Great imitations

With their various eccentricities and foibles, composers have proved an absolute gift for caricaturists and cartoonists over the last couple of centuries. Here are some of the best…

Brilliant caricatures of musicians and composers

Rogues gallery: (clockwise from far left) a buttoned-up Puccini, as depicted in a satirical French magazine, 1901; Richard Strauss presents his own head à la Salome, c1905; Johannes Brahms heads for his favourite Viennese coffee house, The Red Hedgehog; Gustav Mahler is lampooned in 1907 for his unorthodox instrumental requirements; Verdi feeling murderous on hearing the out-of-tune chorus at the premiere of Otello (depicted 1895); Khachaturian, composer of the ‘Sabre Dance’, conducts with said weapon; Ruggiero Leoncavallo is depicted by D’ostoga as a character from his opera Pagliacci

Deft depictions: (clockwise from left) Rossini, as drawn in his final year by Gill, 1867; Gill again, this time of Wagner assaulting the listener’s ear; baritone Johann Michael Vogl with Franz Schubert, affectionately caricatured by their mutual friend Franz von Schober, c1825; Verdi, seated on a chaise-longue with his pet dog Lulu; a French depiction of Liszt, past his prime but still a virtuoso; Paganini, depicted in 1827 by Ego Del, is carried away by his virtuosic playing, despite canine accompaniment; a fan depicting George Sand and her circle, with Liszt on his knees before her and Chopin as a bird on her hand; Aaron Copland when he had hair; Arnold Schoenberg with a characteristic expression by Lindluff, 1913; George Gershwin, also with hair, by William Auerbach-levy