I'm fascinated by the relationship between music and painting.* To me it's more than just background music at the easel, I've read that*both playing and*listening to music, particularly*the works of great*composers*will improve*an artists (painters) skill.* Before I decided to study art I was planing on a career as a concert pianist, and I was delighted to find out that these two skills support eachother!
I was also happy to find that Sargent was an avid pianist.
"Dear Sir,
In answer to your question about Sargent's "musicalness" permit me to jot down in a loose way the various impressions I received of this in the course of many years of my enjoying the privileged of his delightful and generous friendship. I met Mr. Sargent some 35 years ago after a Symphony Concert in Boston where I had played Lalo's "Symphonie Espagnole," a delightful work of which Sargent was very fond.
He came to the Artist room that evening and with that irresistible charm of his said a few words which made one rise in one's self esteem and then arranged for our meeting a few days later at dinner in a mutual friends house. On this delightful occasion Sargent played with me "en petit Comite'" the Symphonie Espagnole in which he revealed himself as the admirable musician which he innately was. He was quite amazing in accompanying The 3rd Movement ("Interme'de") a quite splendid piece of music with rather complicated rhythms in 5/8 time, which he played with complete musical and rhythmical understanding, verve and spirit. In his luminously intelligent manner he spoke of various characteristics of Spanish rhythms in music, quite in the manner in which M. Fdouard Lalo had expounded these intricacies to me in prior years.
That same evening we played the first Sonata by Gabriel Faur