The piece consists of an array of episodes derived from three basic themes: the first one – gloomy, in low registers and in a dark tone, the second – melancholic, filled with sadness and the third, ominous and dissonant, is the 'suicide theme'. Each of the episodes reaches a culmination which is why the listener feels the tension rising as the tragic finale approaches.
The first execution of A Sorrowful Tale took place on 13th November 1908 in the Warsaw Philharmonics (Grzegorz Fitelberg was the venue's director at the time). A month later, in December, the composer presented the piece in Vienna. The next performances took place after the artist's death on 8th February 1909. For many years, the piece's content raised speculation about the circumstances of the artist's death in the mountains. In a 1924 ballet based on A Sorrowful Tale, staged in the Poznań Opera, the character of the composer commits suicide in the ending.
A LP recording of the piece was first published only in 1965, as performed by the National Philharmonics Symphonic Orchestra led by Witold Rowicki (Polskie Nagrania Muza XL 0179). Among newer recordings, it is worth singling out the one performed in Wellington in 2006 by New Zealand's Symphonic Orchestra led by Antoni Wit (Naxos 8.570295, published in 2008).
Originally written in Polish by Anna Iwanicka-Nijakowska, Dec 2009, translated by Patryk Grabowski, Sep 2018