Those Beligian "Cinemusique" documentaries from the late 80s showed Elmer Bernsein riding horses on his ranch, and he said he had raised Llamas in the past. In the Jerry Goldsmith doc, Goldsmith said "My hobby if I have one is to sit at the beach and read a book -- a manual!"
Sylvester Levay used to sail. Harold Faltermeyer liked tennis and flying. Edgar Froese liked photography. Giorgio Moroder was into cars. Patrick O'Hearn use to ride horses at his farm. WG Snuffy Walden is a Christian. Yves Laferriere plays golf.
Arnold Schoenberg was painting, with abstract tendencies in his approach. There is a famous self-portrait he did.
I think the accurately mapped out lines and colour nuances etc are a sign that you could compare his approach to painting and composing, at least in some of his different composing phases. The Expressionismus does not fit in there, but his works belonging to Punktualismus and also to the fully developed Dodekaphonik have very similar traits in music than his self-portrait as a painting.
Charles E. Ives, in my book probably the most influential earlier american composer, was not a full-time composer, but spent the whole day working as an insurance salesman, reportedly as the most successful one on the east coast. Interesting, but I think not related to his music.
Basil Poledouris was an avid sailor and surfer. A lot of his scores display an evident love for the sea.
That reminds me of something I think I`ve read about Brad Fiedel some time ago, didn`t he switch from composing film scores to starting up a store for surfers or something like that? But I am not sure.
Here's one not generally known, and over on the Rozsa board it's been confirmed. Back in the 1930s Miklos Rozsa was a skater, and a GOOD one at that: see the aerobatics:
He's not the man with the pronounced chin featured later, but the athlete at 17 seconds. This was from his family films, and used in a Canadian documentary.
Rachmaninoff loved sailing and fast cars. Especially during the years when he lived on Long Island, NY. Somehow fast cars don't seem to go with his passionate music, but, nevertheless, it's a fact.
Paul Misraki, a long-time, prolific composer for primarily French films, published a book on UFOs in the 60s, which has enjoyed several reprints. He used a nom de plume to shield his career as a composer. I don't think that his name with connected with the book until his obituaries appeared. Wikipedia has a few more details.
Here's one not generally known, and over on the Rozsa board it's been confirmed. Back in the 1930s Miklos Rozsa was a skater, and a GOOD one at that: see the aerobatics:
He's not the man with the pronounced chin featured later, but the athlete at 17 seconds. This was from his family films, and used in a Canadian documentary.
That is most interesting. Funny how it never seemed to have been mentioned before, even in his autobiography. Doing something like that isn't something you can learn in an afternoon. I did a lot of feeze-frames, and it certainly "could" be him. But I wonder if I'd come to that conclusión if the question were "Quiz - Who is this film composer?" Still, I see that you (William) say it has been confirmed at the Rózsa Fórum.
//editado_automático_secreto_tus ojos// ADDED - Just went to the Rózsa Fórum - interesting discussion.// finalizar//
So, we know the grace and elegance on display in much of Rózsa's music, and in his demeanor. So was the skating a natural attraction for him given his artistic leanings, or was the later music influenced by the elegance of skating? Actually, it's probably all mixed up together.
In terms of creativity, a direct connection with music seems to be the chess game. Like Prokofiev mentioned earlier, Morricone is said to be a tough player, as well as his son Andrea, and he was given the opportunity to play against a champion, maybe Kasparov (just don't remember for sure which one) to whom he lost. As was stressed, the Maestro likes art (think of the book with paintings by Eva Fischer) but also poetry and I've been told once he's fond of miniature TV's and soap. I can't tell for sure about the latter ones. Regarding sport, Ennio is a fervent supporter of the soccer team of Rome (the A.S. Roma if I'm not mistaken) and played tennis when he was young.
Vladimir Cosma likes mathematics and chess as well. Other hobbies of his include swimming and vintage wines.
Michel Legrand indeed uses to fly his own plane and is a good ping pong player.
