# Who's the most handsome composer?



## OldFashionedGirl

Another no important thread. Who's the most handsome composer for you?


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## Huilunsoittaja

I dug up this thread with an internet search :devil:

Considering this is an awkward subject for men to entertain (and I believe the topic has been discussed before but I'm too lazy to dig up THAT thread), I'm not surprised it was buried eventually with no comments. So... I will go first. :tiphat:

To this day, I stand with this judgment of taste. I present George Enescu:









Although I have to say, Prokofiev is pretty dapper in this one:


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## elgar's ghost

Huilunsoittaja said:


> Considering this is an awkward subject for men to entertain (and I believe the topic has been discussed before but I'm too lazy to dig up THAT thread), I'm not surprised it was buried eventually with no comments. So... I will go first. :tiphat:
> 
> It's not awkward for me, H - without even thinking my answer would be Roxanna Panufnik.


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## mirepoix

Bernstein was (in my opinion) a good looking guy. Perhaps not handsome, but the way he held himself and his bearing spoke of self confidence - which is always attractive. I think the last time this sort of thread was started there were photos, and even my girlfriend picked him out for that reason.


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## violadude

Young Alban Berg


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## Ingélou

Beauty Contest.

*First Prize: William Lawes*










*Second: Luigi Boccherini*










*Runner-Up - The Red Priest*


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## muzik

Brahms!


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## Stavrogin

Funny that Prokofiev was also "elected" here as one of the ugliest composers


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## Stavrogin

I nominate Mjaskovskij


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## ptr

..I could think of being intimate in a number of way's with all or any of the following composers:




























Just to picture a few.. And as You see I much prefer living composers, at least coming to having a view on someone being good looking!

/ptr

I'm sure You'all know their names, but in the slim chance that You have forgot:
Roxana Panufnik; Helena Tulve; Natasha Barrett


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## Crudblud

Yep.


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## The nose

I think young Stockhausen wasn't so bad...







... but then he became that thing


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## hpowders

Leonard Bernstein radiated good looks and sex appeal in my opinion.

Notice how modest he is too. Not willing to take up many cm. of space. Classy guy!


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## Musicforawhile

This photo of Edgard Varese gets my vote








And I also wouldn't have said no to:


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## Chronochromie

Liszt. Duh.


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## Skilmarilion

Anyone of these ...

Gus with 'stache.









Sailor Gus.









Bearded Gus.


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## clavichorder

Paderewski:


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## SONNET CLV

The most handsome composer? It has to be this guy:









But I'll let you all know now ... I've started writing a symphony, so in a few weeks or so I myself should be able to qualify for this designation.


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## GioCar

He had a reputation for being a great _tombeur de femmes

_









Giacomo Puccini


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## Vaneyes




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## Huilunsoittaja

Stavrogin said:


> Funny that Prokofiev was also "elected" here as one of the ugliest composers


He had his good days and bad days.  Bald guys also aren't ugly to me, I think he stayed handsome regardless.


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## MagneticGhost

elgars ghost said:


> Huilunsoittaja said:
> 
> 
> 
> Considering this is an awkward subject for men to entertain (and I believe the topic has been discussed before but I'm too lazy to dig up THAT thread), I'm not surprised it was buried eventually with no comments. So... I will go first. :tiphat:
> 
> It's not awkward for me, H - without even thinking my answer would be Roxanna Panufnik.
> 
> 
> 
> I applaud your impeccable taste.
Click to expand...


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## Chronochromie

Skilmarilion said:


> Bearded Gus.
> 
> View attachment 54964


I wonder why he didn't keep the awesome beard...


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## Mahlerian

Der Leiermann said:


> I wonder why he didn't keep the awesome beard...


He had grown a beard primarily in order to look older than he was; as a conductor younger than most of his players, he wished to project authority. He only had it for a few years, though; by the time of the Second Symphony (<-see photo at left), he had dropped it.


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## Skilmarilion

Huilunsoittaja said:


> Bald guys also aren't ugly to me, I think he stayed handsome regardless.


Speaking of bald, obviously there's a big shortage of Bruckner portraits/photos from younger years, but is it possible that he simply never had any hair?

I mean, you type in 'young Bruckner' into google and you get:


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## Skilmarilion

Mahlerian said:


> ... by the time of the Second Symphony (<-see photo at left), he had dropped it.


As good as the beard may have been, that look was great.

We should call it, 'Mahlerian Gus'. :tiphat:


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## Mahlerian

Skilmarilion said:


> Speaking of bald, obviously there's a big shortage of Bruckner portraits/photos from younger years, but is it possible that he simply never had any hair?
> 
> I mean, you type in 'young Bruckner' into google and you get:


Well, in 1880 (I assume that the file name is correct), he would have been over 50. That's nothing compared to Schoenberg, who was not even in his 20s when this picture was taken:


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## Chronochromie

Skilmarilion said:


> Speaking of bald, obviously there's a big shortage of Bruckner portraits/photos from younger years, but is it possible that he simply never had any hair?
> 
> I mean, you type in 'young Bruckner' into google and you get:
> 
> View attachment 54975
















There.


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## mirepoix

Very many women don't like bald men._ But enough of them do_. Oh yeah.
Perhaps Bruckner simply embraced his baldness and shaved his dome rather than lived with an unsightly comb over?


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## Figleaf

Agree with Giocar- it's got to be Puccini. Also, the British composer Isidore de Lara:









(Those Vanity Fair cartoons are usually super-unflattering. The Jean de Reszke one looks like a gnome. Perhaps because de Lara was an Englishman by birth the magazine patriotically resisted the temptation to caricature him too much.)

Cecile Chaminade was quite pretty as a young woman:

View attachment Bild.png


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## Musicforawhile

These all look handsome when they were young, I'd say.

Faure








Grieg








Rachmaninoff


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## Cosmos

But can we talk about when Schubert used to be a model


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## Chronochromie

Cosmos said:


> But can we talk about when Schubert used to be a model


Hmm...I've read somewhere that it isn't Schubert but a friend of his. Now this one is thought to be the young Schubert, mostly because of the glasses:


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## Figleaf

Gabriel wasn't necessarily the handsomest composer named Faure:









Though like Pericles, the shape of Jean Baptiste Faure's head and his baldness meant that he was possibly handsomest with a hat on. Here he is without:









And, who could resist the dapper charm of Reynaldo Hahn? The young Marcel Proust couldn't.


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## Sloe

Der Leiermann said:


> Hmm...I've read somewhere that it isn't Schubert but a friend of his. Now this one is thought to be the young Schubert, mostly because of the glasses:
> View attachment 54984


The young Schubert?
How can there be an old Schubert?


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## Skilmarilion

Der Leiermann said:


> View attachment 54977
> View attachment 54978
> 
> There.


Congratulations, I think you just ruined Bruckner for me. :scold: 

So it seems that Schoenberg must take second place in the 'battle for bald'!

Second place of course, because first place has forever belonged to ...


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## tgtr0660

Anton Bruckner kills in that department. And Shostakovitch follows him closely.


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## Chronochromie

Sloe said:


> The young Schubert?
> How can there be an old Schubert?


Ok, the _very young_ Schubert.


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## stevens

J.S Bach (possibly)


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## violadude

stevens said:


> J.S Bach (possibly)
> 
> View attachment 54991


Aaaawwww that was my first classical music CD ever <3


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## nightscape

Huilunsoittaja said:


> Considering this is an awkward subject for men to entertain...


People are way too up tight. As a heterosexual male, I am able to say a man is handsome in an objective way without being attracted to him. That being said, check out this hottie:

Brahms


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## Ingélou

Well, quite - people of any gender or sexual orientation can comment on the good looks of people of any gender or sexual orientation.

Female Composer Beauty Contest:

First Prize: Elisabeth Jacquet de la Guerre (thanks, HReichgott :tiphat










Second Prize: Maria Agata Szymanowska










Runner Up: Barbara Strozzi (minority judgment: that she should be disqualified for blatant wardrobe malfunction)


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## DiesIraeCX

nightscape said:


> People are way to up tight. As a heterosexual male, I am able to say a man is handsome in an objective way without being attracted to him. That being said, check out this hottie:
> 
> Brahms


Yup, I agree, Brahms gets my vote. What a stallion.


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## trazom

Der Leiermann said:


> Liszt. Duh.
> View attachment 54960


This isn't the most flattering picture of Liszt: Besides that odd expression on his face, his head looks too big for his body here, like a human Pez-dispenser.

I agree with the young Brahms portrait.



stevens said:


> J.S Bach (possibly)
> 
> View attachment 54991


Pretty sure that's not an authentic portrait of JS Bach. I think there are only two at the most.


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## Huilunsoittaja

yeah, I guess all the men on TalkClassical instead like to dream about looking like their most handsome composer instead: "Man, if only I had those arms!" 

Just saying, the Russian department is well stocked with nice men, especially for their beards/mustaches. I think the reason they all look so good is cuz they're wearing suits, and suits make men look great any day. Most men agree on that.


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## Figleaf

Hermann Bemberg, Parisian society figure, composer of songs and the opera Elaine, and close friend of Plançon and Melba:


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## Xaltotun

Liszt. There are some rather flattering paintings of him around.


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## Chronochromie

Xaltotun said:


> Liszt. There are some rather flattering paintings of him around.


Like these?


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## clara s

Der Leiermann said:


> Like these?
> View attachment 54994
> View attachment 54995


no, like this


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## Marschallin Blair

nightscape said:


> People are way too up tight. As a heterosexual male, I am able to say a man is handsome in an objective way without being attracted to him. That being said, check out this hottie:
> 
> Brahms


People _ARE_ way too uptight.

But in a way, I get a kick out of it.

My philosophy is to go as far as you can go, then, when you've clearly gone too far and crashed and burned?-- _THEN _start to reel it in.

It might not get you all of those runway points, but it sure is fun though.

_;D_


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## Huilunsoittaja

Huilunsoittaja said:


> Just saying, the Russian department is well stocked with nice men, especially for their beards/mustaches. I think the reason they all look so good is cuz they're wearing suits, and suits make men look great any day. Most men agree on that.


Take your pick:


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## Blake

nightscape said:


>


Brahms was a stud. I'm surprised he couldn't reel Clara in. Love is more than looks, I suppose.


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## OldFashionedGirl

nightscape said:


>


 What a babe!


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## hpowders

John Corigliano.

Modern face. Modern music.


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## violadude

Of course, it's easy to look good if you are a painting.


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## trazom

violadude said:


> Of course, it's easy to look good if you are a painting.


With some composers it doesn't make much of a difference.


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## Musicforawhile

Who is the fetching guy in Xaltotun's avatar?


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## CypressWillow

I just tried to insert an image, along with a line of snappy patter, of course. Realized that, although I know how to insert a YouTube video, I have no clue how to insert an image! Der! Can anyone give me an 'upload image for a dummy' type clue?
Thanks.


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## DiesIraeCX

CypressWillow said:


> I just tried to insert an image, along with a line of snappy patter, of course. Realized that, although I know how to insert a YouTube video, I have no clue how to insert an image! Der! Can anyone give me an 'upload image for a dummy' type clue?
> Thanks.


The third link from the top-right, hover your mouse above it and it will say "insert image". From there you can either upload a picture from your computer or you can copy-and-paste a URL from a picture online.


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## DiesIraeCX

Ok, for three more serious votes, I choose Mahler, Schumann, and Verdi. (in addition to Brahms)





















For my comic vote, I choose Berlioz.


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## QuietGuy

hpowders said:


> View attachment 54957
> 
> 
> Leonard Bernstein radiated good looks and sex appeal in my opinion.
> 
> Notice how modest he is too. Not willing to take up many cm. of space. Classy guy!


I'll second the opinion of mirepoix and hpowders. Leonard Bernstein was a handsome guy.


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## CypressWillow

Thanks, DiesIrae, I'll give it a try. Stand back!!!









It's hard to believe that anyone who actually loves Chopin would actually get a tattoo of him, but here's the proof. Amazing.

Drunk with power (thanks, Dies Irae) here's another:









What a handsome man!

And thanks again to Dies Irae. I owe ya!


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## brianvds

Vesuvius said:


> Brahms was a stud. I'm surprised he couldn't reel Clara in. Love is more than looks, I suppose.


Perhaps the fact that he was scarcely taller than five feet had something to do with it.


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## hpowders

brianvds said:


> Perhaps the fact that he was scarcely taller than five feet had something to do with it.


Cigar breath didn't help.


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## brianvds

hpowders said:


> Cigar breath didn't help.


Though he did make up for it by his extremely pleasant and easy-going character.


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## stevens

trazom said:


> This isn't the most flattering picture of Liszt: Besides that odd expression on his face, his head looks too big for his body here, like a human Pez-dispenser.
> 
> I agree with the young Brahms portrait.
> 
> Pretty sure that's not an authentic portrait of JS Bach. I think there are only two at the most.


-Yes, thats why I wrote "possibly". -It even looks photo shopped.


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## Marc




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## clavichorder

If you are going to be posting these extremely beautiful female composers, you have to tell us who they are! The only one I recognize is Clara. Also, consider adding Fanny Mendelssohn in there. But WHO are those last two?


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## Xaltotun

Musicforawhile said:


> Who is the fetching guy in Xaltotun's avatar?


Umm, it's yours truly


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## Taggart

Hildegard of Bingen
Clara Schumann
Alma Mahler Gropius Werfel
Andrea Tarrodi
Sarah Kirkland Snider


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## Skilmarilion

Anyone for Glass?


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## GioCar

Taggart said:


> Hildegard of Bingen
> Clara Schumann
> Alma Mahler Gropius Werfel
> Andrea Tarrodi
> Sarah Kirkland Snider


gOOOOOgle reverse image search is doing miracles...


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## hpowders

brianvds said:


> Though he did make up for it by his extremely pleasant and easy-going character.


Yes. A jolly and jovial soul was he!


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## hpowders

violadude said:


> Of course, it's easy to look good if you are a painting.


Why? My Bar Mitzvah painting I looked like crap!


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## Chronochromie

trazom said:


> This isn't the most flattering picture of Liszt: Besides that odd expression on his face,


He's just in Romantic/dreamy mood!


trazom said:


> his head looks too big for his body here, like a human Pez-dispenser.


:lol: Now I can't unsee it.


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## Marc

clavichorder said:


> If you are going to be posting these extremely beautiful female composers, you have to tell us who they are! The only one I recognize is Clara. Also, consider adding Fanny Mendelssohn in there. But WHO are those last two?


I do apologize.
Before uploading, I named the pics after the ladies, without realizing that the upload site would change the picture properties.

But, as Taggart already showed, Google is your friend.


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## hpowders

Please _Marc_ them accordingly so we know whom to write to.


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## Marc

hpowders said:


> Please _Marc_ them accordingly so we know whom to write to.


Dear Hildegard,

I think you're hot and apparently you like vocal music.
You seem like the perfect girl to me.
What about a date in the near future?
You know what they say: _Ubi caritas et amor, Deus ibi est_.

Oh, I also speak a little German, so we can have a nice chat.

Herzliche Grüße,
Marc


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## DavidA

Wagner thought he was!


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## hpowders

Marc said:


> Dear Hildegard,
> 
> I think you're hot and apparently you like vocal music.
> You seem like the perfect girl to me.
> What about a date in the near future?
> You know what they say: _Ubi caritas et amor, Deus ibi est_.
> 
> Oh, I also speak a little German, so we can have a nice chat.
> 
> Herzliche Grüße,
> Marc


This is a little too allegro con brio for me. My writing style is more..... summer breezy.


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## clara s

Marc said:


>


thanks for choosing me hahaha

although I must admit that Alma was a real beauty


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## clara s

hpowders said:


> This is a little too allegro con brio for me. My writing style is more..... summer breezy.


you may proceed

Hildegard is all ears 

and she might prefer Adagios


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## hpowders

clara s said:


> you may proceed
> 
> Hildegard is all ears
> 
> and she might prefer Adagios


Ha! Ha! I don't do adagios. My writing style would be more like this interlude from Copland's Music for the Theatre....more like a gentle sashay.


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## ArtMusic

He looked smart in this painting as was confirmed by a poll here that he is generally the most loved composer of all times.


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## hpowders

ArtMusic said:


> He looked smart in this painting as was confirmed by a poll here that he is generally the most loved composer of all times.


Smart isn't even the word for it, but yes, I agree, he looks like Cambridge on a full music scholarship.


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## Blake

Mozart wasn't a very good-looking chap. But with music that good, forget about it.


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## hpowders

Anyone who could write, "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star" doesn't need looks to carry the day.


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## Chronochromie

ArtMusic said:


> He looked smart in this painting as was confirmed by a poll here that he is generally the most loved composer of all times.


*cough* It's a posthumous painting! *cough*


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## hpowders

Doesn't mean it's not a true likeness.

I could paint my grandfather's face from memory, even though he died in 1984.


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## Blake

Der Leiermann said:


> *cough* It's a posthumous painting! *cough*


It appears to be based off of the family portrait painted in 1780.


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## Chronochromie

hpowders said:


> Doesn't mean it's not a true likeness.
> 
> I could paint my grandfather's face from memory, even though he died in 1984.


Still, there are some paintings made from life (like the one Vesuvius just posted) and also this:







But the other one is still the most popular.


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## Ingélou

Der Leiermann said:


> Still, there are some paintings made from life (like the one Vesuvius just posted) and also this:
> View attachment 55095
> 
> But the other one is still the most popular.


Funny - that looks just like Kieran to me...


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## hpowders

Vesuvius said:


> It appears to be based off of the family portrait painted in 1780.
> 
> View attachment 55091


This was made from a sitting and is supposed to be the most accurate rendition.

One thing-I don't care for his hand positions, but I will not make a fuss at this time.


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## Bulldog

I've never heard his music, but I can't deny that Eric Whitacre blows away the male competition.


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## brianvds

Der Leiermann said:


> *cough* It's a posthumous painting! *cough*


If he looked that good dead, he surely must have looked even better while still alive.


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## SONNET CLV

SONNET CLV said:


> The most handsome composer? It has to be this guy:
> 
> View attachment 54970
> 
> 
> But I'll let you all know now ... I've started writing a symphony, so in a few weeks or so I myself should be able to qualify for this designation.


Did I mention that I sort of resemble Bruckner, and am often mistaken for him. Who'd have guessed, huh?


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## Itullian

Bellini ?


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## brianvds

SONNET CLV said:


> Did I mention that I sort of resemble Bruckner, and am often mistaken for him. Who'd have guessed, huh?


I never would have guessed - as far as I can work out, you don't write ten different versions of the same post based on criticism from your friends.


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## Marc

ArtMusic said:


> He looked smart in this painting as was confirmed by a poll here that he is generally the most loved composer of all times.


I know that guy.

He's the composer of the non-existing lost opera _L'Uomo Rosso della Città di Nasi_ (_The Red Man from Nose City_).


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## Marc

Bulldog said:


> I've never heard his music, but I can't deny that Eric Whitacre blows away the male competition.


As long as he keeps his hair short.
I listened to a work called _Alleluia_ once, and it didn't last.


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## OlivierM

Me of course, even if I yet have to compose


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## hpowders

Marc said:


>


I would be honored to have them all over to the hpowders chateau for a nice dinner followed by ravishing music.


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## brianvds

hpowders said:


> I would be honored to have them all over to the hpowders chateau for a nice dinner followed by ravishing music.


After which you can ravish them, no doubt...


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## Woodduck

brianvds said:


> After which you can ravish them, no doubt...


Now, now! I'm sure hpowders had no such thing in mind.


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## GioCar

hpowders said:


> I would be honored to have them all over to the hpowders chateau for a nice dinner followed by ravishing music.





brianvds said:


> After which you can ravish them, no doubt...


A certain Mr. B was supposed to do that...a shame for my country....

Not hpowders, please


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## elgar's ghost

hpowders said:


> I would be honored to have them all over to the hpowders chateau for a nice dinner followed by ravishing music.


I'm glad your sentence ended with the word 'music' rather than the one before - or was it an afterthought?!


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## hpowders

brianvds said:


> After which you can ravish them, no doubt...


They can amuse themselves by perusing my folio of "Idiotic Thread Ideas", for which I am justifiably proud.

After that, anything or anyone goes....and it probably will be them!


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## hpowders

Woodduck said:


> Now, now! I'm sure hpowders had no such thing in mind.


Who me? I planned on entering a cloister as penance for an ill-posting youth.


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## hpowders

elgars ghost said:


> I'm glad your sentence ended with the word 'music' rather than the one before - or was it an afterthought?!


It's entirely innocent I am! (Billy Budd, Herman Melville)


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## hpowders

QuietGuy said:


> I'll second the opinion of mirepoix and hpowders. Leonard Bernstein was a handsome guy.


Plus he had charisma*!!

*Isn't that what killed him?


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## Posie

The man who created the original Gesamtkunstwerk.









He coined the term later.


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## hpowders

Figleaf said:


> Hermann Bemberg, Parisian society figure, composer of songs and the opera Elaine, and close friend of Plançon and Melba:
> 
> View attachment 54993


Looks like Errol Flynn!


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## Blancrocher

hpowders said:


> Looks like Errol Flynn!


Yeah, Paris used to be filled with the phrase "in like Hermann."


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## hpowders

Blancrocher said:


> Yeah, Paris used to be filled with the phrase "in like Hermann."


:lol::lol::lol:


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## Posie

hpowders said:


> :lol::lol::lol:


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## hpowders

Der Leiermann said:


> Still, there are some paintings made from life (like the one Vesuvius just posted) and also this:
> View attachment 55095
> 
> But the other one is still the most popular.


This one was purposely done for the CD covers.


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## hpowders

marinasabina said:


>


Poor Olivia. From Captain Blood to Robin Hood, Errol always made her frown!


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## Figleaf

hpowders said:


> Poor Olivia. From Captain Blood to Robin Hood, Errol always made her frown!


I always thought Basil Rathbone was way sexier than Errol Flynn in Captain Blood (in spite of a dodgy French accent). Something about the way he wields a sword.... Zorro is my favourite though. Again, Rathbone is sexier than pretty boy Ty Power. Those boots and tight trousers! Sorry handsome composers, you can't compete with that...


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## Haydn70

Skilmarilion said:


> Anyone for Glass?


You are kidding, right?


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## Haydn70

Anton's much younger brother, Jerome. "Hey Moe, you're flat!"


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## SixFootScowl

Most handsome composer has to be this guy:


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## LezLee

Chronochromie said:


> *cough* It's a posthumous painting! *cough*


I think he left his rollers in too long!


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## LezLee

ContrapunctusXIII said:


> You are kidding, right?


Philip is much more attractive in real life and quite charismatic.


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## LezLee

Dishy James MacMillan for me!


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## KenOC

Dishy Dvorak! :lol:


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## Haydn70

Straight as an arrow here but this guy might be the most handsome living classical composer. And he is a very good composer too.


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## SixFootScowl

ContrapunctusXIII said:


> Straight as an arrow here but this guy might be the most handsome living classical composer. And he is a very good composer too.
> 
> View attachment 113862


Wha'd he forget to put his shirt on? Just a v-neck undershirt under his jacket?


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## Haydn70

Fritz Kobus said:


> Wha'd he forget to put his shirt on? Just a v-neck undershirt under his jacket?


I didn't say he was well dressed...just very handsome.


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## millionrainbows

Iannis Xenakis


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## elgar's ghost

Fritz Kobus said:


> Wha'd he forget to put his shirt on? Just a v-neck undershirt under his jacket?


Could be an update on the 1980s Sonny Crockett/Miami Vice look.


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## Guest

I wish I could claim to be a composer, then I'd have fulfilled _both _conditions.


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## hammeredklavier

want to share this interesting article:

http://www.interlude.hk/front/the-passions-of-bach/

"Hoffman says it's important to remember that - unlike the classic portrait showing Bach as "bewigged, bejowled, stout and stolid" old man - the composer was once "a handsome, dashing guy." Much of Bach's best-loved music, including the Brandenburg Concertos and the pieces for solo violin and cello "were written when he was a young man in his 30s," Hoffman tells Edwards.

Hoffman makes that point in the following essay, appropriately titled "Johann Sebastian Bach Was Handsome Once":

When people discuss the music of Bach, words like "God" and "transcendence" tend to figure in the discussion. Gustav Mahler wrote that "in Bach, the vital cells of music are united as the world is in God," and Goethe said of Bach's music, "it was as if the eternal harmony was conversing within itself, as it may have done in the bosom of God, just before the creation of the world." (Goethe's version of the Big Bang theory.)

And certainly it's true for Bach, as literary critic Harold Bloom has said it is for Shakespeare, that the only legitimate approach is to "begin by standing in awe… Wonder, gratitude, shock, amazement are the accurate responses."

The only problem with this approach is that we tend to forget that Bach was a human being. And for me, the key to understanding the greatness of Bach is to recognize that what propels his music, what infuses every note, is his very human passion. Whether it's sacred music or secular, it's always passionate. Indeed, it's important to remember that the emotions that find their expression in religion, or in religious texts and musical settings, are but variants of the feelings common to all people: love, longing, fear, devotion, peace, excitement, expectation, comfort, joy, and so forth. There's no question that Bach had extraordinary skill - skill for which the word genius is too weak - but it's almost as if he was so skilled that his skill became irrelevant: listening to his music, I often have the impression that Bach somehow skipped the middle man, that his thoughts, his passion, his passions, simply emerged as music.

The truth, however, is that to most people it never occurs that Bach was a passionate man. And why not? Because of one portrait. The only authenticated portrait of Bach shows him as an old man - bewigged, bejowled, stout and stolid. This is the portrait everybody knows, the portrait of the serious, solemn, even severe "old master" who played the organ and taught counterpoint to generations of children at the St. Thomas Church in Leipzig. Looking at this portrait, it's not hard to imagine that Bach was great, but it is hard to imagine that he was ever young. Or slim. Or good-looking. But he was all those things. And more. He had 20 children, after all, and he didn't create them at the harpsichord. Many of the works we know and love, including most of his great instrumental works, Bach wrote in his twenties and thirties. We remember that he died at the age of 65, but somehow we forget that he wasn't born at 65. He always had quite a temper, was no stranger to scraps with his employers, and as a young man he once even managed to get himself into a sword fight.

What led me to these considerations of Bach's passion wasanother portrait, much less well known and, alas, not authenticated. But it will do. Staring out from this portrait is a young Bach, a handsome Bach, a dashing, intense man. I felt, as soon as I saw this portrait, that it offered a key to understanding both the man and the music."


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## millionrainbows

hammeredklavier said:


> "Hoffman says it's important to remember that - unlike the classic portrait showing Bach as "bewigged, bejowled, stout and stolid" old man - the composer was once "a handsome, dashing guy."
> 
> View attachment 113885


Wow, I bet if Bettina was still here, she'd wanna screw him. :lol:


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## aleazk

"Hello, ladies".


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## Jacck

Mr. Frozen Finnish Tundra


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## LezLee

Fritz Kobus said:


> Wha'd he forget to put his shirt on? Just a v-neck undershirt under his jacket?


Yes he's rather yummy but I'm so ignorant. Who is it?


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## hammeredklavier

I've come across comments on youtube that said Shostakovich looks like Harry Potter


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## Haydn70

LezLee said:


> Yes he's rather yummy but I'm so ignorant. Who is it?


Eric Whitacre.

Here is an incredibly beautiful work of his:


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## innoverskuen

*Las Vegas*

I think if Beethoven lived his life in Las Vegas, at least part of it, he wouldnt be so sluggish. If he took care of his looks, as much as he took care of his strings in his last string quartets, there would be no. Yeah, I say No. More handsome man in history! FIN


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## Manxfeeder

ContrapunctusXIII said:


> Eric Whitacre.]


For those bothered that he dresses casually, here is in proper attire. My wife is not going to see this picture.


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## LezLee

Well, he looks a lot nicer than his music sounds (IMO)


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## innoverskuen

LezLee said:


> Well, he looks a lot nicer than his music sounds (IMO)


Hoho, scary, but funny. And Agree


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## SixFootScowl

Manxfeeder said:


> For those bothered that he dresses casually, here is in proper attire. My wife is not going to see this picture.
> 
> View attachment 113902


Somehow the hair and lack of clean shave does not fit the traditional image. Where have our standards gone?


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## Woodduck

Fritz Kobus said:


> Somehow the hair and lack of clean shave does not fit the traditional image. Where have our standards gone?


It's about sex and aggression. What isn't nowadays? In earlier generations men felt a responsibility to look clean and dressed in public. Now being uncombed and unshaven is the male equivalent of women's skimpy clothing. It's considered "masculine," it's provocative ("this is how I look in bed; can you handle it, ladies?"), and it shows an unconcern with what other people think while being pradoxically fashionable, fashion being all about what other people think.


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## Manxfeeder

Woodduck said:


> It's about sex and aggression. What isn't nowadays? In earlier generations men felt a responsibility to look clean and dressed in public. Now being uncombed and unshaven is the male equivalent of women's skimpy clothing. It's considered "masculine," it's provocative ("this is how I look in bed; can you handle it, ladies?"), and it shows an unconcern with what other people think while being pradoxically fashionable, fashion being all about what other people think.


Interesting observation. Of course, I'd rather see that than those horrible Duck Dynasty beards, like the one this guy has.


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## SixFootScowl

Manxfeeder said:


> Interesting observation. Of course, I'd rather see that than those horrible Duck Dynasty beards, like the one this guy has.
> 
> View attachment 113947


And you know there has to be some gross microbiology going on in that beard.


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## Woodduck

Long beards seem to have made a comeback with some young men. I guess that disproves my observation that everything is about sex these days. It's hard to imagine young women being attracted to guys who look like daguerrotypes of Walt Whitman or Rimsky-Korsakov.


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## KenOC

A proper beard must have a proper mustache as well.


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## Haydn70

KenOC said:


> A proper beard must have a proper mustache as well.


Does this guy think this look is really going to help him get laid more???????


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## KenOC

A kiss without a mustache is like an egg without salt.


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## Red Terror

Watcha lookin' at, pussycat.


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## SixFootScowl




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## Reichstag aus LICHT

hammeredklavier said:


> I've come across comments on youtube that said Shostakovich looks like Harry Potter
> View attachment 113889


And not unlike David Hockney.


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## Rogerx

Fritz Kobus said:


>


If this is the most handsome composer, I am afraid asking who's the most ugliest .


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## Simon Moon

Composer in residence at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, Mason Bates.


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## SixFootScowl

Rogerx said:


> If this is the most handsome composer, I am afraid asking who's the most ugliest .


Mussorgsky qualifies for both!


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