Personal Appearance

Clothes and grooming can broadcast personality—but they’re terrible predictors of musical genius. A polished gentleman can have a musical will as strong as the wild‑haired “Beethoven type,” and a slouching, awkward figure can carry the inner life of a Mozart or a Chopin.

If you like stereotypes, the old masters will disappoint you. You can imagine Bach as methodical in his wardrobe as in his counterpoint (though twenty children probably limited his clothing budget). Haydn and Mozart were neat and tidy; Beethoven and Schubert famously couldn’t be bothered. Mendelssohn dressed like an aristocrat, and Liszt too—though Mendelssohn looked more refined, while Liszt had the air of a commanding general.

Chopin is the funniest case. Later in life he became a kind of musical dandy, but in his early years he barely cared. In 1831, writing home from Vienna, he explained his compromise with fashion: friends were amazed he looked so “proper,” because he had kept whiskers on only his right cheek.

Why only the right? Chopin’s logic was flawless: he always sat with his right side toward the audience—so why grow whiskers on the left at all?