Karol Szymanowski

Karol Maciej Korwin-Szymanowski (October 6, 1882–March 28, 1937) was a Polish composer and pianist. His style developed in three distinct stages, from a strong affinity with Richard Strauss, Alexander Scriabin and countryman Frédéric Chopin, to flavourings of the Orient, the Mediterranean, and the impressionism of Claude Debussy and Maurice Ravel, to Polish folk music and the Eastern Church. Even when writing in a Polish idiom, Szymanowski far exceeded the established musical language of central Europe, and is remembered as an exotic outlier of 20th century music.