Table of contents:
- Sergei Prokofiev
- Gioacchino Rossini
- Sergei Rachmaninoff
- Giacomo Puccini
- Alexander Borodin
- Mikhail Glinka
- Dmitry Shostakovich
Video: Not music alone: What famous composers and musicians were fond of
2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55
Many people have hobbies that they love to indulge in in their free time. Famous musicians and composers are no exception. It would seem that music and creativity occupied all their thoughts, demanded complete immersion. However, they found time for their, sometimes quite unexpected, hobbies. What made great musicians forget about melodies and notes?
Sergei Prokofiev
As a child, Sergei Prokofiev became interested in chess, retaining his love for this sport until the end of his days. At first, he very upset his mother, who believed: free time should be devoted only and exclusively to music. If the son did not play music, then he should have listened to good music. However, the boy sat at chess, enthusiastically developing his own playing technique and analyzing the play of famous chess players. He himself subsequently received the first category in chess, and his famous game with David Oistrakh attracted many spectators at one time.
When Sergei Prokofiev was already sick, Mikhail Botvinnik came to see him. As soon as he saw the famous chess player, the composer immediately asked if he had brought him the promised collection of games of one of the famous matches.
READ ALSO: "Prokofiev's Casus", or two widows of the great composer >>
Gioacchino Rossini
Who would have thought that the great Italian composer, in the midst of his career, would suddenly retire and go to Paris to fully devote himself to his new hobby - cooking. He was only 37 years old, he could write many more works, but now all his thoughts were occupied by a completely different area.
Sometimes he returned to music, but now he was much more excited when creating culinary masterpieces. Gioacchino Rossini's favorite combination of foie gras and truffle went down in culinary history under the name of the composer. However, a few more dishes were named after him, but the most famous Rossini tournedo was created by the composer's friend Marie-Antoine Karem.
Sergei Rachmaninoff
The brilliant pianist and composer was also famous for his special love for technology. Having emigrated abroad in 1917 and earned a decent fortune thanks to his incredible ability to work, he was proud, first of all, of the technical innovations that appeared in his house. He was one of the first to install an elevator in his house and got a vacuum cleaner. And Sergei Rachmaninov enthusiastically launched trains on the children's railway, enthusiastically watching how the arrows were moved, semaphores were switched and barriers were raised.
In addition, the composer was a passionate motorist. He changed cars every year so as not to bother repairing them. The famous pianist also gravitated towards inventions: he patented a special heating sleeve, which made it possible to quickly bring the musician's hands into working condition before the concert.
Giacomo Puccini
The Italian composer, author of many operas, also had a weakness for technological innovations and was an avid motorist. He bought his first car back in 1900. He even managed to get into an accident, flying off the road into a 5-meter high cliff. Fortunately, no one was injured in the accident, although, in addition to the composer himself, there were his wife and son in the car.
Giacomo Puccini also loved to sail, hunt and fish, indulging in these hobbies with no less passion than playing music.
Alexander Borodin
It is difficult to determine which sphere is the main one in the activities of Alexander Borodin. On the one hand, he composed his first work, the polka "Helen" at the age of 9, on the other hand, carried away by chemistry a year after his first composer experience, Alexander Borodin continued to study this science all his life. That is why, along with the fact that he is called a Russian composer, Alexander Borodin is also referred to as a talented chemist.
Alexander Porfirevich Borodin had the title of professor, headed the chemical laboratory, together with his teacher Nikolai Zinin was the founder of the Russian Chemical Society. And at the same time he composed music, becoming the author of wonderful works.
Mikhail Glinka
Mikhail Ivanovich was a gifted and inquisitive person. Music was a part of his life, but it did not limit his interests. It is known that the Russian composer was fluent in six languages, could easily switch from one to another. Perhaps he was forced to study languages by another hobby - geography. Despite the health problems that have been observed in Mikhail Glinka since childhood, he traveled a lot, exploring new places and countries.
READ ALSO: Two muses of one romance: who inspired Pushkin and Glinka to create the masterpiece "I remember a wonderful moment" >>
Dmitry Shostakovich
The composer became addicted to football after the artist Vladimir Lebedev once persuaded Dmitry Dmitrievich to watch a match at the stadium. Since then, Shostakovich has tried not to miss a single match. And he also led a football statistics, diligently spreading the results of games, goals scored and conceded, the names of the players who managed to send the ball into the goal on the tables. He even began writing articles about football that were published in the central press.
A genius person is a genius in everything. And if we talk about great artists, then they, as a rule, are not only brilliant, but also eccentric. And even their hobbies and hobbies, according to the recollections of contemporaries, were, to put it mildly, strange. Although, who knows: maybe it is the crazy natures with an unusual outlook on the world and their lives that are capable of creating masterpieces of painting?
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