Mieczysław Karłowicz - "Smutna opowieść"

Mieczysław Karłowicz (1876-1909)

Symphonic poem "Sorrowful Tale" or "Sad Story" ("Smutna opowieść"), op. 13 (1908)

Performed by: New Zealand Symphonic Orchestra
Conductor: Antoni Wit

The piece is illustrating the thoughts going through the mind of a suicidal person. He is depressed and tired with life, but the happy memories keep coming back, causing the emotional struggle. Unfortunately the will of life fails and the hero kills himself...

For some music historians this piece was supposedly one of the proofs, that the composer's untimely death in Tatra mountains (an avalanche) was in fact a suicide. However the theory is very unlikely, according to his close friends and family, and has been proven wrong by his fellow mountainers. Today it is mostly assumed, that the piece was inspired by death of a writer and a friend of Karłowicz family - Józefat Nowiński (author of the play "The White Dove", to which the composer wrote a musical prologue entitled "Bianca da Molena").

I uploaded the clip entirely for educational purposes, as I couldn't find this piece anywhere in the web. All recources used herein (recording, photos) belong to their respectable owners.

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[guydamerio]

Thank you so much for sharing this wonderful piece of music. Very touching. Could you please let us know who are the performers of this recording? Thx and have a happy New Year!

[pjkorab]

@guydamerio Certainly, it's performed by New Zealand Symphonic Orchestra conducted by Antoni Wit. Sorry for the ommitment - I put the info in the description now.

Glad you enjoy it ;)