When we think of a great composer, we often imagine the Romantic image of an intense and obsessive artist holed up in a messy studio day and night, poring over their manuscripts. The reality for many composers in history, though, was much more pragmatic. Many of them had to earn a living in other ways and managed to create fine music as well as holding down a day job.

One of the earlier examples is Italian composer Antonio Vivaldi, who was a full-time priest (he was in fact known as the “Red Priest” because of his bright red hair). Muzio Clementi, born in Italy but spending most of his life in England, also had a career as a music publisher and piano manufacturer. William Herschel, a composer and astronomer from Germany, actually discovered the planet Uranus, as well as writing eighteen symphonies and twelve concertos. It’s hard to know how he found the time!

Moving to the Romantic era, we find the Russian composer Alexander Borodin, who was by profession an accomplished organic chemist. He is credited with achieving the first “nucleophilic displacement of chlorine by fluorine in benzoyl chloride.” (I think I’ll stick to music!) Borodin is famous for such works as In the Steppes of Central Asia and the opera Prince Igor.

Many composers of the twentieth century held down day jobs. American composer Charles Ives was a successful insurance salesman by day, and a composer on nights and weekends. Ives valued the financial stability of a day job, and once quipped, “If a composer has a nice wife and some nice children, how can he let them starve on his dissonances?” Gustav Holst was a full-time schoolteacher, as well as composing works such as The Planets and the St. Paul’s Suite. Philip Glass held jobs as a taxi driver and plumber, and John Cage was a graphic designer. Probably most interesting of all is contemporary American choral composer Eric Whitacre, who was signed as a male model in 2011 by the renowned Storm Modeling Agency. It’s worth searching for his portrait, as his long blond hair is quite remarkable!

It’s no surprise that many composers throughout history sought to avoid poverty by having stable day jobs (Mozart didn’t and was buried in a pauper’s grave). There are many other examples not discussed here, and I’m sure in today’s world, a composer’s need for a fixed income is more important than ever. Perhaps we’ll encounter some rocket scientists and brain surgeons among the next generation of composers!