Karol Maciej Szymanowski (ˌkarɔl ˌmat͡ɕɛj ʃɨmaˈnɔfskʲi; 3 October 188228 March 1937) was a Polish composer and pianist.
Szymanowski was born into a wealthy land-owning Polish gentry

Szlachta

The szlachta was a legally privileged noble class with origins in the Kingdom of Poland. It gained considerable institutional privileges during the 1333-1370 reign of Casimir the Great. In 1413, following a series of tentative personal unions between the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and the Kingdom of...

 family (of the Korwin/Ślepowron coat-of-arms) in Tymoszówka, then in the Russian Empire

Russian Empire

The Russian Empire was a state that existed from 1721 until the Russian Revolution of 1917. It was the successor to the Tsardom of Russia and the predecessor of the Soviet Union...

, now in Cherkasy Oblast

Cherkasy Oblast

Cherkasy Oblast is an oblast of central Ukraine located along the Dnieper River. The administrative center of the oblast is the city of Cherkasy).-Geography:...

, Ukraine

Ukraine

Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It has an area of 603,628 km², making it the second largest contiguous country on the European continent, after Russia...

. He studied music privately with his father before going to Gustav Neuhaus' Elizavetgrad School of Music from 1892.