Synesthesia

Franz Liszt

Composer (October 22, 1811 – July 31, 1886). Music → color.

“When Liszt first began as Kapellmeister in Weimar (1842), it astonished the orchestra that he said: ‘O please, gentlemen, a little bluer, if you please! This tone type requires it!’ Or: ‘That is a deep violet, please, depend on it! Not so rose!’ First the orchestra believed Liszt just joked; more later they got accustomed to the fact that the great musician seemed to see colors there, where there were only tones.”

— Anonymous, as quoted in Friedrich Mahling, p. 230. (Translation by Sean A. Day.)