Karol Szymanowski
Karol Szymanowski | |
---|---|
Tymoszówka, Russian Empire | |
Died | 29 March 1937 Lausanne, Switzerland | (aged 54)
Works | List of compositions |
Karol Maciej Szymanowski (Polish pronunciation: [ˈkarɔl ˈmat͡ɕɛj ʂɨmaˈnɔfskʲi]; 3 October 1882 – 29 March 1937)[a][1] was a Polish composer and pianist. He was a member of the modernist Young Poland movement that flourished in the late 19th and early 20th century.
Szymanowski's early works show the influence of the late
Szymanowski was awarded the highest national honors, including the Officer's Cross of the Order of Polonia Restituta, the Order of Merit of the Republic of Poland and other distinctions, both Polish and foreign.[2]
Life and career
Early life
Karol Szymanowski was born into the
Career
In
In 1918, Szymanowski completed the manuscript of a two-volume novel, Efebos, which took
Of his works created or first imagined, such as
Later life and death
In 1926, Szymanowski accepted the position of Director of the Warsaw Conservatory, though he had little administrative experience. He became seriously ill in 1928 and temporarily lost his post. He was diagnosed with an acute form of tuberculosis, and in 1929 traveled to Davos, Switzerland, for medical treatment. Szymanowski resumed his position at the Conservatory in 1930, but the school was closed two years later by a ministerial decision. He moved to Villa Atma in Zakopane where he composed fervently. In Zakopane, Szymanowski developed a keen interest in the Polish folk idiom and undertook to create a Polish national style, an endeavour not attempted since the times of Chopin. He immersed himself in the culture of the Polish Highlanders (Gorals) and embraced their tonal language, syncopated rhythms, and winding melodies in his music.[1] In 1936, Szymanowski received more treatment at a sanatorium in Grasse, but it was no longer effective. He died at a sanatorium in Lausanne on 29 March 1937.[a] His body was brought back to Poland by his sister Stanisława and laid to rest at Skałka in Kraków, the "national Panthéon" for the most distinguished Poles.[2]
Szymanowski's long correspondence with the pianist Jan Smeterlin, a significant champion of his piano works, was published in 1969.[9]
Influences
Szymanowski was influenced by the music of
Aleksander Laskowski has said of Szymanowski's music and its changing style: "He invented a musical language [...] His works were true and ingenious creations. And his oeuvre shows an incredible development from the Straussian and Wagnerian, through an interesting and very romantic Oriental period, and finishing with a national period influenced by his time in the Tatras."[11]
Works
Among Szymanowski's better-known orchestral works are four
According to Samson, "Szymanowski adopted no thorough-going alternatives to tonal organization [...] the harmonic tensions and relaxations and the melodic phraseology have clear origins in tonal procedure, but [...] an underpinning tonal framework has been almost or completely dissolved away."[13]
Recognition
Szymanowski's music has received international recognition. In the 1920s and the 1930s, his music proved immensely popular. His works were performed throughout the world by soloists such as
Recordings
In 1994,
Remembrance
Szymanowski received numerous awards, including the Officer Cross of the
On 16 November 2006, the
On 3 October 2023, Szymanowski was celebrated with a Google Doodle for his 141st birthday.[20]
See also
Notes
References
- ^ a b c "Karol Szymanowski | Polish Composer, Impressionist & Modernist | Britannica". www.britannica.com. 2 October 2023.
- ^ a b "Karol Szymanowski". Culture.pl. 2007. Retrieved 10 February 2013.
- ^ a b c "Karol Szymanowski". Culture.pl.
- ^ "Cicha woda? Karol Szymanowski – życie kompozytora". historia.dorzeczy.pl (in Polish). 29 March 2022. Retrieved 18 February 2023.
- ^ "Karol Szymanowski, "Symphonies Nos 3&4, Stabat Mater"". culture.pl (in Polish). Retrieved 18 February 2023.
- ^ a b Stephen Downes, "Eros and Paneuropeanism", in Harry White and Michael Murphy, eds., Musical Constructions of Nationalism: Essays on the History and Ideology of European Musical Cultute, 1800-1945 (Cork University Press, 2001), 51-71, esp. 52, 66-7
- ^ The manuscript was lost in a fire in September 1939 during the siege of Warsaw. The only part that survives is the central chapter, "The Symposium", which Szymanowski translated into Russian and gave as a gift to Boris Kochno, who became his love interest when they met in the spring of 1919. Szymanowski wrote that his novel depicts "the history of a gradual liberation from various types of traditional, inherited slavery by an increasingly clear mirage of true freedom of the soul".
- ^ Arthur Rubinstein, My Many Years (London, 1980), 103
- ^ Boguslaw Maciejewski and Felix Aprahamian, eds., Karol Szymanowski and Jan Smeterlin: Correspondence and Essays. Allegro Press, 1969
- ^ Samson, Jim (1981). The Music of Szymanowski. Taplinger. p. 200.
- ^ a b "Exploring the music of Karol Szymanowski, the greatest Polish composer since Chopin". Retrieved 18 April 2017.
- ^ Neil Galanter. "Karol Szymanowski". polishmusic.usc.edu. Retrieved 18 February 2023.
- ^ Samson, Jim (1981). The Music of Szymanowski. Taplinger. p. 131.
- ^ "Szymanowski 1929 - 1937 Final years". Retrieved 18 April 2017.
- ^ "Król Roger available on DVD/Blu-Ray". Retrieved 18 April 2017.
- ^ "Celebrating Szymanowski (1882-1937): 75 years on". Retrieved 18 April 2017.
- ^ "125. rocznica urodzin Karola Szymanowskiego (1882-1937)". Retrieved 18 April 2017.
- ^ "Ordery Orła Białego przyznane pośmiertnie 25 wybitnym Polakom". Archived from the original on 11 November 2018. Retrieved 31 May 2019.
- ^ "Szalone miłości Szymanowskiego" (in Polish). Retrieved 16 July 2021.
- ^ Alex Finnis (3 October 2023). "Who was Karol Szymanowski? Why a Google Doodle is celebrating the Polish composer's 141st birthday today". inews.com. Retrieved 3 October 2023.
Additional sources
- In English
- Jim Samson, Music in Transition: A Study of Tonal Expansion and Atonality, 1900–1920, New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 1977, ISBN 0-393-02193-9
- Jim Samson, The Music of Szymanowski, London: Kahn & Averill, 1980, ISBN 0-900707-58-5
- Alistair Wightman, Karol Szymanowski. His Life and Work, Alderhost, Ashgate Publishing Company, 1999
- Christopher Palmer, Szymanowski. BBC Music Guides, 1983 (An introduction to Szymanowski's music in English)
- In French
- Patrick Szersnovicz, Olivier Bellamy, Piotr Anderszewski, "Karol Szymanowski: le génie méconnu" (Karol Szymanowski: unknown genius) in Le Monde de la musique, No 299, June 2005, p. 46-59
- Didier Van Moere, Karol Szymanowski, Fayard, Paris 2008.
- Anetta Floirat, Karol Szymanowski à la rencontre des arts, Sampzon, Delatour France, 2019, 338 p.
- In German
- Roger Scruton and Petra Weber-Borckholdt, eds., Szymanowski in seiner Zeit (Szymanowski in his time), Munich, Wilhelm Fink Verlag, 1984
- Danuta Gwizdalanka: Der Verführer. Karol Szymanowski und seine Musik, Harrassowitz Verlag, Wiesbaden 2017, ISBN 978-3-447-10888-1
- In Italian
- Alessandro Martinisi, Il sogno sognato di Karol Szymanowski. Re Ruggero tra luce ed ombra., Quintessenza Editrice, Gallarate 2009, ISBN 978-88-901794-2-6
- Aldo Dotto, Le Maschere di Karol Szymanowski, (prefazione di Joanna Domanska) Edizioni ETS, 2014, ISBN 9788846740861
- In Polish
- Stefania Łobaczewska, Karol Szymanowski. Zycie i twórczość (Karol Szymanowski. Life and work) Cracow, PWM, 1950
- Zygmunt Sierpiński, O Karolu Szymanowskim (About Karol Szymanowski), Warsaw, Interpress, 1983
- Tadeusz Zieliński, Szymanowski : Liryka i ekstaza (Szymanowski: Lyric and ecstasy), Cracow, Polskie Wydawnictwo Muzyczne, 1997
- Teresa Chylińska, Karol Szymanowski i jego epoka (Karol Szymanowski and his time), Cracow, Musica Iagellonica, 2006, 3 volumes
- Mortkowicz-Olczakowa, Hanna (1961). Bunt wspomnień. Państwowy Instytut Wydawniczy
- Jerzy Maria Smoter (collective) Karol Szymanowski we wspomnieniach (Karol Szymanowski in our memory), Cracow, PWM, 1974, 394 p.
- Łozińska Hempel, Maria (1986). Z łańcucha wspomnień. Wydawnictwo Literackie.
External links
- Szymanowski page at the Polish Music Center
- Free scores by Karol Szymanowski at the International Music Score Library Project (IMSLP)
- Scores by Karol Szymanowski in digital library Polona
- Karol Szymanowski's "Stabat Mater". Spanish Radio and Television Symphony Orchestra. Thomas Dausgaard, conductor. Live concert.