„Europejskość nie zaprzecza polskości. Mamy do niej prawo”. Karol Szymanowski – artysta, polak, patriota

Abstract

Karol Szymanowski was a descendant of an eminent noble family whose members played many significant roles throughout Polish history and whose family hearth, the Tymoszówka manor in the now Ukraine, housed numerous memorabilia of the past (irreplaceably lost in 1918 as a result of the Bolshevik revolution). Brought up in patriotic atmosphere of post-Partition Poland, wiped out from the map of Europe, Szymanowski aimed to encourage development of Polish musical culture, first setting up the so-called Company of Young Polish Composers (together with fellow composers Ludomir Różycki, Grzegorz Fitelberg and Apolinary Szeluto under the patronage of Prince Władysław Lubomirski, a music lover and himself an amateur composer) and later accepting the post of Director of Warsaw Conservatory (having declined a counterpart offer from the Conservatory in Cairo). Although the wave of hostility from „conservative” Warsaw composers forced him to resign due to its devastating impact on his poor health, his influence on contemporary music remains undeniable.