Karol Szymanowski

Despite wide recognition during his own lifetime, the works of the Polish composer Karol Szymanowski (1882-1937) were somewhat overlooked in the decades following his death. In this study of Szymanowski's life and music, Alistair Wightman explores the composer's position as a constant outsider in his own country, yet as a "good European" in the ways in which he arrived at an accommodation with such diverse figures as Stravinsky, Strauss, Berg, Hindemith, Prokofiev and Ravel. The book throws light on Szymanowski's relationship to the Polish musical establishment, the reception of his works at home and abroad, his work as an educationalist, and the essentially European dimension of his art, drawing upon letters, polemical writings, verse, theatrical sketches and the memoirs of family, friends and contemporaries. All of Szymanowkski's significant works are discussed, and illustrated with 200 music examples. Evaluation is made of the close links existing between the composer's musical and literary works from the earliest stages of his career, as well as the various ideological strands that went together to form the humanistic synthesis characteristic of his mature work.