Mieczysław Karłowicz

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Grave of Mieczysław Karłowicz in the Tatra Mountains. Note: the swastika symbol visible on the memorial is inspired by swastika symbols which in the past were common in the folk art of the Podhale region. It has no connection whatsoever to the Nazi symbol.

Mieczysław Karłowicz (December 11, 1876 – February 8, 1909) was one of most talented Polish composers and conductors. He was born in Vilnius (now capital of Lithuania), and his father Jan was a Polish historian and musician.

Karłowicz studied at Warsaw with Prof. Noskowski, Piotr Maszyski, and Gustaw Roguski. He later studied in Berlin with Heinrich Urban. From 1906 to 1907 he studied conducting with Arthur Nikisch. His music is of a late-romantic/fin-de-siècle character, showing some affinity with Richard Strauss, Albéric Magnard and Alexander Scriabin.

Karłowicz wrote an important symphony (Revival) and a violin concerto (in A major, opus 8). His output also contains several substantial tone poems, including Eternal Songs, Stanislaw and Anna Oswiecimowie and The Returning Waves. He also wrote a number of songs for voice and piano. Much of the rest of his small output was lost during World War II.

The music of Karłowicz inhabits a prime place in the history of Polish music between Fryderyk Chopin and Karol Szymanowski. He spent much of his later years in Zakopane, in the south of Poland, and died when skiing in the nearby Tatra mountains in an avalanche in 1909.