Many composers have experienced music as colour, as well as sound. Their musical performances were also displays of visual art. Sensitively stirred their creative imagination. A new study has confirmed a lovely link between energy, emotion, music & colour.
Mozart’s lively Flute Concerto No. 1 is associated with bright yellow & orange whereas his Requiem is linked to bluish grey. Beethoven described the key of B minor as a ‘black’ key. Scriabin linked E flat major with a purple-red colour. Rimsky-Korsakov described D major as golden brown. Sibelius claimed he heard sounds in his mind when he sensed colours & scents. Messiaen described his sensory skill – “I see colours when I hear sounds, but I don’t see colours with my eyes. I see colours intellectually in my head.” Ligeti saw major chords as red or pink, minor chords as green or brown. Liszt – “a little bluer please, this tone type requires it”. The raw emotion behind the music is often responsible for the colour association. Incredible.
