karol szymanowski
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| 1 | Métopes | 0 |
| 2 | Etude Op 4 No 3 | 0 |
| 3 | Mythes | 0 |
| 4 | Variations on a Polish Folk-Theme Op 10 | 0 |
| 5 | Piano Variations on a Polish folk song op 10 | 0 |
| 6 | Mazurkas Op 50 | 0 |
| 7 | Praeludium | 0 |
| 8 | Masques Op 34 | 0 |
| 9 | Sonata for Violin and Piano op 9 | 0 |
| 10 | Metopes Op 29 | 0 |
Artist bio
Karol Maciej Korwin-Szymanowski (October 6, 1882–March 28, 1937) was a Polish composer and pianist. His style developed in three distinct stages, from a strong affinity with Richard Strauss (60), Alexander Scriabin (174) and countryman Frédéric Chopin (3484), to flavourings of the Orient, the Mediterranean, and the impressionism of Claude Debussy (729) and Maurice Ravel (182), to Polish folk music and the Eastern Church. Even when writing in a Polish idiom, Szymanowski far exceeded the established musical language of central Europe, and is remembered as an exotic outlier of 20th century music. Read more
Born in Tymoszowka into a well-to-do and cultured family, Szymanowski read and travelled widely. From 1909-14 he visited London, Italy, Vienna, Algiers, Constantine, Biskra and Tunis, and during the war studied ancient Greek culture, early Christianity and Islam. A novel inspired by these influences, Efebos, was lost in the fires of Warsaw in 1939. Pieces from this period include the Symphony No.3 (1916) and the piano music "Masques" (1916) and "Metopes" (1915). The latter, loosely structured around Homer's Odyssey, features fragments of bird song, polytonalism, and hints of the ancient double flute and lyre. The opera King Roger (1918-24) is the grandest expression of Szymanowski's Orientalism. It concerns the enlightenment of the twelfth-century Sicilian king by a young peasant, a Dionysian figure representing the values of the East.
Szymanowski moved to the newly independent Poland in 1919. He was increasingly influenced by Polish themes, particularly drawing on Polish highland folk music, which he discovered in Zakopane in the southern Tatra highlands. According to Jim Samson, highland folk music is "played on two fiddles and a string bass," and, "has uniquely 'exotic' characteristics, highly dissonant and with fascinating heterophonic effects." Szymanowski's Polish setting of the Stabat Mater (1925-6) combines a plain and direct translation of the text with melodic material from two Polish hymns, parallel movement between voices, modal pitch organisation, and strongly patterned, folkish rhythms. Its recording by Simon Rattle and the Birmingham Symphony, as well as their recordings of King Roger and the two violin concertos, were critically acclaimed and helped to rehabilitate Szymanowski in the late 20th century.
Born in Tymoszowka into a well-to-do and cultured family, Szymanowski read and travelled widely. From 1909-14 he visited London, Italy, Vienna, Algiers, Constantine, Biskra and Tunis, and during the war studied ancient Greek culture, early Christianity and Islam. A novel inspired by these influences, Efebos, was lost in the fires of Warsaw in 1939. Pieces from this period include the Symphony No.3 (1916) and the piano music "Masques" (1916) and "Metopes" (1915). The latter, loosely structured around Homer's Odyssey, features fragments of bird song, polytonalism, and hints of the ancient double flute and lyre. The opera King Roger (1918-24) is the grandest expression of Szymanowski's Orientalism. It concerns the enlightenment of the twelfth-century Sicilian king by a young peasant, a Dionysian figure representing the values of the East.
Szymanowski moved to the newly independent Poland in 1919. He was increasingly influenced by Polish themes, particularly drawing on Polish highland folk music, which he discovered in Zakopane in the southern Tatra highlands. According to Jim Samson, highland folk music is "played on two fiddles and a string bass," and, "has uniquely 'exotic' characteristics, highly dissonant and with fascinating heterophonic effects." Szymanowski's Polish setting of the Stabat Mater (1925-6) combines a plain and direct translation of the text with melodic material from two Polish hymns, parallel movement between voices, modal pitch organisation, and strongly patterned, folkish rhythms. Its recording by Simon Rattle and the Birmingham Symphony, as well as their recordings of King Roger and the two violin concertos, were critically acclaimed and helped to rehabilitate Szymanowski in the late 20th century.