# Do you associate certain colors with a composer?



## quietfire (Mar 13, 2017)

Not saying I have synesthesia (seeing colors associated with certain sounds), but do you associate certain colors with some composers?

For example, for me:

A certain shade of light navy blue for Bach, and pink orange for Chopin. Bloody red with tints of black for Beethoven, and crystalline rose pink for Mozart.


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## cimirro (Sep 6, 2016)

quietfire said:


> Not saying I have synesthesia (seeing colors associated with certain sounds), but do you associate certain colors with some composers?
> 
> For example, for me:
> 
> A certain shade of light navy blue for Bach, and pink orange for Chopin. Bloody red with tints of black for Beethoven, and crystalline rose pink for Mozart.


NO! you are Crazy!
...

Bach is a dark red, almost like Buxtehude which is darker, Chopin is an old yellow, Mozart is blue
I'm happy I'm not the only crazy here 
(no jokes, I associate it, but there is no explanation I can give, quite personal thing)

by the way. Scriabin note colors, and Rimsky-korsakov ones (both in disagreement) are in total disagreement with me too. :lol:
And synesthesia is not my case, its more a kind of "impression" to me.

Best
Artur


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## Pugg (Aug 8, 2014)

quietfire said:


> Not saying I have synesthesia (seeing colors associated with certain sounds), but do you associate certain colors with some composers?
> 
> For example, for me:
> 
> A certain shade of light navy blue for Bach, and pink orange for Chopin. Bloody red with tints of black for Beethoven, and crystalline rose pink for Mozart.


I never, ever even thought about it.


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## cimirro (Sep 6, 2016)

Pugg said:


> I never, ever even thought about it.


Well, we are 2 against 1
It seems you are an aberration of the nature! :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:

(sorry I couldn't resist the idiot joke)


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## quietfire (Mar 13, 2017)

cimirro said:


> NO! you are Crazy!
> ...
> 
> *Bach is a dark red*, almost like Buxtehude which is darker, Chopin is an old yellow, Mozart is blue
> ...


God help me....


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## Pugg (Aug 8, 2014)

cimirro said:


> Well, we are 2 against 1
> It seems you are an aberration of the nature! :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:
> 
> (sorry I couldn't resist the idiot joke)


But I am _very _happy, that counts for a lot


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## cimirro (Sep 6, 2016)

quietfire said:


> God help me....


:devil::devil::devil: He will, but He is not protestant... :lol


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## chill782002 (Jan 12, 2017)

Wow, very interesting. No, I don't associate any composers with colours at all. Are you sure you don't have synaesthesia? That would add a fascinating dimension to music listening.


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## premont (May 7, 2015)

Only in one case:

Brahms: Colors of autumn.


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## quietfire (Mar 13, 2017)

chill782002 said:


> Wow, very interesting. No, I don't associate any composers with colours at all. Are you sure you don't have synaesthesia? That would add a fascinating dimension to music listening.


I don't think I have synaesthesia. I wish lol


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## jegreenwood (Dec 25, 2015)

Andras Schiff on the colors of the Well Tempered Clavier


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## Pat Fairlea (Dec 9, 2015)

Synaesthesia is not only an overlap of sound and colour, it's any two or more senses. In my case, some odours give me an impression of colour. Ammonia is an intense sky-blue, roses - proper old-fashioned ones - are a soft dove-grey. And fox excrement is khaki, since you ask. 
No, I don't associate composers or particular musical genres with colours, except. perhaps, to associate Debussy with pastels and Kachaturian with intense, colour-saturated acrylics! However, some composers may have been synaesthesic. Sibelius certainly was, associating odour and sound.


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## Ingélou (Feb 10, 2013)

I never thought about it - but now that I have, I think a rich brown colour for William Lawes - the colour of his lovely viol and harp consort music. For Handel, a lovely eighteenth-century pale blue. Vivaldi has to be crimson!


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## Vaneyes (May 11, 2010)

FYI *Scriabin* and his Musical Color Wheel.

https://jimtheobscure.com/2012/11/16/alexander-scriabin-1872-1915-musical-colour-wheel/


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## andresg (Mar 21, 2017)

in my personal experience, just in one case:

Beethoven: White


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## Bettina (Sep 29, 2016)

No, I don't associate any colors with music. I wish I did, though! I enjoy listening to music in an analytical manner, focusing on technical processes. Synesthesia would undoubtedly enrich this experience; it would be exciting to associate colors with various types of chords and melodic patterns.


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## starthrower (Dec 11, 2010)

Penderecki, Xenakis-black
Ligeti-white light
Ravel-pale blue
Beethoven, Messiaen-yellow
Takemitsu-a muti-colored flower garden
Norgard-orange
Debussy-lavender


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## Judith (Nov 11, 2015)

Not necessarily colours but with chamber music or string quartets, I imagine a grand house with wooden panelled walls or I see cup of rich coffee!


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## hpowders (Dec 23, 2013)

Anyone seeing colors when listening to music ought to see a MD.


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## Richard8655 (Feb 19, 2016)

Dowland - black (but in a good way)


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## hpowders (Dec 23, 2013)

Richard8655 said:


> Dowland - black (but in a good way)


Get an MRI. They can drill and you will never see black/Dowland ever again. You will just be sitting quietly in the corner. Oh look! There's Jack Nicholson!!


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## quietfire (Mar 13, 2017)

hpowders said:


> Anyone seeing colors when listening to music ought to see a MD.


They are probably too busy giving concerts all over the world to go to an MD.


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## Olias (Nov 18, 2010)

I always have seen Debussy as the color blue, partially because I associate Paris with the color blue and also because many of Debussy's compositions deal with water or the sky.

Bach to me is gold, not sure why.


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## Lenny (Jul 19, 2016)

I just wish I had synasthesia.. I'd love to listen to Messiaen armed with that extra-sensory.


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## quietfire (Mar 13, 2017)

Olias said:


> I always have seen Debussy as the color blue, partially because I associate Paris with the color blue and also because many of Debussy's compositions deal with water or the sky.
> 
> *Bach to me is gold, not sure why.*


The extravagance of that era, perhaps? The harpsichord also have a lot of gold tones, in terms of color and sound, I think.


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## Pugg (Aug 8, 2014)

Olias said:


> I always have seen Debussy as the color blue, partially because I associate Paris with the color blue and also because many of Debussy's compositions deal with water or the sky.
> 
> Bach to me is gold, not sure why.


When I play Debussy, for some reason van Gogh always springs to mind not the colours just his name.


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## Jacred (Jan 14, 2017)

Yes, Bach - orange, Chopin - purple, Mozart - yellow, Liszt - black, Beethoven - dark green (but not always).

Just a few off the top of my head.


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