Karol Szymanowski

Much like his countryman Frederic Chopin, Karol Szymanowski (1882-1937) was a Polish composer who took great inspiration from traditional folk songs and music in the German tradition. Today Szymanowski's better-known orchestral works are his four symphonies and two graceful violin concertos, though much scholarship these days focuses on his sexual orientation, which surfaced in explicitly homosexual art songs and an alleged romantic tryst with a 13-year-old boy.