Composers whose physical appearance resembles their musical style

[vandermolen]

Finally (for now), the troubled, anxious features of Shostakovich seems to reflect the music:

[Szykneij]

Philip Glass

[vandermolen]

Very clever (Glass images)

[Dundonnell]

Charles Koechlin-

(I feel a Koechlin thread is overdue )

[Kullervo]

and a syphilitic'

Very tasteful of you. 

[Kullervo]

What about composers who don't look like their music? Faure, for instance:

[(poco) Sforzando]

What about composers who don't look like their music? Faure, for instance:

A very gentle, mild appearance - like the music itself.

How much of this, however, is a self-fulfilling prophecy? We form an image of a composer's music, and look for similar features in their features. But Corey asks the right question. For instance, does Debussy, that heavy-set, bearded bourgeois, really look like the composer of La Mer? Or is it maybe that soft, sensuousness of his appearance that makes us think he does? Would Ravel's appearance strike us differently if we didn't know this tiny, dapper little man wrote music of such elegant precision? Would Berlioz's fiery red hair look less fiery if we didn't know the Fantastique?

[Dundonnell]

A very gentle, mild appearance - like the music itself.

How much of this, however, is a self-fulfilling prophecy? We form an image of a composer's music, and look for similar features in their features. But Corey asks the right question. For instance, does Debussy, that heavy-set, bearded bourgeois, really look like the composer of La Mer? Or is it maybe that soft, sensuousness of his appearance that makes us think he does? Would Ravel's appearance strike us differently if we didn't know this tiny, dapper little man wrote music of such elegant precision? Would Berlioz's fiery red hair look less fiery if we didn't know the Fantastique?

You are absolutely right, of course

I think that the thread is really intended to be pretty light-hearted

[(poco) Sforzando]

You are absolutely right, of course

I think that the thread is really intended to be pretty light-hearted

Well of course it is. But I'm still absolutely right. 

[greg]

Scriabin, of course, looks like his music:



especially with moustache fully twirled.:





Berg, too:

[Dundonnell]

Actually....I don't think that Scriabin looks like his music at all

All that wallowing in ecstatic, luxurious, decadent, perfumed, excess

He looks far too buttoned-up and respectable to me Mind you, it is always the ones you least expect who have a secret,darker side

[Mark G. Simon]

He looks far too buttoned-up and respectable to me Mind you, it is always the ones you least expect who have a secret,darker side

But look at that far off, dreamy look in his eyes, especially in the 2nd picture. He's clearly off on some other planet.

[Joe_Campbell]

But look at that far off, dreamy look in his eyes, especially in the 2nd picture. He's clearly off on some other planet.

And the crooked tie! THE CROOKED TIE!

[J.Z. Herrenberg]

But look at that far off, dreamy look in his eyes, especially in the 2nd picture. He's clearly off on some other planet.

And a lovely planet it is, too. 

[pjme]

How about ...Grazyna Bacewicz?



Germaine Tailleferre -old



Germaine...young

[J.Z. Herrenberg]

How about ...Grazyna Bacewicz?



Germaine...young

Don't know their music. Let's do an experiment. Judging from their appearance alone the music of Grazyna Bacewicz is stylish, elegant and humorous and Tailleferre's music rather severe...

[pjme]

Xenakis - Xenakis participated in the Greek Resistance during World War II and in the first phase of the Greek Civil War as a member of the students' company Lord Byron of ELAS (Ethnikos Laikos Apeleftherotikos Stratos, Greek Peoples Liberation Army). He received a severe face wound which resulted in the loss of eyesight in one eye.

Inspite of the scars - a nice smile.

Faces are always fascinating, "mirrors of the soul"... ( even if photographers and  stylists/dsigners can have an important influence...)  Sibelius wrote elegant salonpieces and Grazyna Bacewicz tough, expressionistic  music ...

[J.Z. Herrenberg]

Faces are always fascinating, "mirrors of the soul"... ( even if photographers and  stylists/dsigners can have an important influence...)  Sibelius wrote elegant salonpieces and Grazyna Bacewicz tough, expressionistic music...

Really?! Those mirrors can be deceptive, then (as Shakespeare knew).

[pjme]

Good morning!

I don't know Bacewicz work well enough ...but after a neo-classical period she ventured into a more radical realm of "expresionistic/avant garde " music ...hovering a bit between Bartok and early Penderecki....

Tailleferre wrote elegant, witty, often "easy" music - Music-hall, fox trot, walzes -spiced up with polytonality and brillant orchestration.
Her harpconcertino ( on DGG/Nicanor Zabaleta) is a gem.

[J.Z. Herrenberg]

Good morning!

I don't know Bacewicz work well enough ...but after a neo-classical period she ventured into a more radical realm of "expresionistic/avant garde " music ...hovering a bit between Bartok and early Penderecki....

Tailleferre wrote elegant, witty, often "easy" music - Music-hall, fox trot, walzes -spiced up with polytonality and brillant orchestration.
Her harpconcertino ( on DGG/Nicanor Zabaleta) is a gem.

Thanks for all the info, Peter. I know Tailleferre was part of Les Six, so I suspected that a certain lightness would have been there in her music. But her face is so serious, it threw me...