Karol Szymanowski: Difference between revisions
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[[Image:Szymanowski.jpg|thumb|125px|Karol Szymanowski]] |
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'''Karol Maciej<ref>[http://pianosociety.com/cms/index.php?section=1821 Piano Society<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref> Szymanowski''' (3 October 1882{{ndash}}28 March 1937) was a Polish composer and pianist. |
'''Karol Maciej<ref>[http://pianosociety.com/cms/index.php?section=1821 Piano Society<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref> Szymanowski''' ({{IPA-pl|ˌkarɔl ˌmat͡ɕɛj ʃɨmaˈnɔfskʲi}}; 3 October 1882{{ndash}}28 March 1937) was a Polish composer and pianist. |
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==Life== |
==Life== |
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[[File:NowySwiat47.jpg|thumb| |
[[File:NowySwiat47.jpg|thumb|125px|''[[Nowy Świat|Nowy Świat 47]]'', [[Warsaw]], Poland. Szymanowski lived and composed here in 1924–29.]] |
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[[File:Karol Szymanowski.jpg|thumb|125px|Szymanowski]] |
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Szymanowski was born into a wealthy land-owning Polish [[szlachta|gentry]] family (of the [[Ślepowron Coat of Arms|Korwin/Ślepowron coat-of-arms]]) in [[Tymoszówka]], then in the [[Russian Empire]], now in [[Cherkasy Oblast]], [[Ukraine]]. He studied music privately with his father before going to [[Gustav Neuhaus]]' Elizavetgrad School of Music from 1892. From 1901 he attended the State Conservatory in [[Warsaw]], of which he was later director from 1926 until retiring in 1930. Musical opportunities in Russian-occupied Poland being quite limited at the time, he travelled widely throughout Europe, North Africa, the Middle East, and the US. These travels, especially those to the [[Mediterranean Sea|Mediterranean]] area, provided much inspiration to the composer and [[esthete]]. |
Szymanowski was born into a wealthy land-owning Polish [[szlachta|gentry]] family (of the [[Ślepowron Coat of Arms|Korwin/Ślepowron coat-of-arms]]) in [[Tymoszówka]], then in the [[Russian Empire]], now in [[Cherkasy Oblast]], [[Ukraine]]. He studied music privately with his father before going to [[Gustav Neuhaus]]' Elizavetgrad School of Music from 1892. From 1901 he attended the State Conservatory in [[Warsaw]], of which he was later director from 1926 until retiring in 1930. Musical opportunities in Russian-occupied Poland being quite limited at the time, he travelled widely throughout Europe, North Africa, the Middle East, and the US. These travels, especially those to the [[Mediterranean Sea|Mediterranean]] area, provided much inspiration to the composer and [[esthete]]. |
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The fruits of these trips included not only musical works, but poetry and his novel on [[Greek love]] ''[[Efebos]],'' parts of which were subsequently lost in a fire in 1939. The central chapter was translated by him into Russian and given as a gift in 1919 to [[Boris Kochno]], who was his beloved at the time. Szymanowski also wrote a number of love poems, in French, to the 15-year-old boy. Among these are ''Ganymède'', ''Baedecker'', ''N'importe'', and ''Vagabond''. |
The fruits of these trips included not only musical works, but poetry and his novel on [[Greek love]] ''[[Efebos]],'' parts of which were subsequently lost in a fire in 1939. The central chapter was translated by him into Russian and given as a gift in 1919 to [[Boris Kochno]], who was his beloved at the time. Szymanowski also wrote a number of love poems, in French, to the 15-year-old boy. Among these are ''Ganymède'', ''Baedecker'', ''N'importe'', and ''Vagabond''. |
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Writing about his novel, Szymanowski said, "In it I expressed much, perhaps all that I have to say on this matter, which is for me very important and very beautiful." It remains available in a German translation as ''Das Gastmahl. Ein Kapitel aus dem verlorenen Roman Ephebos.''<ref name="gastmahl">{{citation |title=Das Gastmahl: Ein Kapitel aus dem verlorenen Roman Ephebos |first=Karol |last=Szymanowski |first2=Wolfgang |last2=Jöhling |year=1993 |publisher=Rosa Winkel |place=Berlin |isbn=3861490099}}</ref><ref name="SzymanowskiEroticism">Szymanowski, Eroticism and the Voices of Mythology By Stephen C. Downes pp38-40</ref> |
Writing about his novel, Szymanowski said, "In it I expressed much, perhaps all that I have to say on this matter, which is for me very important and very beautiful." It remains available in a German translation as ''Das Gastmahl. Ein Kapitel aus dem verlorenen Roman Ephebos.''<ref name="gastmahl">{{citation |title=Das Gastmahl: Ein Kapitel aus dem verlorenen Roman Ephebos |first=Karol |last=Szymanowski |first2=Wolfgang |last2=Jöhling |year=1993 |publisher=Rosa Winkel |place=Berlin |isbn=3861490099}}</ref><ref name="SzymanowskiEroticism">Szymanowski, Eroticism and the Voices of Mythology By Stephen C. Downes pp38-40</ref> |
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==Works== |
==Works== |
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[[Image:Zakopane-atma.jpg|thumb| |
[[Image:Zakopane-atma.jpg|thumb|125px|Szymanowski's [[Zakopane]] house, the [[Villa Atma]]—now the Karol Szymanowski Museum]] |
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{{Main|List of compositions by Karol Szymanowski}} |
{{Main|List of compositions by Karol Szymanowski}} |
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Among Szymanowski's better known orchestral works are four [[symphony|symphonies]] (No. 3, ''Song of the Night'' with choir and vocal soloists and No. 4, ''Symphonie Concertante'', with piano concertante) and two dream-like [[violin concerto]]s. His stage works include the [[ballet (music)|ballets]] ''[[Harnasie]]'' and ''[[Mandragora (ballet)|Mandragora]]'' and the [[opera]]s ''[[Hagith (opera)|Hagith]]'' and ''[[King Roger|Król Roger]]'' ('King Roger'). He wrote much piano music, including the four ''[[Etude]]s'', Op. 4 (of which No. 3 |
Among Szymanowski's better known orchestral works are four [[symphony|symphonies]] (No. 3, ''Song of the Night'' with choir and vocal soloists and No. 4, ''Symphonie Concertante'', with piano concertante) and two dream-like [[violin concerto]]s. His stage works include the [[ballet (music)|ballets]] ''[[Harnasie]]'' and ''[[Mandragora (ballet)|Mandragora]]'' and the [[opera]]s ''[[Hagith (opera)|Hagith]]'' and ''[[King Roger|Król Roger]]'' ('King Roger'). He wrote much piano music, including the four ''[[Etude]]s'', Op. 4 (of which No. 3 was once his single most popular piece), many mazurkas and the exquisite and highly individual ''[[Metopes]]''. Other works include the ''Three Myths'' for violin and piano, two masterful string quartets, a sonata for violin and piano, a number of orchestral songs (some to texts by [[Hafiz Shirazi|Hafiz]] and [[James Joyce]]) and his ''[[Stabat Mater (Szymanowski)|Stabat Mater]]'', an acknowledged choral masterpiece. |
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According to Samson (p. 131), "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." |
According to Samson (p. 131), "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." |
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[[Category:LGBT people from Poland]] |
[[Category:LGBT people from Poland]] |
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[[Category:LGBT composers]] |
[[Category:LGBT composers]] |
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[[Category:Modern pederasty]] |
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[[ca:Karol Szymanowski]] |
[[ca:Karol Szymanowski]] |
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Revision as of 05:46, 5 October 2011
 | This article needs additional citations for verification. (March 2011) |
Karol Maciej[1] Szymanowski (Polish pronunciation: [ˌkarɔl ˌmat͡ɕɛj ʃɨmaˈnɔfskʲi]; 3 October 1882–28 March 1937) was a Polish composer and pianist.
Life
Szymanowski was born into a wealthy land-owning Polish gentry family (of the Korwin/Ślepowron coat-of-arms) in Tymoszówka, then in the Russian Empire, now in Cherkasy Oblast, Ukraine. He studied music privately with his father before going to Gustav Neuhaus' Elizavetgrad School of Music from 1892. From 1901 he attended the State Conservatory in Warsaw, of which he was later director from 1926 until retiring in 1930. Musical opportunities in Russian-occupied Poland being quite limited at the time, he travelled widely throughout Europe, North Africa, the Middle East, and the US. These travels, especially those to the Mediterranean area, provided much inspiration to the composer and esthete.
The fruits of these trips included not only musical works, but poetry and his novel on Greek love Efebos, parts of which were subsequently lost in a fire in 1939. The central chapter was translated by him into Russian and given as a gift in 1919 to Boris Kochno, who was his beloved at the time. Szymanowski also wrote a number of love poems, in French, to the 15-year-old boy. Among these are Ganymède, Baedecker, N'importe, and Vagabond.
Writing about his novel, Szymanowski said, "In it I expressed much, perhaps all that I have to say on this matter, which is for me very important and very beautiful." It remains available in a German translation as Das Gastmahl. Ein Kapitel aus dem verlorenen Roman Ephebos.[2][3]
Szymanowski maintained a long correspondence with pianist Jan Smeterlin, who was a significant champion of his piano works. Their correspondence was published by Allegro Press in 1969.[3][4]
Szymanowski died in a sanatorium in Lausanne, Switzerland from tuberculosis.
Influences
Szymanowski was influenced by the music of Richard Wagner, Richard Strauss, Max Reger, Alexander Scriabin and the impressionism of Claude Debussy, and Maurice Ravel. He also drew much influence from his countryman Frédéric Chopin and from Polish folk music. Like Chopin he wrote a number of mazurkas for piano. He was specifically influenced by folk music from the Polish Highlands [Górale], which he discovered in Zakopane, in the southern Tatra highlands, even writing in an article entitled About Górale Music: "My discovery of the essential beauty of Górale (Polish Highlander) music, dance and architecture is a very personal one; much of this beauty I have absorbed into my innermost soul." (p. 97) According to Jim Samson (1977, p. 200), it is "played on two fiddles and a string bass," and, "has uniquely 'exotic' characteristics, highly dissonant and with fascinating heterophonic effects." Carefully digesting all these elements, eventually Szymanowski developed a highly individual rhapsodic style and a unique harmonic world of his own.
Works
Among Szymanowski's better known orchestral works are four symphonies (No. 3, Song of the Night with choir and vocal soloists and No. 4, Symphonie Concertante, with piano concertante) and two dream-like violin concertos. His stage works include the ballets Harnasie and Mandragora and the operas Hagith and Król Roger ('King Roger'). He wrote much piano music, including the four Etudes, Op. 4 (of which No. 3 was once his single most popular piece), many mazurkas and the exquisite and highly individual Metopes. Other works include the Three Myths for violin and piano, two masterful string quartets, a sonata for violin and piano, a number of orchestral songs (some to texts by Hafiz and James Joyce) and his Stabat Mater, an acknowledged choral masterpiece.
According to Samson (p. 131), "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."
See also
Notes
- ^ Piano Society
- ^ Szymanowski, Karol; Jöhling, Wolfgang (1993), Das Gastmahl: Ein Kapitel aus dem verlorenen Roman Ephebos, Berlin: Rosa Winkel, ISBN 3861490099
- ^ a b Szymanowski, Eroticism and the Voices of Mythology By Stephen C. Downes pp38-40
- ^ Boguslaw Maciejewski and Felix Aprahamian, eds. (). Karol Szymanowski and Jan Smeterlin: Correspondence and Essays. Allegro Press, 1969
References
- Hubert Kennedy (1994). Karol Szymanowski, his Boy-love Novel, and the Boy he Loved. In Paidika 3.3 Amsterdam
- Jim Samson (1977). Music in Transition: A Study of Tonal Expansion and Atonality, 1900–1920. New York: W.W. Norton & Company. ISBN 0-393-02193-9.
- Készítette : Dr. Nagy-Tóth Andárs & Dr.Fárbás Gergely
- Alessandro Martinisi, Il sogno sognato di Karol Szymanowski. Re Ruggero tra luce ed ombra. Prefazione di Alberto Cesare Ambesi. Quintessenza Editrice, Gallarate 2009. ISBN 978-88-901794-2-6
- Didier Van Moere, Karol Szymanowski, Fayard, Paris 2008.
Further reading
- Mortkowicz-Olczakowa, Hanna (1961). Bunt wspomnień. Państwowy Instytut Wydawniczy.
- Łozińska Hempel, Maria (1986). Z łańcucha wspomnień. Wydawnictwo Literackie.
External links
- Szymanowski page at the Polish Music Center
- szymanowski.info – biography, list of works, discography, Villa Atma, links
- culture.pl – composer profile
- Free scores by Karol Szymanowski at the International Music Score Library Project (IMSLP)
- Use dmy dates from November 2010
- 1882 births
- 1937 deaths
- People from Cherkasy Oblast
- 20th-century classical composers
- Polish composers
- Opera composers
- Polish classical pianists
- Golden Laurel of the Polish Academy of Literature
- Jurors of the International Chopin Competition
- LGBT people from Poland
- LGBT composers