# Photographs of Composers You Never Thought were Photographed



## regenmusic

I am wondering if there are any photographs of composers whom one might have thought were never photographed, like Frederich Chopin below. I had in mind somehow that he lived before cameras were popular.






also, Robert Schumann:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Schumann#/media/File:Schumann-photo1850.jpg


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## regenmusic

Here is a younger photograph of Bruckner:

http://www.classical.net/music/comp.lst/articles/bruckner/bruckner.php


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## hpowders

The images of Chopin and Schumann are examples of daguerreotypes, the earliest method of producing photographic images.


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## TxllxT

*Pierre Petit*










Hector Berlioz 1863 by Pierre Lanith Petit.










Camille Saint-Saens 1900 by Pierre Petit










César Franck by Pierre Petit (year unknown)


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## TxllxT

Young Modest Mussorgsky










Alexander Borodin










Young Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky


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## starthrower

Most of those look familiar with the exception of the young Mussorgsky and Tchaikovsky.


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## KenOC

The ageing Liszt. He found out that his medical plan covered wart removal!


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## KenOC

Now here's something you didn't expect to see. I'd know those glasses anywhere.


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## TxllxT

Sergei Prokofiev 1902 (11 years old)










Dmitri Shostakovich










Dmitri was a fan of Zenit Leningrad


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## starthrower

Young athlete, Charles Ives.


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## TxllxT

Guiseppe Verdi & Richard Wagner










Wagner & Friends










Richard Strauss with Karl Böhm & Clemens Kraus 1944


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## TxllxT

Leoš Janáček & spouse










Edvard Grieg










Antonín Dvořák liked to breed pigeons


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## TxllxT

Edward Elgar with bicycle 1903










Claude Debussy










Claude Debussy at the Grand Hotel of Eastbourne in 1905 where he finished "La Mer", busy with a still camera


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## Casebearer

Gaetano Donizetti (on the right) in Paris (1847) two years after he was diagnosed with syfilis and severe mental illness. The picture is from his wiki page.









Click to view a bigger version.


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## Pugg

TxllxT said:


> Guiseppe Verdi & Richard Wagner


This one I like most!


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## Huilunsoittaja

I have a... *ahem* penchant for black and white or sepia photographs.....

Especially when they are amoosing...













































If you can guess even a few of the people you're seeing, you are worthy of applaud.


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## elgar's ghost

I think that's Rimsky-Korsakov and Glazunov standing next to each other on the left. Looks like Lev Tolstoy at the right of the picture.


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## TxllxT

Next to Tolstoy (or is it Rasputin?) stands Salvador Dali........... [fake news ] I recognise his moustache.


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## TxllxT

7 juli 1860 Gustav Mahler was born near Jihlava, Czech Republic










Giacomo Puccini










Gustav Mahler walking in Prague


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## Huilunsoittaja

elgars ghost said:


> I think that's Rimsky-Korsakov and Glazunov standing next to each other on the left. Looks like Lev Tolstoy at the right of the picture.


The old guy in the group picture is the same old guy on the boat with Glazunov. Vladimir Stasov!

And the guy with the mustache next to Stasov is Felix Blumenfeld. And don't forget Cesar Cui in the middle!


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## brianvds

Bela Bartok:


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## TxllxT

Jean Sibelius










Sergey Rachmaninov in Russia 1934










Rachmaninov plays Rachmaninov


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## Vinski

Jean Sibelius in the morning and on the money.

















You think that Finns has no humour?


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## TxllxT

Vinski said:


> Jean Sibelius in the morning and on the money.
> 
> View attachment 91066
> 
> 
> View attachment 91067
> 
> 
> You think that Finns has no humour?


I found one photo with a laughing Jean Sibelius - the rest is broodingly profound. Well, that why I like Sibelius' music!


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## TxllxT

Clara Schumann










Sofia Gubaidulina










Galina Ustvolskaya


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## Casebearer

^
Definite proof that ugliness in the looks department have no bearing on the beauty of the music.


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## brianvds

TxllxT said:


> Sergey Rachmaninov in Russia 1934


I never realized he ever returned to Russia. Wasn't he worried they might keep him there, and then make him do state commissions until one of those turned out formalist and he was sent off for further studies at the University of Siberia?



Casebearer said:


> ^
> Definite proof that ugliness in the looks department have no bearing on the beauty of the music.


Well, Frau Schumann hardly strikes me as ugly...


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## KenOC

brianvds said:


> I never realized he ever returned to Russia. Wasn't he worried they might keep him there, and then make him do state commissions until one of those turned out formalist and he was sent off for further studies at the University of Siberia?


Well, Shostakovich called Prokofiev a "gambler," so there may have been a bit of that. He actually did quite well in the USSR up until 1948.


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## Art Rock

regenmusic said:


> I am wondering if there are any photographs of composers whom one might have thought were never photographed, like Frederich Chopin below. I had in mind somehow that he lived before cameras were popular.


Why are there so many pictures of 20th century composers in this thread? Do people think that cameras only exist on smartphones?


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## TxllxT

Art Rock said:


> Why are there so many pictures of 20th century composers in this thread? Do people think that cameras only exist on smartphones?


I select photos that have IMO a remarkable 'never thought of' quality. Are there more photos from the back of composers (like Sibelius)?


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## Scherzy

http://composersdoingnormalshit.com/

a decent resource for composers old and new photographed in completely unremarkable situations


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## Guest

KenOC said:


> Now here's something you didn't expect to see. I'd know those glasses anywhere.


Isn't that from the movie "Commie Pig: Babe in the USSR"?


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## Guest

View attachment 91078

A very rare photo of Mozart. There were very few smartphones in the 18th century but I think Aloysia took this.


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## Pugg

Jerome said:


> View attachment 91078
> 
> A very rare photo of Mozart. There were very few smartphones in the 18th century but I think Aloysia took this.


Oh dear I see a new avatar coming up by Dim.


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## Guest

Pugg said:


> Oh dear I see a new avatar coming up by Dim.


Beat him to it!


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## TurnaboutVox

Pugg said:


> Oh dear I see a new avatar coming up by Dim.


Customised with the usual cranial sword, no doubt!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

See if you can recognise some of these people without Googling the image:










Credit - trevor-bray-music-research.co.uk


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## TxllxT

DSCH & Soccer










DSCH, Kabalevsky & Yuri Gagarin










DSCH & Yevgeny Mravinsky in 1942 during repetition of 7th symphony in Novosibirsk


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## JACE

This isn't a composer -- but it is a great artist, author *Leo Tolstoy*. I was startled when I first saw this photograph because it is a true COLOR photograph, not "colorized" after-the-fact. The portrait was taken in 1908, two years before Tolstoy's passing.


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## Bettina

JACE said:


> This isn't a composer -- but it is a great artist, author *Leo Tolstoy*. I was startled when I first saw this photograph because it is a true COLOR photograph, not "colorized" after-the-fact. The portrait was taken in 1908, two years before Tolstoy's passing.


Great addition to the thread! Actually, there is a music connection of sorts with Tolstoy. He wrote a brilliant novella called "The Kreutzer Sonata" in which a man and woman perform the Beethoven sonata together--and soon they fall in love and have an illicit affair.


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## KenOC

Bettina said:


> Great addition to the thread! Actually, there is a music connection of sorts with Tolstoy. He wrote a brilliant novella called "The Kreutzer Sonata" in which a man and woman perform the Beethoven sonata together--and soon they fall in love and have an illicit affair.


Here's a painting inspired by Tolstoy inspired by Beethoven!


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## TxllxT

JACE said:


> This isn't a composer -- but it is a great artist, author *Leo Tolstoy*. I was startled when I first saw this photograph because it is a true COLOR photograph, not "colorized" after-the-fact. The portrait was taken in 1908, two years before Tolstoy's passing.


I happen to disagree. Lev Tolstoy was the kind of nobleman, that would make me agree with the Russian revolution. As a nobleman he owned serfs (slaves). He owned a few villages. When he felt like it, he would just enter a house of one of his serfs and rape the wife, while the husband had to look on. This kind of noblemen poisoned the pre-revolutionary Russian society. Therefore I have no admiration for rogues like Lev Tolstoy.


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## hpowders

Jerome said:


> View attachment 91078
> 
> A very rare photo of Mozart. There were very few smartphones in the 18th century but I think Aloysia took this.


Looks more like Jerry Seinfeld than Mozart.


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## TwoFlutesOneTrumpet

hpowders said:


> Looks more like Jerry Seinfeld than Mozart.


I say it looks more like Tom Hulce than Jerry Seinfeld


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## hpowders

TwoFlutesOneTrumpet said:


> I say it looks more like Tom Hulce than Jeffy Seinfeld


Probably because it IS Tom Hulce!


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## TwoFlutesOneTrumpet

hpowders said:


> Probably because it IS Tom Hulce!


This guy says hello (30 years is a long time). Well, at least we know what Mozart would have looked like had he lived another 30 years


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## Huilunsoittaja

KenOC said:


> Here's a painting inspired by Tolstoy inspired by Beethoven!


But was actually inspired by _this _hottie!










http://www.interlude.hk/front/imagined-intimacysergei-ivanovich-taneyev-sophia-andreevna-tolstoy/


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## Huilunsoittaja

Let's have a poll! What are these composers (Arensky, Zvantsev, Taneyev) _doing?
_
a) sawing a cigar to optimum length with a violin bow 
b) playing the game "how many musicians does it take to use a tuning fork?"
c) inventing a new rosin applicator. PATENT PENDING!
d) making a symbolic photograph pose depicting their utter fascination with _sound_


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## Guest

TwoFlutesOneTrumpet said:


> This guy says hello (30 years is a long time). Well, at least we know what Mozart would have looked like had he lived another 30 years
> 
> View attachment 91099


NO WAY!!!!!! Wow. That is shocking.


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## JACE

TxllxT said:


> I happen to disagree. Lev Tolstoy was the kind of nobleman, that would make me agree with the Russian revolution. As a nobleman he owned serfs (slaves). He owned a few villages. When he felt like it, he would just enter a house of one of his serfs and rape the wife, while the husband had to look on. This kind of noblemen poisoned the pre-revolutionary Russian society. Therefore I have no admiration for rogues like Lev Tolstoy.


TxllxT,

I've read several biographies of Tolstoy and I've never encountered anything that indicated he was that sort of a monster. Yes, he did own serfs, as did many others in his social class. But, if anything, he would have been considered a _liberal_ -- since he did things like create schools and provide healthcare for the peasants on his estate. In fact, Tolstoy was held up by the leaders of the Russian Revolution as an exemplar, a sort of proto-communist. (Admittedly, it was easy for the Bolsheviks to co-opt Tolstoy and present him as "one of them" -- since Tolstoy couldn't disagree, as he was already dead by the time of the Russian Revolution.)

Just my 2 cents.


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## regenmusic

Tolstoy has always been considered a spiritual person before, not odd to see the revisionists attacking another great Christian from the past.


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## regenmusic

There were a few photographs of Beethoven, too.


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## regenmusic

...and this other one of Chopin.


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## Abraham Lincoln

Mendelssohn! Circa 1845


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## brianvds

Huilunsoittaja said:


> Let's have a poll! What are these composers (Arensky, Zvantsev, Taneyev) _doing?
> _
> a) sawing a cigar to optimum length with a violin bow
> b) playing the game "how many musicians does it take to use a tuning fork?"
> c) inventing a new rosin applicator. PATENT PENDING!
> d) making a symbolic photograph pose depicting their utter fascination with _sound_
> 
> View attachment 91100


None of the above. Clearly, they are trying to follow the instructions on a Chinese assemble-it-yourself kit.


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## brianvds

Brahms, in the days when he was still doing promotional work for a razor company...


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## TwoFlutesOneTrumpet

Jerome said:


> NO WAY!!!!!! Wow. That is shocking.


It's called aging


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## TwoFlutesOneTrumpet

brianvds said:


> Brahms, in the days when he was still doing promotional work for a razor company...


Is that a tiny puppy sleeping on his shoulder?


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## brianvds

Unbekownst to most historians of music, Stravinsky followed a promising career as Mr. Universe candidate, before a series of muscle injuries diverted him into music...


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## TwoFlutesOneTrumpet

brianvds said:


> Unbekownst to most historians of music, Stravinsky followed a promising career as Mr. Universe candidate, before a series of muscle injuries diverted him into music...


Did he keep the Rite of Spring score in the front of his swim trunk?


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## brianvds

TwoFlutesOneTrumpet said:


> Did he keep the Rite of Spring score in the front of his swim trunk?


No, that bit is the Wrong of Spring.


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## Pugg

brianvds said:


> No, that bit is the Wrong of Spring.


This make my day.


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## Alydon

Karl Thomas Mozart - not a composer exactly but son of Wolfgang and one of the earliest snaps on this thread.


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## TxllxT

JACE said:


> TxllxT,
> 
> I've read several biographies of Tolstoy and I've never encountered anything that indicated he was that sort of a monster. Yes, he did own serfs, as did many others in his social class. But, if anything, he would have been considered a _liberal_ -- since he did things like create schools and provide healthcare for the peasants on his estate. In fact, Tolstoy was held up by the leaders of the Russian Revolution as an exemplar, a sort of proto-communist. (Admittedly, it was easy for the Bolsheviks to co-opt Tolstoy and present him as "one of them" -- since Tolstoy couldn't disagree, as he was already dead by the time of the Russian Revolution.)
> 
> Just my 2 cents.


http://booksnthoughts.com/tolstoy-did-not-respect-women/


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## hpowders

TwoFlutesOneTrumpet said:


> Did he keep the Rite of Spring score in the front of his swim trunk?


Yeah. He looks to me like the "Head Sacrificer" of Le Sacre.


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## Huilunsoittaja

brianvds said:


> No, that bit is the Wrong of Spring.


BAHAHAHA!

You guys crack me up :lol:


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## Becca

When preparations were being made for my college graduation, one of the key questions was about the music to use. I suggested_ Rite of Spring_ ... they were not amused.


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## Manxfeeder

Alydon said:


> View attachment 91109
> Karl Thomas Mozart - not a composer exactly but son of Wolfgang and one of the earliest snaps on this thread.


Apparently they caught him mid-scratch.


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## Manxfeeder

Huilunsoittaja said:


> Let's have a poll! What are these composers (Arensky, Zvantsev, Taneyev) _doing?
> _
> a) sawing a cigar to optimum length with a violin bow
> b) playing the game "how many musicians does it take to use a tuning fork?"
> c) inventing a new rosin applicator. PATENT PENDING!
> d) making a symbolic photograph pose depicting their utter fascination with _sound_
> 
> View attachment 91100


I don't know what they're doing, but when three guys get together to do something that intense, one of them is going to say, "Don't tell mom."


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## Sloe

Alydon said:


> View attachment 91109
> Karl Thomas Mozart - not a composer exactly but son of Wolfgang and one of the earliest snaps on this thread.


Seeing that picture I understand why Mozart wore a wig but I think it was a bad decision of him to use a pink one.


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## Huilunsoittaja

Manxfeeder said:


> I don't know what they're doing, but when three guys get together to do something that intense, one of them is going to say, "Don't tell mom."


Yeah imagine if the photographer actually darted into that room just then and caught them. "_Hey!_ Get back here!" but he gets away. :lol:


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## DeepR

http://www.pianostreet.com/blog/piano-news/new-chopin-photo-found-8496/?mid=181588


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## pcnog11

https://www.abebooks.com/servlet/Bo...46VhT1HqOTWkFw2P_item_1_18-_-bdp#&gid=1&pid=1


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## hpowders

Sloe said:


> Seeing that picture I understand why Mozart wore a wig but I think it was a bad decision of him to use a pink one.


A protégé of Napoleon? He's got the right hand position down pat.


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## Pugg

pcnog11 said:


> https://www.abebooks.com/servlet/Bo...46VhT1HqOTWkFw2P_item_1_18-_-bdp#&gid=1&pid=1


I always wonder if these autographs are for real.


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## Weston

pcnog11 said:


> https://www.abebooks.com/servlet/Bo...46VhT1HqOTWkFw2P_item_1_18-_-bdp#&gid=1&pid=1


Ashkenazy looks like Keith Moon in this photo.


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## Vronsky

Stravinsky and Cocteau


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## DeepR

DeepR said:


> http://www.pianostreet.com/blog/piano-news/new-chopin-photo-found-8496/?mid=181588


Is it really Chopin? Hard to say if you ask me, especially compared to that first pic (daguerreotype).


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## TxllxT

Richard & Cosima










Richard Wagner, family & friends in front of Villa Wahnfried 1881










Mia & Carl Orff 1903










Johannes Brahms 1893


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## PresenTense

Squad goals.

(People used to pose in a cool way back then)


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## PresenTense

Karlheinz Stockhausen and Björk:



















Pierre Boulez and Frank Zappa:










Arnold Schoenberg and Charlie Chaplin:


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## PresenTense

Krzysztof Penderecki and Jonny Greenwood:










Philip Glass and Aphex Twin:




























Steve Reich and Pat Metheny:


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## PresenTense

Philip Glass and David Bowie:



















Steve Reich and Jonny Greenwood:



















Karlheinz Stockhausen and Aphex Twin:


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## PresenTense

Krzysztof Penderecki and Aphex Twin:



















Pierre Boulez and Olivier Messiaen:


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## Huilunsoittaja

TxllxT said:


> Johannes Brahms 1893


What a pimp.


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## Weston

I didn't know Aphex Twin hung out with all these artsy classical composers. I sort of enjoy what he does, but I'm more into Autechre in a similar genre.


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## lextune

http://www.cbc.ca/news/entertainment/chopin-photo-found-1.3944430


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## MadMusicist

What an awkward way to take a photo...









I never would've guessed it was Alkan by just looking at him. I guess the art of posing came much later than the technology of photography.


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## Art Rock

Apparently it is amazing to some people that photographs exist of Stravinsky, Boulez, Zappa, Messiaen, Penderecki, and so on.......


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## 433

Vaughan Williams:


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## PresenTense

MadMusicist said:


> What an awkward way to take a photo...
> 
> View attachment 91771
> 
> 
> I never would've guessed it was Alkan by just looking at him. I guess the art of posing came much later than the technology of photography.


HAHAHA New way to pose.


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## brianvds

Art Rock said:


> Apparently it is amazing to some people that photographs exist of Stravinsky, Boulez, Zappa, Messiaen, Penderecki, and so on.......


Well, they lived, like, in the 20th century, dude! There weren't cell phones. How could there have been cameras?


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## Pat Fairlea

MadMusicist said:


> What an awkward way to take a photo...
> 
> View attachment 91771
> 
> 
> I never would've guessed it was Alkan by just looking at him. I guess the art of posing came much later than the technology of photography.


I would guess that pose was entirely deliberate. Alkan was not the most outgoing and hail-fellow-well-met of folks.


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## Pat Fairlea

Here's a nice one of Irina and Sergei Rachmaninoff.









And, just for a change, the camera has caught him smiling.


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## PresenTense

John Tavener and Paul McCartney



















John Cage and Sun Ra:


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