Composers almost equally good in other arts (or professions)

[Opus106]

Why is there no mention of Wagner here?

Don't you recognize extortion, swindling, seduction and revolution as legitimate trades?

I'm actually finalising the list of similarly great men.

[Archaic Torso of Apollo]

ETA Hoffmann. Famous in his own time as a composer and pioneer of Romanticism in music; nowadays known almost entirely for his literary achievements.

[Opus106]

Robert Simpson. BBC Producer. Read more about his life here.

[Karl Henning]

Why is there no mention of Wagner here?

Don't you recognize extortion, swindling, seduction and revolution as legitimate trades?

Occupy Bayreuth!

[Dax]

Dane Rudhyar - an underrated and most interesting composer. He was also a leading astrologer. A painter also, although I don't know anything about the quality of his artwork. Well, I'm not into astrology, but I do know that Rudhyar is considered quite a force in that field.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dane_Rudhyar

Fan Noli - a most interesting Albanian who composed some orchestral works but was better known as a poet, translator (including some bits of Shakespeare Bacon), an orthodox bishop and prime minister of Albania for some months in 1924. His work Scanderbeu is not a symphony (as Wiki claims) but a symphonic poem.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fan_S._Noli

[Lisztianwagner]

Richard Wagner: besides being a composer, he was also a conductor, theatre director, philosopher, music theorist, poet, essayist and writer.

[BobsterLobster]

Dane Rudhyar - an underrated and most interesting composer. He was also a leading astrologer. A painter also, although I don't know anything about the quality of his artwork. Well, I'm not into astrology, but I do know that Rudhyar is considered quite a force in that field.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dane_Rudhyar

I had no idea he also composed, I read many of his astrology books. Is he any good?

[Luke]

The author Anthony Burgess (whose most famous work is A Clockwork Orange, but whose many, many other books have often thirlled me far more) thought of himself as a composer first, but one who happened to be better at writing. References to music abound in his books, right down to the novel he constructed following the model of the Eroica

[Karl Henning]

. . . References to music abound in his books, right down to the novel he constructed following the model of the Eroica

I don't like to say how long I've been meaning to read that one . . . .

[Dax]

I had no idea he also composed, I read many of his astrology books. Is he any good?

He certainly is. There are several recordings of his piano pieces by Michael Sellers whose playing is  defective IMO.  William Masselos, on the other hand, very much had the right idea as his recordings of Granites (my particular favourite), Stars and Paeans testify.

Here's Stars (Masselos) - http://www.nme.com/nme-video/youtube/id/LEuP78AJQJk

Granites - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=twqnM2SEKas
which has the advantage of showing the dots as well. The pianist is not identified but the performance is nowhere near as well thought out as that of Masselos.
He's one of those composers who form part of the anti-European "ultra-modernist" American movement championed by Cowell in the 1920s and therefore is linked with the likes of Ives, Ruggles, Varese, Crawford . . .

[jlaurson]

Henry VIII enjoyed signal success as a marriage counselor.

More-so even as a liberalizer of divorce laws, cutting the red tape (not just) which allowed for perfectly natural divorces, rather than being protracted year-long procedures, to take place in a matter of seconds. Given a well-trained executor. Changed marriage in one (or more) fell swoop(s).

[mc ukrneal]

More-so even as a liberalizer of divorce laws, cutting the red tape (not just) which allowed for perfectly natural divorces, rather than being protracted year-long procedures, to take place in a matter of seconds. Given a well-trained executor. Changed marriage in one (or more) fell swoop(s).

That post is truly a cut above...so sorry... 

[BobsterLobster]

He certainly is. There are several recordings of his piano pieces by Michael Sellers whose playing is  defective IMO.  William Masselos, on the other hand, very much had the right idea as his recordings of Granites (my particular favourite), Stars and Paeans testify.

Here's Stars (Masselos) - http://www.nme.com/nme-video/youtube/id/LEuP78AJQJk

Granites - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=twqnM2SEKas
which has the advantage of showing the dots as well. The pianist is not identified but the performance is nowhere near as well thought out as that of Masselos.
He's one of those composers who form part of the anti-European "ultra-modernist" American movement championed by Cowell in the 1920s and therefore is linked with the likes of Ives, Ruggles, Varese, Crawford . . .

Wow, great stuff, particularly like the 1st youtube link. I'll check some more out, thanks!

[Xenophanes]

Some composers did music criticism. Schumann and Berlioz come to mind

Sally Daley, QM, composes, plays the organ, piano, and flute, directs choirs and so on.  We once went over Bach Cantata No. 82 with her piano, and the second time we did it, she brought out the upper and lower parts and the oboe solos. She used to do remarkable paintings, too.

http://www.apimusic.org/composersb.cfm?ln=D

[DieNacht]

Some interesting posts & undiscovered material here, thanks.

Mendelssohn´s water colours, made when almost everyone of elite upbringing was taught how to draw and paint water-colours, can be charming and very much belong to the Biedermeier style:

http://lcweb2.loc.gov/diglib/ihas/loc.natlib.ihas.200156435/default.html

sometimes they have a more rugged expression:
http://www.google.dk/imgres?q=mendelssohn+water+colour&um=1&hl=da&biw=1467&bih=725&tbm=isch&tbnid=G9_FlZiNthfx0M:&imgrefurl=http://classicalmusicmayhem.freeforums.org/mendelssohn-s-paintings-and-sketches-t1657.html&docid=Vg3J_tzUZEsmbM&imgurl=http://www.bbc.co.uk/composers/mendelssohn/pictures/images/mendelssohn_15.jpg&w=860&h=480&ei=Wce7Tp32G6eQ4gTK1IxT&zoom=1&iact=hc&vpx=599&vpy=162&dur=1802&hovh=168&hovw=301&tx=249&ty=109&sig=109207640279368497012&page=1&tbnh=144&tbnw=258&start=0&ndsp=18&ved=1t:429,r:14,s:0

A few more painter-composers could be mentioned:

Lord Berners did a lot of painting, cf.

http://www.google.dk/imgres?q=lord+berners+paintings&um=1&hl=da&sa=N&biw=1467&bih=725&tbm=isch&tbnid=pAxFSMJnBvIk0M:&imgrefurl=http://tweedlandthegentlemansclub.blogspot.com/2011/07/lord-berners-last-ecentric.html&docid=9EGqjTFjbH4C0M&imgurl=http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-1sZUw94dVsw/ThVg467WNxI/AAAAAAAAKCU/ZX6q_pkxEe4/s400/lord%25252Bberners%25252Bpainting%25252Bhis%25252Bhorse.jpg&w=400&h=302&ei=MMO7TqezIOLN4QTRtPWkCA&zoom=1&iact=rc&dur=2&sig=109207640279368497012&page=1&tbnh=180&tbnw=241&start=0&ndsp=20&ved=1t:429,r:0,s:0&tx=144&ty=83

&
http://www.artfact.com/artist/berners-gerald-hugh-tyrwhitt-wilson-rxc1y2w1ig

Satie & his playful drawings / manuscripts could fill a book, cf.
http://www.google.dk/imgres?q=satie+dessin&um=1&hl=da&biw=1467&bih=725&tbm=isch&tbnid=DMTCX6D5MLxf3M:&imgrefurl=http://www.myspace.com/507356614/photos/albums/album/843176&docid=PNwbRpCagTU3NM&itg=1&imgurl=http://a3.l3-images.myspacecdn.com/images02/145/b15fd1874d7f4285859bb7308e1b77be/m.png&w=170&h=239&ei=3sS7TtjAGKLc4QTNmYmXCA&zoom=1&iact=hc&vpx=318&vpy=251&dur=2216&hovh=191&hovw=136&tx=108&ty=80&sig=109207640279368497012&page=3&tbnh=165&tbnw=117&start=42&ndsp=23&ved=1t:429,r:16,s:42

&
http://www.google.dk/imgres?q=satie+drawing&um=1&hl=da&biw=1467&bih=725&tbm=isch&tbnid=hsCyv4AzUuznoM:&imgrefurl=http://otphiegriotos.blogspot.com/2010_07_01_archive.html&docid=Tx-WJ9WAhlmL4M&imgurl=http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_s8JyxbYrSG0/TFNpAf4suII/AAAAAAAABd4/PlXXHwyhhK8/s1600/satie%252B%2525C3%2525A0%252Bmorhange003.jpg&w=1052&h=1600&ei=jcS7Ts7YFIHT4QT7xL20CA&zoom=1&iact=hc&vpx=1086&vpy=164&dur=4478&hovh=277&hovw=182&tx=76&ty=124&sig=109207640279368497012&page=10&tbnh=173&tbnw=117&start=201&ndsp=22&ved=1t:429,r:6,s:201

and Carl Ruggles did painting as well:
http://musicmavericks.publicradio.org/features/slideshows/slideshow_ruggles3.htm

F.A.D. Philidor composed a lot, some of his music has been recorded, but he is mainly known as a master of chess:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0I7Mjmzr9kI

[North Star]

Some interesting posts & undiscovered material here, thanks.

Mendelssohn´s water colours, made when almost everyone of elite upbringing was taught how to draw and paint water-colours, can be charming and very much belong to the Biedermeier style:
http://www.themendelssohnproject.org/about_tmp/activities/artworks_2.htm

Mendelssohn made some paintings and drawings http://www.themendelssohnproject.org/about_tmp/activities/artworks_2.htm

[DieNacht]

Sorry for the repeated reference, have deleted it.

[mc ukrneal]

Sorry for the repeated reference, have deleted it.

Tough crowd! 

[North Star]

Sorry for the repeated reference, have deleted it.

No reason to feel bad about it, I merely meant that I had mentioned Mendelssohn's talents in visual arts, too. I guess my response might seem less than polite, though.

[Chaszz]

...I'm not really a fan, but Wagner's librettos are surely worthy of the music he composed. And he wrote other stuff, too.

I am a fan, so maybe I have slightly more standing in the matter. I think Wagner's librettos are so far below his music as to be barely tolerable, mostly in respect of the fact that they inspired his music. A good example is Gotterdammerung, one of his greatest operas and one of the most ridiculous and absurd plots ever conceived. There are exceptions, of course, such as Die Walkure. I think someone who does not really revere the music, as North Star admits, can't properly compare the libretto and the music.