Metopes

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Metopes (opus 29) is a work for piano solo by the Polish composer Karol Szymanowski completed in 1915. It lasts around 15 minutes. It is a cycle of 3 miniature tone poems drawing on Greek mythology. Each of the three movements: "The Isle of the Sirens", "Calypso", and "Nausicaa" features a female character encountered by Odysseus on his homeward voyage. The work may have been inspired by the metopes of the temple at Selinunte.

The composition is the first of four war-time piano works composed by Szymanowski during First World War, a relatively productive period for the composer. In style in resembles impressionism and bitonal works by Ravel and Debussy.