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Composers at leisure: 17 amazing pictures of musicians in their down-time

Climbing trees, falconry, making salad... Great composers really know how to let their hair down, judging by these rare and occasionally odd photographs.

1. Claude Debussy

What more you could want? Your beloved daughter and pet dog, a basket full of culinary delights and a shady forest? And yet Claude Debussy just doesn't look like he's enjoying his picnic one bit. Photo: Getty
2. Benjamin Britten

English composer and conductor Benjamin Britten (1913 - 1976) playing tennis at home in Aldeburgh, Suffolk, Picture: Getty
3. Arnold Schoenberg playing tennis

"The strings of this racket are too logically arranged for my liking."
4. Daniel Barenboim playing ping-pong

Hand on the table is a foul, Maestro. Photo: Getty
5. Arvo Pärt jogging

And doesn't he look delighted about it?
6. Leonard Bernstein up a tree

"Oh hey guys. I'm up a tree."
7. Pierre Boulez making a salad

Pierre Boulez: insane music, spartan kitchen. Picture: Getty
8. Herbert Von Karajan holding a falcon

Karajan a bird rather than a baton. 'Karajan'. Like 'carrying'. Ah, forget it. Picture: Getty
9. George Gershwin painting Arnold Schoenberg

Proving himself to be a dab hand at more than one artistic discipline.
10. Edvard Grieg chillaxing with his dog on a hill

Anyone else think there's a hint of Dr. Emmett Brown here?
11. Benjamin Britten, Aaron Copland and Peter Pears standing next to a car

Crumbs-a-crikey, Peter, is your shirt open all the way down?
12. Igor Stravinsky getting off a boat

Happy and intrepid. Picture: Getty
13. Luciano Pavarotti plays football

Still some technique issues to sort out. Picture: Getty
14. Sergei Prokofiev playing chess

Checkmate, Sergei. Checkmate.
15. Edward Elgar with his bicycle

A strong look and no mistake, but is that hat really the pinnacle of road safety?
16. Richard Strauss at the theatre

Gets his own box, obvs. Picture: Getty
17. Bela Bartok listening to a gramophone

Bela Bartok listening to a gramophone while some awkward villagers look on, awkwardly. Picture: Getty