
In pursuit of the hirsute
In honor of the birth anniversary of the first composer pictured below, let's celebrate nine magnficent manifestations of musical manscaping (sorry, ladies). See how many you can identify; answers tomorrow.



One the left, there's the great Russian composer who gave us The Flight of the Bumble-Bee, the Procession of the Nobles, the Song of India and other colorful hits. In the middle, we see the French romantic composer of what was the first, and for more than a century the most frequently performed, opera at the Metropolitan. On the right, there's the long-lived composer whose works breath the air and capture the Celtic spirit of his native Brittany.



Going the mutton-chop route on the left is the gentle-souled Belgian organist and composer, nicknamed "Pater Seraphicus" by his pupils, who created a new sound in late 19th-century French music with such sensuous masterworks as the Symphony in D Minor and the Violin Sonata in A major. The impressive handlebar mustache in the middle belongs to the Spanish composer best-known for his piano suite and opera based on the world of the artist Francisco Goya. On the right, we find the fastidious Frenchman who went clean-shaven for most of his life, but who in youth dressed the part of the dandy...not to be confused with Vincent d'Indy, a pupil of the guy on the far left.



Another long-lived Frenchman is on the left, a radical eccentric whose voluminous work-list contains many titles referring to Kipling's "Jungle Book" and such early movie stars as Lilian Harvey and Ginger Rogers. In the middle, there's the American composer who associated with such modernists as Cage, Cowell and Ives, explored Asian instruments, ancient tunings and Esperanto, and wrote music with a wonderfully joyous spirit. On the right...need I say more?
Answers: Top row: Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov, Charles Gounod, Joseph-Guy Ropartz. Middle row: César Franck, Enrique Granados, Maurice Ravel. Bottom row: Charles Koechlin, Lou Harrison, Johannes Brahms.












