Karol Szymanowski
composer
A wonderful present for his 30th birthday: in a portrait concert with works by Karol Szymanowski at the Vienna Musikverein in 1912, Grzegorz Fitelberg conducted his Second Symphony and Anton Rubinstein performed the Second Piano Sonata. This resulted in a ten-year contract with the prestigious Universal Edition and with it a huge stride in Szymanowski’s career.
Karol Szymanowski was born on 6 October 1882 to wealthy parents in Tymoszówka, a small village south of Kiev in what is now Ukraine. He received his first piano lessons from his father before his uncle Gustav Neuhaus – the father of the legendary pianist Heinrich Neuhaus – took over his musical training. Szymanowski later went to Warsaw, where he took private lessons from Marek Zawirski and Zygmunt Noskowski. Before he left Poland and intensified his exploration of the then current musical trends in Berlin, Vienna and Paris, he joined forces with like-minded people and founded the independent Young Polish Composers’ Publishing Company. Members included Grzegorz Fitelberg, Ludomir Różycki, Apolinary Szeluto and Mieczysław Karłowicz, who, like Szymanowski, soon became internationally recognised under the slogan “Młoda Polska” (Young Poland). After completing his studies, Szymanowski settled in Vienna, retreating to his parents’ estate in Tymoszówka in the summer and autumn to compose. During extensive travels to Italy and North Africa, he discovered an interest in ancient cultures, early Christianity and the Orient, which clearly influenced his work. After the First World War, which Szymanowski spent away from the action composing in Tymoszówka, he went to Warsaw, where he became director of the conservatory in 1927. After his resignation from the institution, which was not particularly keen on reform, he was forced to work as a pianist for financial reasons, leaving him little time to compose. Szymanowski enjoyed his greatest success in Paris in 1936 with his ballet Harnasie. The composer died a year later as a result of bone tuberculosis, which he had suffered from since childhood.
