1908-11

Clarification and concentration of Szymanowski's rapidly expanded musical style, and with this a gain in accessibility, came over the next three years. This process of maturation sometimes took unexpected routes, most evident in the composition of a comic opera - The Lottery for Husbands. Its composition was preceded by a trip to Italy in the company of Feliks Szymanowski, and Harry and Tala Neuhaus, whom they joined at Nervi in February 1908. There they led what Neuhaus described as a 'life of little variety', with 'daily walks by the sea, risky bathing on the rocks, chats in the evening, sometimes solitary walks en deux with Karol in the evening'. ¹ But while Szymanowski was taking delight in telling Hanna Klechniowska that he was 'basking in the sun like a lizard, with palms and cypresses on one side and the sea on the other', ² Neuhaus was complaining to his parents about their relative immobility, blaming both Felcio, 'who very much enjoys his creature comforts' and his sister, since with 'women in general it is impossible'. ³ Initial plans for a trip as far afield as Sicily had to be abandoned because of the expense, and by the end of the month Neuhaus's patience with the idle, dilettante 'Knaben-Szymanowskis' was wearing thin.