Mieczysław Karłowicz Episode at a Masquerade, Op. 14 (1908, 13)

Epizod na maskaradzie (Episode at a Masquerade), Op. 14 (1908, unfinished; completed by Grzegorz Fitelberg in 1913) The last symphonic poem by Polish composer Mieczysław Karłowicz (18761909). The content of the programme is uncertain. According to certain sources, the tone poem depicts an encounter between former lovers at a boisterous, hectic masked ball; others have suggested that the work is based on Ivan Turgenev s short story Three Meetings, in which the narrator meets a woman who is very disturbed by the sight of a former lover at a ball. Grzegorz Fitelberg (18791953), the composer and conductor who completed the piece which was left unfinished at Karłowicz s death, believed that the key to the programme of the symphonic poem lies in a fragment of text found in Karłowicz s sketch: SHE (aloud): I do not know you. .. (undertone) Go ... What is passed will not return. .. Do you hear Go Forget Conductor: Gi br, br,