24 Facts About Karol Szymanowski

Karol Szymanowski was a member of the modernist Young Poland movement that flourished in the late 19th and early 20th century.

Karol 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.

Karol Szymanowski was born into the Korwin-Szymanowski family who were members of wealthy Polish nobility from the Mazovia region, the capital of which is Warsaw.

Karol Szymanowski's mother came from a Baltic German family that originated in Courland.

Karol Szymanowski studied music privately with his father before enrolling at the Gustav Neuhaus Elisavetgrad School of Music in 1892.

In Berlin, Karol Szymanowski founded the Young Polish Composers' Publishing Company, whose primary aim was to publish new works by his countrymen.

In 1918, Karol Szymanowski completed the manuscript of a two-volume novel, Efebos, which took homosexuality as its subject.

In 1926, Karol Szymanowski accepted the position of Director of the Warsaw Conservatory, though he had little administrative experience.

Karol Szymanowski became seriously ill in 1928 and temporarily lost his post.

Karol Szymanowski was diagnosed with an acute form of tuberculosis, and in 1929 traveled to Davos, Switzerland, for medical treatment.

Karol Szymanowski resumed his position at the Conservatory in 1930, but the school was closed two years later by a ministerial decision.

Karol Szymanowski moved to Villa Atma in Zakopane where he composed fervently.

In Zakopane, Karol 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.

Karol Szymanowski immersed himself in the culture of the Polish Highlanders and embraced their tonal language, syncopated rhythms, and winding melodies in his music.

In 1936, Karol Szymanowski received more treatment at a sanatorium in Grasse, but it was no longer effective.

Karol Szymanowski died at a sanatorium in Lausanne on 29 March 1937.

Karol Szymanowski was influenced by the music of Richard Wagner, Richard Strauss, Max Reger, Alexander Scriabin and the impressionism of Claude Debussy, and Maurice Ravel.

Karol Szymanowski was significantly influenced by his countryman Frederic Chopin and by Polish folk music.

Karol Szymanowski was specifically influenced by the folk music of the Polish Highlanders, which he discovered in Zakopane in the southern Tatra highlands.

Karol Szymanowski wrote in his article "About Goral Music": "My discovery of the essential beauty of Goral music, dance and architecture is a very personal one; much of this beauty I have absorbed into my innermost soul".

Karol Szymanowski wrote much piano music, including the four Etudes, Op.

Karol Szymanowski received numerous awards, including the Officer Cross of the Order of Polonia Restituta; the Officer of the Order of the Crown of Italy; the Commander of the Order of the Crown of Italy; the Knight of Legion d'Honneur; an honorary plaque at the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia; the Commander Cross of the Order of Polonia Restituta; and the Academic Golden Laurel of the Polish Academy of Literature, Order of Merit of the Republic of Poland.

Karol Szymanowski was a Doctor Honoris Causa of the Jagiellonian University, Krakow and an honorary member of the Czech Academy of Learning, the Latvian Conservatory of Music in Riga, the St Cecilia Royal Academy in Rome, the Royal Academy of Music in Belgrade, and the International Society for Contemporary Music.

On 3 October 2023, Karol Szymanowski was celebrated with a Google Doodle for his 141st birthday.