Musical Romanticism, explored by Pieter de Oude.
Mieczysław Karłowicz was an adventurer and a citizen of the world. He grew up in a wealthy Lithuanian family, on an estate in Wiszniew, east of Vilnius. From 1887, the family lived mainly in Warsaw, but there were trips to Heidelberg, Prague and Dresden. The young Karłowicz played the violin and from 1895 studied composition in Berlin.
In 1906, he completed three Eternal Songs, of which you will hear two: the song of the eternal complaint and the song of the eternal life. The composer liked to be inspired by Schopenhauer and by mystical experiences, which he said he experienced in the Tatra mountains. He spent a long time in Zakopane for this purpose, where he also spent a lot of time photographing, skiing and cycling. His Lithuanian Rhapsody is based on a single folk tune, and his symphonic poem Stanisław and Anna Oświecim is definitely his best work. Karłowicz died at the age of 33 from the consequences of a skiing accident.
