The composition of the Princess Songs marked the beginning of a particularly productive phase for Karol Szymanowski. Based on a series of poems by his sister Zofia, Szymanowski composed this colorful and glittering music in 1915; its exotic, lyrical and fantastical world is expressed in the coloratura soprano’s many passages, featuring trills and rapid runs. The princess herself remains mysteriously undefined. Love is her only recurrent theme. By withdrawing into internal fantasy during a time o...