the wall clock is a bit Baroque looking!


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## Elgarian (Jul 30, 2008)

Almaviva said:


> I do have a few things.
> On my fridge door I have postal card-sized pictures of Verdi, Wagner, Bizet, Rossini, and Puccini. My screen-saver at work is a mosaic of composers pictures (Mozart, Beethoven, Handel, all of the above quoted, and others).
> 
> Now, as far as opera memorabilia, I have a lot more. Paper weight with the words from the Traviata Brindisi. La Traviata pillow from the Met Opera Shop. Tosca puzzle. Various opera coffee table books. A miniature of an opera scenario. Five large framed posters from opera company productions (Salome, Orpheo et Eurydice, La Traviata, La Boheme, Carmen). A framed mosaic with scenes from the Metropolitan Opera and its artists. A framed autograph of Anna Netrebko and my picture with her.


Yes, you definitely qualify to join us in the Obsessives' Corner, Alma. Pull up a chair.

I was thinking about this last night and realised that I have a variant on the 'rocks from my favourite composer's garden' collecting syndrome: I think I may have the largest number of digital photographs of Elgar's garden in existence! Really - I have hundreds. Every time I go I take more (I tell myself that the light is different each time, and it is - but really I just enjoy the process.) Here are a few - I've probably posted some of them before:


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## Aramis (Mar 1, 2009)

I have pictures of: Brahms, Berlioz, Mahler, Verdi, Wagner, Mozart, Paganini, Schubert, Liszt, Sibelius, R. Strauss, Mussorgsky, Grieg and Karajan in little format and Chopin (Delacroix) in bigger format. The biggest muzzle on my wall is still Shakespeare though. The names of composers are not quite top of my list but I like them all, of course.


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## elgar's ghost (Aug 8, 2010)

Kontrapunctus said:


> I have an original Beethoven death mask by Walter Kuhlman--he's looking down from above--quite chilling! I also have busts of Bach, Beethoven, Liszt, and Mahler.


I was sort of in error, Kontropunctus: I now recall the picture of Beethoven as featured in Alex's bedroom was a repro of the painting done of Beethoven himself just after he died by Joseph Danhauser, not the death mask itself (which he also painted). It looks almost Medusa-like.


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## Tapkaara (Apr 18, 2006)

A few items from my office. Again, taken with my computer's built-in camera, so these are not the best photos by any means.

My copy of Sibelius's autograph.









Ifukube's autograph and original pencil drawing of him.









Old post card of Sibelius with rock and pine cone from Ainola. Next to that an autographed photo of koto virtuosa Keiko Nosaka.









Bust of Beethoven and Sibelius on my desk.


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## Elgarian (Jul 30, 2008)

Tapkaara said:


> A few items from my office. Again, taken with my computer's built-in camera, so these are not the best photos by any means.


Well they're good enough to raise a shiver or two up _my _spine. That Sibelius autograph... gosh, the tingles get all the way from there to here. Beautifully framed, too. But everything there is superbly presented, exactly as it _deserves_ to be.


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## Tapkaara (Apr 18, 2006)

Elgarian said:


> Well they're good enough to raise a shiver or two up _my _spine. That Sibelius autograph... gosh, the tingles get all the way from there to here. Beautifully framed, too. But everything there is superbly presented, exactly as it _deserves_ to be.


Thank you, Elgarian! I will have to get a clearer shot of the Sibelius autograph. I enjoy looking at it myself, and still get the occasional tingle!


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## Jeremy Marchant (Mar 11, 2010)

Raised an interesting point with me.

All my pictures are landscapes, mostly originals by David Blackburn, whose pastels I love; a couple of pencil sketches of models by my brother; and some late Matisses in reproduction. No pictures of real people, not even family. Make of that what you will.


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## NightHawk (Nov 3, 2011)

not really, I just can't afford anything cool like real autographs!



Tapkaara said:


> Wow, I guess I am kind of alone in this...


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## kv466 (May 18, 2011)

I've got a Mozart statuette I got in Austria years ago along with many other little composer trinkets. The only one painting I have is not original but it is pretty great; it is a big HQ painting of J.S. Bach in a simple frame. I got it when I was in high school and had it up on my wall for years...don't have much on my walls these days but maybe I'll put it back up now.


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## Weston (Jul 11, 2008)

I have two busts of Beethoven, one of which looks like Gregory Peck.  I also have a bust a Mozart (looking more like Leonard DiCaprio perhaps than Mozart) that a friend gave to me, not knowing that Mozart is not one of my favorites, but it's okay. It strikes the correct mood I'm after in my decor.

Really though, I reside more in my head. The house is just the place where I get out of the rain and keep all my stuff dry too, and access the electrical outlets.


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## Tapkaara (Apr 18, 2006)

I am still quite amazed at all of this. It seems I am definitely the most nuts when it comes to this stuff. Perhaps I've gone a little overboard with everything?


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## Huilunsoittaja (Apr 6, 2010)

I'm too afraid to post up a portrait of Prokofiev in my dorm (although the one below would be the one I would want to, if I had the courage):








Reason 1: He'll be looking at me all the time. 
Reason 2: My roommate might get creeped out too. 
Reason 3: I'll look too fanatical.


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## tdc (Jan 17, 2011)

I do get quite fanatical about the composers I love - especially Bach and Ravel. I like to read up about these composers, and at some stage I think it would be absolutely awesome to travel to where they lived, and perhaps take back a memento like a rock or a pine cone or something, but outside of this I don't really feel the need to get any material items, or symbols of them. I think when I was younger I would though. At this stage of my life I really have the philosophy all around of 'less is more' when it comes to material items. I try not to collect too many 'things' or get attached to them. I honestly feel happier and less stressed out in general when I approach things this way. That said my recordings and sheet music of Bach and Ravel are certainly some of my most prized possessions.


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