Karol Szymanowski: chasing beauty

Karol Szymanowski's early orientalism made his name – but his return to the music of his native Poland was an equal epiphany for himKarol Szymanowski may be emerging from the shadows, but we still know precious little about him. Born in Ukraine in 1882 into one of many families of landed gentry who settled there following the partition of Poland, his personal drama was part of a larger story about old Europe after 1918. Prewar aestheticism, aloof from the social world, lingered in faded c...

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