The Myths Op. 30 is a work for

violin The violin, sometimes known as a '' fiddle'', is a wooden chordophone ( string instrument) in the violin family. Most violins have a hollow wooden body. It is the smallest and thus highest-pitched instrument ( soprano) in the family in regu ...

and

piano The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a keybo ...

written by Karol Szymanowski in 1915 and premiered one year later by

Paweł Kochański Paul Kochanski (born Paweł Kochański; 30 August 1887 – 12 January 1934) was a Polish violinist, composer and arranger active in the United States. Training and early career Paweł Kochański was born in Odesa to Polish-Jewish parents ...

on violin and the composer on piano. It is dedicated to Kochański's wife, Zofia Kochańska. Similarly to the '' Métopes'' composed around the same time, the ''Myths'' consists of three programmatic miniature tone poems drawing on

Greek mythology A major branch of classical mythology, Greek mythology is the body of myths originally told by the ancient Greeks, and a genre of Ancient Greek folklore. These stories concern the origin and nature of the world, the lives and activities ...

. The piece was heavily inspired by the composer's earlier travels in Sicily and North Africa and by impressionist music. The work is considered an important milestone in 20th-century violin writing and was heavily admired by Szymanowski's contemporaries, such as Béla Bartók and

Sergei Prokofiev Sergei Sergeyevich Prokofiev; alternative transliterations of his name include ''Sergey'' or ''Serge'', and ''Prokofief'', ''Prokofieff'', or ''Prokofyev''., group=n (27 April .S. 15 April1891 – 5 March 1953) was a Russian composer, ...

. It features heavy use of advanced violin techniques, and the third movement famously contains

quarter tones A quarter tone is a pitch halfway between the usual notes of a chromatic scale or an interval about half as wide (aurally, or logarithmically) as a semitone, which itself is half a whole tone. Quarter tones divide the octave by 50 cents each, a ...

. Performance usually lasts about twenty minutes.

Structure

The piece has three movements, each depicting a scene from Greek mythology: *''La fontaine d'Arethuse'' ( The Fountain of Arethusa) *''Narcisse'' ( Narcissus) *''Dryades et Pan'' (

Dryads A dryad (; el, Δρυάδες, ''sing''.: ) is a tree nymph or tree spirit in Greek mythology. ''Drys'' (δρῦς) signifies " oak" in Greek, and dryads were originally considered the nymphs of oak trees specifically, but the term has evolved t ...

and Pan)

References

External links

*
Rice University: ''Karol Szymanowski's Musical Language in "Myths" for violin and piano, op. 30'' by Hyojin Ahn, thesis submission, May 2008
Compositions by Karol Szymanowski Suites (music) 1915 compositions Music dedicated to family or friends Compositions for violin and piano {{Classical-composition-stub