10 Composers in fast cars
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Rachmaninov takes the wheel
Puccini waits for driver
Schoenberg shows the wife
Britten takes the boys out for a ride
Prokofiev (2l.) takes a lesson
Alban Berg takes a spin with Alma Mahler
Copland changes a wheel
John Cage gets child-locked
Kurt Weill, back fender driver
Richard Strauss drove a Mercedes.
Any more?
Delightful, but can we be so sure that these cars were ‘fast’? …they look quite stately to me. Design-wise,the modern car is anodyne in comparison (except Fiat) notwithstanding the cowering to the oil industry.
‘cowering’ to the oil industry? What, like making cars more and more fuel efficient so they use less of the stuff?
Yes, I believe you’re right. Sorry.
Larger formats please!
If I remember correctly, Rachmaninoff toured the United States in 1909 (where he premiered his Third Concerto) to earn enough money to buy an automobile.
…yet so many lesser musicians are now able to buy one with one evening’s fee.
What, no picture of Richard Cartwright?
Prokofiev was a hasty driver at first — until he bowled over a few unfortunate bicyclists on the way to Monte Carlo. After that, he was painfully slow and cautious, supposedly. Ah, all these Futurists who began their careers with joy in speed and the loud action of pistons — and then had to put on the brakes in the Thirties …
It is Vladimir Dukelsky (Vernon Duke) at the wheel. Prokofiev appears to be the tutor.
Arthur Honegger loved not only trains!
http://photos.imageevent.com/sgtrock/may2013/honegger.jpg
Good find!
When cars are mentioned, I think of Sir John Tavener, as almost every article I’ve read about him noted that he liked cars. It’s funny that I’ve never seen a photograph of him with one.
That’s because they were dinky-toys.
Peter Sculthorpe:
http://www.pinterest.com/pin/244883298463513814/
Elgar couldn’t afford the down payment:
http://www.historywebsite.co.uk/Museum/Transport/bicycles/Elgar.jpg
Not exactly a car:
http://www.discoveringchaplin.com/2012/09/igor-stravinsky-takes-spin-on-charlies.html
I LOVE these old photos! I am totally digging Prokofiev – or Vernon Duke (whoever he is, he looks like he’s going undercover, and he’s got a hot babe waiting for him in the back seat) – and Weill (casual to the point of total coolness)!
From where can I obtain copies of them, and others like them, in a larger digital format?
Vladimir Dukelsky,aka Vernon Duke was the composer of ‘April in Paris’ – the ‘hot babe’ is Lina Prokofiev.
Norman
There are two girls in the car with Britten. They’re not all boys as your caption suggests.