Mieczysław Karłowicz
Mieczysław Karłowicz (, 11 December 18768 February 1909) was a Polish composer and conductor. Life. Mieczysław Karłowicz was born in Vishneva, in the Vilna Governorate of the Russian Empire (now in Belarus) into a noble family belonging to Clan Ostoja. His father Jan was a Polish linguist, lexicographer, and musician. As a child, Karłowicz studied violin, for which he later composed his only concerto. Karłowicz studied in Warsaw with Zygmunt Noskowski, Stanisław Barcewicz, Piotr Maszyński, and Gustaw Roguski. He later studied in Berlin with Heinrich Urban, to whom he dedicated his "Serenade for Strings", which he composed and performed  while Urban's student. From 1906 to 1907 he studied conducting with Arthur Nikisch. Career. Karłowicz's music is of a late Romantic character. He was great admirer of Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky whose Symphony No. 6 he praised. Tchaikovsky's influence can be heard in Karłowicz's earlier works, most notably the E minor symphony and the Violin Concerto. Like most of the late Romantics he also fell under the considerable influence of Richard Wagner, especially with "Tristan und Isolde". Nevertheless, he managed to develop an original musical language expressed in harmony and orchestration, the latter of which he mastered  like few other composers and wrote some of the most colourful orchestral music ever found. Among his works are a Symphony in E minor ("Rebirth", Op. 7), a Violin Concerto in A major (Op. 8), incidental music to a play "The White Dove", and six tone poems, which include "The Returning Waves", "Eternal Songs", "Lithuanian Rhapsody", "Stanisław i Anna Oświecimowie", "Smutna opowieść", and "Epizod na maskaradzie". The Violin Concerto was written for and dedicated to his former teacher Stanisław Barcewicz, who premiered the work under Karłowicz's baton in Berlin on 21 March 1903 with the Berlin Philharmonic. He also  wrote a number of songs for voice and piano, setting words by Kazimierz Przerwa-Tetmajer, Adam Asnyk, and others. Much of the rest of his small output was lost during World War II. Karłowicz spent much of his later life in Zakopane in southern Poland, often enjoying one of his favorite hobbies, photography, in the nearby mountain scenery. Karłowicz died at the age of 32 in an avalanche while skiing on an excursion in the Tatra Mountains in 1909. He was buried at Warsaw's Powązki Cemetery. The Szczecin Philharmonic bears the name of Mieczysław Karłowicz as a recognition of  the composer's musical legacy. Works. Solo Voice 6 Songs, Op.1 Drugi spiewnik, Op. 3 Najpiękniejsze piosnki, Op. 4 (The Most Beautiful Songs) Z nowa wiosna O nie wierz temu, co powiedza ludzie Czasem, gdy długo Rdzawe liście Pod jaworem słowa Pod naszymi okny External links. Category:1876 births Category:1909 deaths Category:People from Smarhon’ District Category:People from Sventsyansky Uyezd Category:Clan Ostoja Category:Polish nobility Category:Polish male classical composers Category:Polish Romantic composers Category:Polish conductors (music) Category:Male conductors (music) Category:19th-century classical composers Category:20th-century classical composers Category:19th-century male conductors (music) Category:19th-century conductors (music ) Category:20th-century conductors (music) Category:20th-century male musicians Category:University of Warsaw alumni Category:Chopin University of Music alumni Category:Skiing deaths Category:Deaths in avalanches Category:Natural disaster deaths in Poland Category:Burials at Powązki Cemetery