The Many Masks of Karol Szymanowski

This book provides a biographical sketch of Karol Szymanowski (1882-1937) and explores the relationship between his two piano triptychs - Mtopes, op. 29, and Masques, op. 34 - and the literary characters evoked by each of their movements: the Sirens, Calypso and Nausicaa (from Homer's "Odyssey"), Sheherazade (from "The Arabian Nights"), Tristan (from Ernst Hardt's play "Tantris der Narr"), and Don Juan (not associated to a specific source), discussing the multiple strategies used by the composer to convey his subject matter.