Józef Wybicki, Dąbrowski Mazurka and Poland's National Anthems (Vol. 13, No. 1)

 

Chopin plays a Mazurka, with images of nobility dancers and "Poland" in mourning

19th-C. postcard, published in Krakow, Maja Trochimczyk collection

Dąbrowski Mazurka - National Anthem of Poland since 1926

The Polish National Anthem (Dąbrowski’s Mazurka) is a lively folk dance with patriotic words written shortly after the country lost its independence in a series of partitions by Austria, Russia, Prussia (1772, 1791, 1795).  This year, on March 10, 2022, we celebrate 200th anniversary of the death of its author, Jozef Wybicki. The author of music is not know; Wybicki penned the text, six strophes for the Polish Legion, mentioning Polish heroes of the period. 

Kossak’s postcard with the title and the first strophe of the anthem. Maja Trochimczyk Collection.

It was created between 16 and 19 of July, 1795 in Reggio di Emilia in Italy, on the occasion of the departure of the Polish legions, led by general Jan Henryk Dąbrowski (1755-1818) to fight in the Napoleonic wars (supporting the French dictator).

The author of the “Song of the Polish Legions in Italy” – as the anthem was originally called – was Józef Wybicki, General Dąbrowski’s close associate. The folk tune and the inspiring texts, with the first strophe beginning with “Poland’s not dead as long as we live” immediately captured the attention of the soldiers, Poland’s emigres and the country inhabitants.

After the failure of the final effort to save Poland during the Kościuszko Insurection in 1794, Poles scattered around Europe, with many emigrating to France to join the forces of Napoleon Bonaparte, with the hope that the valiant dictator would reestablish Poland as an independent state.

Dabrowski, Wybicki and Napoleon in 1806. Wikimedia Commons.

It is because of this connection that the current national anthem of Poland still contains a reference to Bonaparte and speaks of marching from Italy to Poland, under the leadership of general Jan Dabrowski.

The patriotic song was banned by the Tsarist and Prussian governments in 1815 (after the defeat of Napoleon) and again in 1860. Yet it lived on in numerous variants, sung durimg the uprisings against the Russians (the November 1830, the January 1863), as well as during the 1848 Spring of the Nations.

Poland defeated after the 1863 uprising. Postard from Krakow, late 19th-c. Maja Trochimczyk collection.

In the early 19th century the song served as the hymn of the student union (Zwiazek Burszow, 1816-1830). At the time the next read ” March, march, the youth/ go first as it should be/ following your leadership/ we will become a nation again.” Students embraced the song as their anthem again in 1863, when many escaped the conscription to the Russian army by hiding in the Kampinos forest near Warsaw, and by starting the January Uprising (1863 refrain: “March, march to the forest”).

At the end of the 19th century, the song served as the anthem of those proclaiming the need to rebuild the country by hard work, coupled with the fight for its independence (1893 refrain: “March, March, the Poles, to fight and to work”). While the text of the hymn was modified to suit new occasions and socio-political contexts even the name of “Dąbrowski” apearing in the curent title did not survive all the changes.

Postcard, ca. 1914; return of the Polish Legion. Maja Trochimczyk Collection.

In many war-time versions “Dąbrowski” was replaced by names of various generals or military leaders such as Chłopicki or Skrzynecki (leaders of 1830), Langiewicz or Czachowski (leaders of 1863). Piłsudski (leader of the Polish Legions of 1914) or Sikorski (the Commander of the Polish Army in Scotland during World War II, Piłsudski’s main adversary and competitor).

Dabrowski’s Mazurka was officially recognized as the national anthem in Poland in 1926. This year The Directory of Ministry of Religious Faith and the Public Enlightenment provided all schools in Poland with the approved text and music of the anthem. Half a year later, the Directory of the Ministry of Interior Affairs (26 February 1927) officially approved the anthem’s text; on 2 April 1927 the Ministry of Religious Faith and the Public Enlightenment approved the piano arrangement of the Mazurka and published the score. The title of the anthem was listed the first time in the Constitution of the Polish People’s Republic in 1976: the Sejm approved the official text and music of the anthem in 1980.

Memorial Plaque from the house where Wybicki penned the Song of Legions in Italy.

Wikimedia Commons

After the change of government in 1989, the new leaders of the Republic of Poland (since 1989) not only retained Dabrowski Mazurka as an anthem, but also sponsored a renewed research and publication effort to promote its image. A 1993 film, produced by Edmund Zbigniew Szaniawski for the Military Company “czolowka” (Avant-Grade), placed a new emphasis on the Mazurka’s appearances in Polish-Soviet war of 1920 and at allied battlefields of World War II. The hymn’s peaceful aspects, if seldom present, here were completely ignored. Moreover, in a direct contradiction of the anthem’s secular character, the film located the song in a variety of religious contexts.

A note about the tempo - foreigners tend to play and sing the Mazurka too slow, since most national anthems are slow and solemn. But the Polish Mazurka is a fast dance in triple meter! Even though the refrain says "march, march..." it is not a march in 2/4 or 4/4, it is a mazurka in 3/4 with the first beat accented. Boisterous and proud and energetic, it is a call to action, a call to love nation and protect its freedom.

Below you will find the full text of the official 4-strophe anthem in English translation. A longer version of the text (in Polish only) appears on our site which contains the reproductions of Juliusz Kossak’s litographs, prepared for an album published for the 100-anniversary of the Pieśń Legionów. The album is in the collection of the National Museum in Wroclaw. 

Translation of the Text

1.

Jeszcze Polska nie zginęła / kiedy my żyjemy 

co nam obca przemoc wzięła / szablą odbierzemy.

Poland is not yet lost / while we live

We will fight (with swords) for all/ That our enemies had taken from us.

       Refrain:

Marsz, marsz Dąbrowski / z ziemi włoskiej do Polski 

Za Twoim przewodem / złączym się z narodem

       March, march Dabrowski /      . from Italy to Poland

       Under your command /      we will reunite with the nation.

2.

Przejdziem Wisłę, przejdziem Wartę, będziem Polakami 

Dał nam przykład Bonaparte jak zwyciężać mamy.

     We will cross the Vistula and Warta Rivers,/

     we will be Poles,/ Bonaparte showed us/ how to win.

     Refrain: March, march…

3.

Jak Czarniecki do Poznania Po Szwedzkim zaborze 

Dla Ojczyny ratowania Przejdziemy przez morze

Like Czarniecki to Poznan, after Swedish annexation,

We will come back across the sea to save our motherland

Refrain: March, march…

4. (Original 5th stanza)

Mówi ojciec do swej Basi Cały zapłakany 

Słuchaj jeno, pono nasi Biją w tarabany.

Father, in tears, says to his Basia: “Just listen,

It seems that our people are beating the drums.”

Refrain: March, march…

The original version had two more stanzas, one about Thaddeus Kosciuszko, a national hero and leader of the Kosciuszko Insurrection in 1794, and, earlier, a hero of American Independence War, and one about Polish courage in face of eternal enemies - Germans and Russians. 

(Original 4th stanza, not included in the national anthem)

Niemiec, Moskal, nie osiędzie Gdy jąwszy pałasza, 

Hasłem wszystkich Wolność będzie I Ojczyzna nasza.

A German or Russian will not rest after taking up arms.

Our motto for all will be Freedom and our Homeland.

Refrain: March, March

Kosciuszko Insurrection

(Original 6th stanza not included in the national anthem)

Na to wszystkich jedne głosy: / "Dosyć tej niewoli

Mamy racławickie kosy, / Kościuszkę Bóg pozwoli." 

AIn response all voices united: Enough of captivity,

we have the scythes from Raclawice/ God will give us Kosciuszko

Dąbrowski Mazurka in Kossak’s Pictures

The 100th anniversary of the creation of the Dąbrowski Mazurka, known as Pieśń Legionów [The Song of the Legion], was celebrated by a publication of a luxury album illustrated with litographs by Polish painter, Juliusz Kossak. A copy of this album is in the collection of the National Museum in Wrocław, Poland. The album was so popular that the illustrations were reprinted on a series of patriotic postcards, issued by the Wydawnictwo Salonu Malarzy Polskich in Kraków, in the early 1900s. The reproductions of these postcards included below are from Maja Trochimczyk's private collection, Illustrations are by Juliusz Kossak (1824-1899).

ONLINE RESOURCES

https://polishmusic.usc.edu/research/national-anthems/dabrowski-mazurka/

https://kafkadesk.org/2019/02/23/the-story-behind-polands-national-anthem/ blog Kafka Desk

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mKyXCg120ug Video with music by Prof. Tadeusz Trzaskalik

Dabrowski Mazurka sung by Hungarian Scouts for the birthday of Stefan Batory, Hungarian elected to be King of Poland, 18 September 2016. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cjFlVFSSepI

A classic recording by  a Polish male choir and orchestra, most likely chorus and orchestra of the National Army: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DebhiaQH3ps

And here's a rendering by one of Polish Folk Song and Dance Ensembles, with mixed chorus and symphonic orchestra. Mazowsze or Slask would perform this anthem in this way...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N057iKYUj0c

Archive - History of Mazurka broadcast by Polish Radio from2012

https://www.polskieradio.pl/39/246/Artykul/646031,215-lat-temu-powstal-hymn-Polski

Archive - Article about the history of the text and its evolution

https://www.rmf24.pl/raporty/raport-100-lat-niepodleglej/fakty/news-hymn-polski-i-jego-historia-zobacz-jak-zmienial-sie-tekst,nId,2659431#crp_state=1

A BRIEF HISTORY OF NATIONAL ANTHEMS

by Maja Trochimczyk

 The English term "national anthems" has a Polish equivalent of "state hymns" - and both terms have the same meaning if the nation and the state are one; if not - and this happened in Polish history - important differences arise, some of which will be discussed here. While the British hymn God Save the King/Queen (first printed in the middle of the 18th century) is often described as the earliest national anthem, it should be, rather, called the first "state anthem." 

A manuscript of Bogurodzica /Mother of God anthem from 13th century

It was preceded by many earlier national hymns, including the Polish Bogurodzica/The Mother of God which originated as far back as the 13th century. This ancient chant, one of the earliest written documents of the Polish language, has a firm place in Polish cultural history.

Bogurodzica is a religious hymn, a simple prayer for personal happiness on earth and for a blessed life in heaven. It is addressed to Mary asking her for intercession and it does not mention issues of national identity. Nonetheless, this beautiful, quiet chant served the country as its anthem and was called, for instance by Jan Długosz, "carmen patrium"/the song of the homeland."

 

Senate Session from Laski's book of 1506. Postcard issued by the National Library of Poland.

It was sung by the Polish troops in the battle against the Teutonic Knights held at Grunwald in 1410 (one of the landmark events in Polish history, defending national independence) and served as a coronation anthem for the Jagiellon dynasty of Polish kings through out the sixteenth century. According to the research of Professor Hieronim Feicht, whose extensive essay on this topic appears in Studia nad Muzyką Polskiego Średniowiecza/Studies of the Music of the Polish Middle Ages [Krakow: PWM Edition, 1975], Bogurodzica has textual links with the Czech Republic and Eastern Christianity, and musical links with early French songs, folk music and the plainchant of the Latin Church.

This "hymn of the nation" must have been very popular, since despite the many wars that ravaged Poland, it survived in sixteen manuscripts dating from the period between the 15th and the 18th century. Another religious song that in time became a patriotic anthem associated with the historical traditions of the Polish state was Gaude Mater Poloniae.

A page from one of the manuscripts of "Gaude Mater Poloniae".

This beautiful anthem is dedicated to the memory of bishop St. Stanislaus, killed by the king Bolesław Smiały in the early 11th century. Stanislaus is one of the patrons of Poland. The fact that this anthem was mostly disseminated with its Latin text prevented it from becoming a true symbol of the country; the Polish Bogurodzica continued to fulfill this role for many centuries.

During the partitions (19th century), Bogurodzica was usually printed in patriotic-religious hymnals as the first, most ancient and revered song, followed by Boże coś Polskę/God save Poland, Z dymem pożarów/With the smoke of fires, and Dąbrowski Mazurka. To this day, Bogurodzica is sung in Polish churches, serving the religious and aesthetic needs of the people. The ornamental melody of haunting beauty is too difficult for amateurs, but hearing it performed by professional singers, nuns, or monks, is an unforgettable experience. Composer Andrzej Panufnik was so impressed with its solemn grandeur that years after hearing it the wrote a symphony based on and dedicated to Bogurodzica, entitled Sinfonia Sacra (1963). Another contemporary composition based on this melody is Marta Ptaszyńska's Conductus - A Ceremonial for Winds (1982).

In the 17th and 18th century, Poland did not have a royal dynasty that would ensure a continuity of rule; the kings were elected by all the gentry gathering for Seyms [National Assemblies], and the country was gradually disintegrating into chaos. While Poland was losing its political power and cultural strength, the symbols of its statehood also changed: a variety of songs were sung to replace Bogurodzica, none of them notable or well remembered. However when Poland reached the lowest point in its history, during the partitions at the end of the eighteenth century, a resurgence of interest in defining and protecting national identity led to the creation of a number of songs which, in time, competed for the title of the "national anthem."

In 1774 the patriotic poet-bishop Ignacy Krasicki wrote a hymn to "Holy Love of the Beloved Homeland" which is sung to this day at the Military Academy [Szkoła Rycerska]; and appropriately so, since it calls for ultimate sacrifices for the sake of the country, including the offerings of poverty and death. Krasicki's subsequent hymn, written for the first anniversary of the proclamation of the 3rd May Constitution (in 1792), is more joyous in nature and is set to a popular, memorable melody. Either of these songs could have become the Polish anthem had the country survived and had the Constitution remained its highest law. Unfortunately, history proved otherwise; and the hopes felt at the moment of defining the country's first fully democratic Constitution gave way to disillusionment and despair when Poland was divided by Russia, Prussia and Austria in a series of partitions (1773, 1791, 1795), the last of which removed the country from the map of Europe.

Wybicki's Manuscript of Pieśń Legionów. Wikimedia Commons.

Not all was lost, of course, and Poles gathered to fight for their country's independence assisted through out this struggle with song. This is when the current Polish national anthem, entitled Dąbrowski's Mazurka, came into being. In 1797 General Józef Wybicki, who was a member of the Polish troops which served Napoleon in Italy and Spain, penned a song to bid farewell to the departing Polish army. The Polish Legion, led by General Dąbrowski, had hoped to come with the Napoleonic troops "From Italy to Poland" to liberate their country, and the Mazurka's text made this hope explicit. The troops fought and won with Napoleon, and a short-lived "Duchy of Warsaw" was born from this hope, to die in 1815 for the next one hundred years.

. 

General Jozef Wybicki. Wikimedia Commons

The first line of the text states that "Poland is not dead, as long as we live" and Poles continued to sing these words through the 19th century while struggling for their country's reemergence. Thus, Napoleon Bonaparte became immortalized in Poland's national anthem... Another unusual fact relates to the anthem's music, the traditional melody of a swift mazurka. In the 19th century a variant of this mazurka became a pan-Slavonic hymn Hey Slovane which in 1945 was declared the national anthem of Yugoslavia. Now of course, it no longer serves this function. It is interesting to notice that the two melodies are virtually indistinguishable except for the first three notes.

The Dąbrowski Mazurka was declared the official anthem of the country in 1926, after Józef Piłsudski took control of the country. Poland had been independent since 1918, and had no official anthem for the first eight years of its existence. The valiant Mazurka became a winner in a competition for the position of the national anthem with several other revered songs: Chorał, Rota, and Boże coś Polske.

The Choral ["With the Smoke of the Fires"] by Kornel Ujejski (1846) expressed sorrow at the peasant's uprising of 1846, with a prayer that such events from which "one's hair turns grey" - as the first strophe has it - would never happen again. With its first line "with the smoke of the fires, and with the dust of fraternal blood" it was, perhaps, not an appropriate text to celebrate Poland's independence - although it served as a national hymn in the Austrian part of the divided country. I discuss Chopin-themed poems by Ujejski on this blog, with Polish versions and English translations: 

http://chopinwithcherries.blogspot.com/2016/02/kornel-ujejskis-dramatic-poems-about.html

Rota by Konopnicka and Nowowiejski.

Another candidate, Rota, by Maria Konopnicka (1908) to music by Feliks Nowowiejski (1910), was also too limited in scope. This song expressed the sentiments of the Polish farmers in the Prussian-occupied part of Poland who were forced off their land: "We shall not leave the land of our forebears" they sang in resistance. Rota became very popular after 1910, the year when the Grunwald Monument was unveiled and anti-German feelings reached their peak.

Finally, the most serious contender for the role of a national anthem was the hymn God save Poland by Antoni Feliński (1816). With its refrain of "God bless - or liberate - our homeland" it is still a very popular prayer for the country sung in all Polish churches.

It became a hymn of the nation during the January Uprising against the Russians in 1860-63, but its origins do, paradoxically, link Poland and Russia. The hymn's original refrain stated "God bless the King" - meaning Tsar Alexander the First, who, after the defeat of Napoleon, became the first ruler of a newly established Kingdom of Poland. The original text was soon changed by replacing "King" with "homeland" and the song became so popular in the patriotic movements that its origins were forgotten. After 1863, it was banned in the Prussian and Russian-occupied parts of Poland; it was banned, one should add, because it had served as the anthem for the January Uprising. Despite the repressions, the hymn never lost its popularity.

God Save Poland anthem from Siedlecki's songbook of 1928.

Even in 1928, two years after the declaration of Dąbrowski's Mazurka as the official anthem of the country Boże coś Polskę was labelled "hymn narodowy"/"national anthem" in a hymnal of the Catholic Church [X. Jan Siedlecki: Śpiewnik Kościelny z Melodjami na 2 Głosy/Church Songbook with Melodies in Two Voices. Lwów-Kraków-Paris: Priests Missionaries, 1928].

After World War II Dąbrowski's Mazurka continued to serve as the official anthem of Poland, reminding Poles of the duty to be active for the sake of their homeland. Its affective power was not diminished by its use by the generally disliked socialist government. However, the Solidarity movement chose another song for its unofficial hymn: Żeby Polska była Polską/Let Poland be Poland by Jan Pietrzak (1976). Written after the unrests of Radom and Ursus it is not a call to armed struggle and not a prayer for the country, but rather a meditation on the past wars fought by generations of Poles to "Make Poland, Poland."

How does the Polish anthem relate to the musical symbols of other countries? Dabrowski's Mazurka belongs to a type of anthem-march that is generally associated with the French anthem, La Marsellaise, written for the marching troops of the French revolution. These marches are usually fast and energetic, filled with enthusiasm for the new world order that their texts call for. While the Polish anthem shares these features of a "call to arms" to fight for Poland's independence, it is a swift, boisterous dance in a triple meter, not a steady march. 

Interestingly, foreign orchestras often perform the Mazurka in a slow fashion, transforming its joyful reassurance that Poland still lives in us, into a sort of a funeral march. There is a reason for it, because many national anthems belong to a category modelled upon the British God Save the King/Queen - a prayer for blessings to be bestowed upon the monarch. These hymns are usually very solemn, instilling in their listeners a profound devotion for their country. Some of their textual variants describe the beauty and riches of the land, instead of enumerating the virtues of the monarch.

The countries of Latin and Southern America have hymns of a different type, resembling Italian operatic arias. Some of these arias have actually been written by Italian composers. The rule seems to be: the smaller the country, the longer and more elaborate the anthem, with more different parts, longer orchestral introductions. Not surprisingly, El Salvador's anthem is the longest. 

South and American countries are also very serious about the legal protection of their anthems. In Brazil, for instance, it is a criminal offense to perform the national anthem in a different tempo and a key different from that officially prescribed. A singer once had the bad luck of intoning the anthem too high and too fast; she was saved from imprisonment only because she thus celebrated the election of the new president of the country. Luckily, Polish authorities do not arrest anyone for singing off-key. And with that thought let me finish this brief exploration of the convoluted history of Polish national anthems.

 ________________________________

NOTE: This essay originally appeared in the May 1997 issue of the PMC Newsletter. A longer study of the same subject entitled "Sacred versus Secular: The Convoluted History of Polish Anthems" appears in After Chopin: Essays in Polish Music, ed. Maja Trochimczyk, vol. 6 of Polish Music History Series (Los Angeles: Polish Music Center at USC, 2000). Postcards from Maja Trochimczyk Collection. Posted on USC Polish Music Center's Website. https://polishmusic.usc.edu/research/national-anthems/

Paderewski and Poland's Independence (Vol. 9, No. 1)

Vintage postcard of "Improwizacya" - Paderewski playing Chopin. early 1900s.

Modern Poland celebrates its centennial this year, marking the 100th anniversary of regaining independence of a country divided between its three neighbors for 123 years of partitions, marked with repeated uprisings against the foreign rulers.  Pianist, composer and statesman Ignacy Jan Paderewski played a crucial role in this process, and the text below reproduces the full version of the address I prepared for the Awards Ceremony of the Polish American Historical Association.

The basis of this text is found in my 2001 article, "Paderewski in Poetry: Master of Harmonies or Poland's Savior?" (Polish Music Journal, vol. 4, no. 1, 2001). During, the reading, I cut down the narrative and explanatory text and the poems were accompanied by Paderewski himself, from a CD of piano roll recordings, played on a modern Steinway, and professionally recorded. The Minuet, Melodie, Legende, and Nocturne written by Paderewski were followed by two Rhapsodies by Franz Liszt, and provided the shifting moods for the recitation of lofty and ardent poems (though a bit old-fashioned to modern ears) written by luminaries of  American culture.

To decorate the stage for my Paderewski and Poland's presentation, I unrolled two piano rolls by Paderewski, one with his portrait and a copy of his signature - and fixed them in place with a box of vintage Paderewski postcards, chocolate gold coins, and some jewels. This was to symbolize the multiple types of "gold" associated with the pianist of "gold-red" hair... and riches collected through his music and given away to charitable and patriotic causes... The piano rolls are very original stage decoration... and you can find lots of them on eBay!

Poland 1918-2018: Remembering Ignacy Jan Paderewski

Keynote Presentation at the Awards Ceremony  at the

75^th Annual Meeting of the Polish American Historical Association

Washington, D. C. , January 6, 2018

Paderewski piano rolls and vintage postcards- stage setting for the poetry presentation.

 How Paderewski Plays 

by Richard Watson Gilder (1906)

I.

If words were perfume, color, wild desire;

If poet's song were fire

That burned to blood in purple-pulsing veins;

If with a bird-like trill the moments throbbed to hours;

If summer's rains

Turned drop by drop to shy, sweet, maiden flowers;

If God made flowers with light and music in them,

And saddened hearts could win them;

If loosened petals touched the ground

With a caressing sound;

If love's eyes uttered word

No listening lover e'er before had heard;

If silent thoughts spake with a bugle's voice;

If flame passed into song and cried, "Rejoice, rejoice!"

If words could picture life's hopes, heaven's eclipse

When the last kiss has fallen on dying eyes and lips;

If all of mortal woe

Struck on one heart with breathless blow by blow;

If melody were tears and tears were starry gleams

That shone in evening's amethystine dreams;

Ah, yes, if notes were stars, each star a different hue,

Trembling to earth in dew;

Or, of the boreal pulsings, rose and white,

Made majestic music in the night;

If all the orbs lost in the light of day

In the deep silent blue began their harps to play;

And when, in frightening skies the lightnings flashed

And storm-clouds crashed,

If every stroke of light and sound were excess of beauty;

If human syllables could e'er refashion

that fierce electric passion;

If ever art could image (as were the poet's duty)

The grieving, and the rapture, and the thunder

Of that keen hour of wonder, -

That light as if of heaven, that blackness as of hell, -

How Paderewski Plays than might I dare to tell.

II.

How the great master played! And was it he

Or some disembodied spirit which had rushed

From silence into singing; and had crushed

Into one startled hour a life's felicity,

And highest bliss of knowledge—that all life, grief, wrong,

Turn at the last to beauty and to song!

Watch Paderewski play Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata in the film of the same title: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=idmYXaIhh2A

Listen to Paderewski play Chopin's Etude Op. 10 No. 3 "Tristesse" 

Richard Watson Gilder's poem about Paderewski's talent as a performer belongs in a cycle of his works celebrating great musicians. In this extended simile, the poet brings up a range of synaesthetic comparisons of music with natural phenomena and surreal, enchanting imagery. Paderewski's contacts with Gilder (1844-1909) resulted from the latter's long-lasting friendship with the Polish actress Helena Modrzejewska. Gilder, the editor of the Century Magazine, published numerous volumes of poetry and that many of his poems dealt with other arts, painting, acting, and music. He wrote about actresses Helena Modjeska and Eleonora Duse, composers Beethoven and Chopin, MacDowell and Paderewski, and many others. The Polish pianist became a good friend of the poet, considering Gilder's house to be his "real home during those first years in America."[18] There, Paderewski had the opportunity to meet Mark Twain and Andrew Carnegie, among other members of American society. Gilder was also among the first Americans creating the myth of the Archangel Paderewski, a spiritual genius.

Paderewski's signed portrait from a Book of Press Clippings, 1891-1911,  Brighton, UK.

We all know who was Ignacy Jan Paderewski. Or we seem to. Born on 18 November 1860 [Old Style, 6 November] on a noble family estate in Kurylowka (now in Ukraine) – he died on 29 June 1941, traveling through America to advocate for the Polish cause. He was a pianist, composer, politician, statesman, philanthropist, and an avid advocate for Poland’s independence. He toured America extensively since 1891, giving dozen of concerts each winter/spring season and crisscrossing the continent in a special railway car. During WWI he gave over 350 lectures about Poland’s suffering in the war and the need for its independence. His musical fame as a virtuoso pianist idolized worldwide gained him access to politicians, including President Woodrow Wilson who added independent Poland as No. 13 to his Fourteen Points for peace in 1918.

Artur Szyk, Paderewski and Wilson, from Polish American Fraternity series of 1938.

Nominated by President Józef Piłsudski as the Prime Minister and Foreign Minister of Poland in 1919, he represented Poland at the Paris Peace Conference, but served only for 10 months, and then left Poland, to settle in Morges, Switzerland; visit his ranch in Paso Robles, CA; and tour the world as a virtuoso. He composed less than 100 works: 24 with opus numbers (piano concerto, violin concerto, Symphony Polonia, opera Manru, many songs, chamber and piano works) and over 20 other pieces, mostly for piano. His last composition was a song for Polish troops, Hej Orle Biały of 1917. In 1928, Paderewski was honored at a special event in New York, celebrating Poland’s tenth anniversary.  In 1922, he returned to piano performance, with successful tours continuing through the 1930s. In 1936-7, The pianist was featured in a film by Lothar Mendes, Moonlight Sonata, and in 1939 he returned to politics, working on behalf of the Polish cause.  Touring the US since the fall of 1940, he died in June 1941.

 Let us start the review of Paderewski-themed poetry from the text of his last work, On, White Eagle, Hej Orle Bialy, a military song of 1917.

Hej, Orle Biały 

Ignacy Jan Paderewski (1917)

Hej, orle biały, pierzchły dziejów mroki,

Leć wzwyż wspaniały, hen , na lot wysoki,

Nad pola chwały, nad niebios obłoki,

Ponad świat cały, wielki i szeroki.

Hej, orle biały, ongi tak zraniony,

Zbyt długo brzmiały pogrzebowe dzwony,

Rozpaczy szały i żałosne tony.

Wiedź nas na śmiały czyn, nieustraszony.

Hej na bój, na bój, gdzie wolności zorza,

Hej na bój, na bój, za polski brzeg morza.

Za Polskę wolną od tyrańskich tronów,

Za Polskę dumną—Piastów, Jagiellonów.

Hej, na bój, na bój! Taka wola Boża!

Hej, na bój, na bój! Za Gdańsk i brzeg morza!

Za Ziemie całą, tę ojczyznę naszą,

Za wolność wszystkich, za waszą i naszą.

______________________________________

On, white eagle, the dark events are over,

Rise to-day, you splendid one, in a high flight,

Above the fields of glory, above the clouds

of sky / Above the whole, wide world!

On, white eagle, once so severely wounded

Too long have rung  the mourning chimes,

Lasted the mad despair and crying tunes.

Lead us to brave and fearless deeds.

On to fight! to fight! Where liberty is dawning!

On to fight for the Polish shore of sea!

For Poland free from tyrants' fetters !

For Poland—proud—of Piasts and Jagiellons.

On to fight! Such is God's will!

On to fight! For Gdańsk and seashore!

For all our land, our native land,

For the liberty of all, for yours and ours!

Paderewski's last composition was an anthem for the Polish Army in the U.S. that he was organizing in 1917-1918 in order to increase Poland's presence in the battles of the Great War and to give credence to the country's claim to a seat at the Peace Conference that was to define the new European order after the war. The composer penned the text for his anthem on a letterhead page from the Gotham Hotel in New York, his venue of choice during his American tours. The manuscript of the poem's text is not dated; the music was composed in 1917 and the song immediately sent out to be performed in the recruitment camps in the U.S. and Canada. The four-strophe song is addressed to Poland's emblem, a proud bird of prey, that is encouraged to soar and lead Poles to valiant action.The last line is a reference to the motto embroidered on national flags since the 1848 Spring of the Nations, when the Polish troops led by General Józef Bem fought in the Hungarian uprising against the Hapsburgs. Paderewski's poetic effort follows the conventions of a military song, expected to be simple, easily comprehensible and encouraging.

Nonetheless, the text leaves much to be desired in terms of its literary quality. The rhymes are too obvious, the elevated language borders on the grotesque (e.g. "rozpaczy szały," i.e. the frenzy of despair). However, Paderewski's vision of a powerful Poland modeled on the multi-ethnic kingdoms of Poland's Golden Age, hinted upon in several lines of his anthem, is notable for its far-reaching quality and political savvy. Paderewski, raised in the eastern part of Poland, where the towns were predominantly Jewish, villages—Ukrainian, and manors—Polish, was opposed to the notion that Poland could ever become an ethnically-united "nation-state." He knew that large ethnic minorities were interspersed throughout Poland's territory and that the country could not have been defined in narrow ethnic terms without serious internal and external problems. In addition, Paderewski's territorial emphasis on creating Poland with full access to the Baltic Sea and the inclusion of the port-city of Gdańsk was prescient in the light of the awkward, and ultimately dangerous, construct that emerged as a result of the Versaille Peace Treaty: a free city of Danzig, and a corridor of Polish land separating two German enclaves. It was the Polish resolve not to give in to Hitler's demands for a corridor of land that would have connected both German-held parts of the seashore that provided him with a direct excuse to attack Poland and start World War II in 1939.

Paderewski's hymn of the Polish Army marks a decision that changed the course of his career and ultimately influenced his standing as a composer and statesman: as a Polish national hero he disappeared from the annals of music history, butas a piano virtuoso and an "idol" of the crowds, he was not a typical politician either. Thus it occupies a peculiar place among "last works" that ranged from various ninth or tenth symphonies (Beethoven, Bruckner, Mahler) to the unfinished Kunst der Fuge by Bach.  Giving up composing was a personal and artistic sacrifice for what Paderewski considered a greater cause – the rebirth of his nation.

Let us continue by reviewing a selection of poems celebrating Paderewski’s role as a Polish patriot and advocate for Poland’s independence, penned by noted American writers.

Cover of The Etude Magazine with Paderewski, July 1934.

 To Paderewski, Patriot 

 Robert Underwood Johnson (13 April 1916)

Son of a martyred race that long
Has honed its sorrow into song
And taught the world that grief is less
When voiced by Music's loveliness
How shall its newer anguish be
Interpreted, if not by thee?

In whose heart dearer doth abide
Thy land's lost century of pride
Since triple tyrants tore in three
That nation of antiquity—
But could not lock with prison keys
The freeman's sacred memories.

Now when thy soil lies wrecked and rent
By cruel waves of warfare spent,
Till Jeanine [?] counts so many slain
It looks on Slaughter with disdain
However others grieve, thou show'st
The noble spirit suffers most.

Master with whom the world doth sway
Like meadow with the wind at play
May Heaven send thee, at this hour,
Such access of supernal power
That every note beneath thy hand
May plead for thy distracted land.

When Robert Underwood Johnson (1853-1937) wrote his tribute to Paderewski in 1916, the composer's transformation into a statesman, living a "vita activa", had already begun.  By continually and persistently shaping public opinion, while simultaneously engaging in seeking support in the highest political circles, Paderewski sought to achieve just one, main goal: the liberty for his country. His efforts were rewarded when President Woodrow Wilson added Poland's sovereignty to his conditions for peace after World War I.

Johnson's poem, To Paderewski, Patriot was hand-written on one page. The date of 13 April 1916 locates the poem's likely origin in Washington, D. C. On that day Paderewski gave a recital at the National Theatre in the American capital. The connection between Robert Underwood Johnson and Paderewski was probably established through Richard Watson Gilder: Johnson worked for the Scribner's Monthly (later transformed into the Century Monthly Magazine) where he served as associate editor and Gilder was the editor-in-chief. After Gilder's death, Johnson took over his post until retiring in 1913.

A poet, editor, and diplomat, Johnson was a literary celebrity, often called the unofficial poet laureate of the United States. He published several volumes of poetry, commemorating eminent individuals and events; he co-edited the four-volume series of Battles and Leaders of the Civil War. Among his other pursuits were: the international copyright movement, the creation of literary organizations, such as the Academy of Arts and Letters, and the preservation of American land and natural resources in national parks (with John Muir, the founder of the Sierra Club).

Paderewski on the cover of The Etude Magazine, May 1931.

Let us now fast-forward 12 years to 1928, when two more poems on Paderewski were written.  These were created on the occasion of a Kosciuszko Foundation Event commemorating Paderewski and the Tenth Anniversary of Poland's Independence, with speeches, tributes, and poems, printed in a leather bound book. Ignace Jan Paderewski: Artist, Patriot, Humanitarian / 1918-1928 (New York: Kościuszko Foundation, 1928).

The event began with "Introductory Remarks" by Samuel M. Vauclain (1856-1940) an industrialist and philanthropist, was a locomotive designer, chief executive of Baldwin Locomotive Works, who supported U.S. aid to 12 countries after World War I. He was one of the founders of the Kościuszko Foundation.

Vauclain stated: “I desire to say just a few words about this twentieth century patriot—a man, an artist, and known as an artist all over the world. When the first intimation of war came to him, he closed up that wonderful instrument, ceased to be an artist, and started to be a patriot and a statesman; began the work that was to end in the recognition of Poland—Poland once more free and free forever. Those who have been in the war from the time it started in 1914 until the present time know full well what this gentleman accomplished by his utmost endeavor, his utmost endeavor because his whole life was in it, his fortune was in it. There was no time to be lost if freedom for his people was to be obtained; if the yoke was to be thrown off so that the whole world should once more realize what the Polish people are to this world.”

“He accomplished it. His speeches will go down into history. They were not only the speeches of a statesman, of a patriot, but of an artist. The words from his lips were like the music from his hands, and wherever he was listened to conviction went with the effort which he made. Well do I remember the address he made here in this city, in Carnegie Hall. None was ever made like it. It is a question whether any will ever be made like it. His confidence in his people as he bared their condition to the world was unbounded. The present President of Czecho-Slovakia Mr. Masaryk after Mr. Paderewski has finished said that there was nothing left for him to say. Spellbound the audience was, including the Poles who, if you will permit me to say, are a deep-thinking people. They are emotional, it is true, and so are we Americans, those who are red-blooded, emotional…We are brave enough to speak out that which we think. We have the nerve to go ahead and do those things which we want to do, and which are necessary to be done.”

Paderewski speaking at the Grunwald Memorial, 1911, from a book edited by Orlowski.

After such an impressive introduction, "In Praise of Paderewski: An Address" was given by Arthur V. Sewall:

“Fresh from victories in France, he came to us when he was thirty-one, with his wonderful aureole of golden hair. He came, he saw, he conquered. He came opportunely—for us both, if it is fair to say—for reasons. Mr. Paderewski reaped great fortunes repeatedly in America; but he felt himself so much a part of its people as to wish to leave here a permanent personal impression. He gave lavishly, with both hands, for charity. Many were the benefit performances which he proffered for the support of worthy causes. Many are the artists he has helped and encouraged.

For upwards of forty years, Mr. Paderewski's profoundly poetic and passionate love for art has been a blessing to the people of our country. It is a joy to think that the American public's reaction toward one who had always put his technical powers so completely at the service of the highest ideals in music, was and has remained, so immediate, so straight and so lasting; and that such influences as he has exerted have gained him permanent affection in the minds and hearts of the American people.

In diplomacy, his charming personality, effective through the medium of countless friends, enabled him with telling result too exert his personal influence for his beloved country at a most critical hour, obtaining by his unselfish passionate patriotism, definite terms for the Polish cause in war objectives and material aid. All the while, he was lavishly using his personal fortune and devising in other ways stimulus and support for his war-stricken people. Through five of these years he did not touch the piano. "I cannot play," he said, "while men, women, and children are suffering and the world is aflame."

President Wilson, by Artur Szyk, from Polish American Fraternity Series,1938.

The next speaker was Dr. John Huston Finley (1863-1940) an educator, editor, and author who entitled his presentation "Paderewski and Polonia Restituta." He taught at Princeton University before accepting the presidency of the City College of New York. After 10 years at this post he became the Commissioner of Education of the State of New York, and in 1921 an associate editor of the New York Times (he rose to the position of its editor-in-chief in 1937). Finley loved classics and advocated the study of Greek and Latin as the foundation for education and personal development. He contributed to the reconstruction of the Parthenon in Athens and later was involved in charitable work on behalf of the victims of epidemic and war. Involved with the Boy Scouts, charities for the blind and other organizations, Finley received honorary degrees from thirty-two American and Canadian universities.  

Of his two poems about Paderewski, the first was filled with classical erudition, somewhat lost on us, who do not spend years translating Cicero’s speeches, studying Greek mythology and memorizing the Iliad and Odyssey.  

Finley reminded his listeners that in April 1918 before the Versaille Peace Conference, he “made a presentation to Mr. Paderewski of a print of an allegorical subject which was a prophecy. It was prophetic of Poland as a nation, representing Poland as a white eagle about to rise free once more. I find on the margin of my program of the evening this notation: "May we all live to see the White Eagle mount again, … daring to look into the sun and flying with our American Eagle beside it, equal with equal, free with free."

The prophecy of that night has been gloriously fulfilled as some of us have had an opportunity to know from our own observation. …. I rode over the free prairies of Poland, from Warsaw (I went first to the monument of Copernicus) beyond Krakow to the enlarged borders of Poland looking toward Prague. We celebrate tonight not only the fulfillment of that prophecy and the defense of Poland— we celebrate the patriotic and cultural world contribution of the man in whom the prophecy became Poland incarnate, Paderewski, whose name will for us—whether we pronounce it correctly or not—forever be associated with that of Poland and his fellow Poles, Copernicus and Kościuszko.

In 1915, I saw one day this tragic query inn an interview with Paderewski, in one of the New York papers: "How can I play, when my countrymen are dying?" he said. But if amid the groans of the dying and with frenzied mothers clutching at his hands, he could not for a time play, he yet kept on crying: "Poland, Poland," through the world, as Orpheus cried out the name of Eurydice throughout the chambers of Hades. And it was he who, as Premier, at last led Poland forth into the free upper air again."

Here Finley quoted his second  Paderewski poem:

I salute you, Artist, Statesman, Patriot

by John Huston Finley (1928)

You've brought from out the air such symphonies
As God with all His earth-orchestral range
From cataract through soughing wind to lark
Could not produce without the skill of man.
But there's a symphony that you've evoked
From out the hearts of men, more wonderful
Than you have played upon your instrument.
Composed of the praises of mankind
For what you've nobly done to lead again
To its proud place amid earth's greatest States
Your land that gave the world Copernicus,
And for our freedom Kosciuszko gave.

As ancient Orpheus trod the aisles of hell
To rescue from its thrall Eurydice,
So you for Poland. But though Orpheus failed
You won. Polonia Restituta lives.

Finley ended his speech: …”And will continue to live, we hope, so long as the earth continues to revolve around the sun of Copernicus. So long will you be gratefully remembered not alone by Poland but by the whole earth which Copernicus sent whirling about the sun.”

Portrait of Paderewski by Sanford, 1903

The final American writer whose Paderewski-themed poetry praised the pianist composer for his patriotism and dedication to the Polish cause was  Charles Phillips whose poem was entitled: Poland and Paderewski (1928).  Phillips (1880-1933) is known to Paderewski scholars as the author of his popular biography,The Story of a Modern Immortal, published in 1933. A writer and poet, he served as a professor of English at the University of Notre Dame (1924-1933), where his archives are now located. The two pages of the handwritten autograph of this poem are reproduced in To Paderewski: Artist, Patriot, Humanitarian (New York: Kosciuszko Foundation, 1928).

Poland and Paderewski

by Charles Phillips

There was a silence as of death—the nations watched, the righteous mourned,
Where on her bier with hushed breath dear Poland lay—the wept, the scorned.
In all the darkened air no sound save muffled drum and funeral bell:
Deep-chorded Chopin's anthem found refrain but in the tears that fell -
Until the music of your soul, great Master of the Harmonies,
Broke on her listening ear to roll with echoing note across the seas. 

Across the seas, across the years, with Oh, what hope renewed she heard

That summoning from night and tears—the voice of your rekindling word!
Mother to son, she called; and son to mother hastening fore came...
Now mark the mighty chords that run to music of her golden name!
Now mark the hand that strikes the chord—and strikes the shackles off! O, hand
Of filial love, of flashing sword, that lifts and waves with one command! 

What music ever man hath made is like unto this music now

That rings with challenge unafraid against the breakers of the vow?
What music ever heard of men is sweeter than these chords that wake
Within her prisoned heart again—the sound of yokes that fall and break!
... She rises, beautiful, renewed! She lifts her golden voice—she sings—
And in her song, sweet plenitude of love, O, son, your bright name rings!

[signed] — Charles Phillips,
Notre Dame University, Notre Dame,
Indiana, May 16, 1928.

Since Paderewski's first title to fame was his performing talents as a musician, Phillips abundantly draws from musical imagery in his text. It is Paderewski's "kindling voice" that stirs Poland, his "mother," back to life; it is the sound of music transcending any other human music that echoes in the breaking of the chains of the imprisoned country. As an international aid worker for one of the war victims' relief agencies in Poland, Phillips had an opportunity to see the destruction and rebirth of Poland after World War I. He spent two years (1919-1920) directing the Polish relief efforts and wrote a book about the country. As a result of his charitable activities he was rewarded with the Polonia Restituta medal. During the period spent in Poland, Phillips had a chance to witness first-hand Poland's reaction to Paderewski's arrival and the outpouring of gratitude addressed to the musician-statesman. The first year of Phillips's work there coincided with the composer's brief sojourn as the president of the Polish council of ministers.

Maja Trochimczyk reads Paderewski-themed poetry, decoration include Paderewski piano rolls and postcards. Residence of the Ambassador of Poland, Prof. Wilczek, Washington D.C., January 6, 2018. Photo by Marcin Szerle.

And thus, in the year of the 100^th anniversary of Poland’s independence, we have reviewed poetry written 100 to 90 years ago celebrating Paderewski’s role in the process of restoring his homeland, a process that cost him his career as a composer and his standing as a pianist among his peers, other musicians.

His great popularity that preceded and followed this political episode has not endeared him to music historians in Poland nor abroad. The propaganda of the Polish People’s Republic has not helped to integrate him and his music into the vital achievements of Polish culture. Only now, 100 years after his momentous self-sacrifice, and over 80 years after his death, the recognition of his talents as a musician and composer has started to grow and spread. Let us end this presentation with one more Paderewski poem that I wrote inspired by the philanthropy and generosity of the great pianist who played long beyond his prime to provide for so many people in need. 

Paderewski by Artur Szyk from Polish American Fraternity series, 1938.

I had intended to conclude my presentation of Paderewski-themed American-written poetry with my own poem, but the Embassy staff  was able to find and prepare for screening a fragment of The Moonlight Sonata, in which Paderewski plays the Heroic Polonaise, in A-flat Major, Op. 53.  The images of spellbound audiences, in full evening finery (men in white tie or black tie, women in their best jewels, ostrich feathers, and even tiaras!) was unforgettable, and we were briefly transported into a Paderewski concert hall. Thus, we could start to understand his magic! 

Below is a copy of my poem and at the end some links to Paderewski recordings of Paderewski and Chopin.  

Maja Trochimczyk recites Paderewski-themed poetry, Photo by Marcin Szerle.

Residence of the Ambassador of Poland, Prof. Wilczek, January 6, 2018.

Paderewski in Gold

 by Maja Trochimczyk (2018)

Gold halo of curls on his portraits

Gold crowns of Polish kings above his keyboard

Gold riches in his bank account

Gold heart beneath it all

The gleam of a gold ring on his finger

The gleam of brilliance in his eyes

The gleam of fame bright around him

Gold heart beneath it all

The dream of making music in his youth

The dream of happiness at his prime

The dream of free Poland on concert stages

Gold heart beneath it all

Made of gold, making gold, pure gold

of  kindness - Paderewski  the immortal

asks us to love music, love Poland

and to always follow his noble path of gold

January 6, 2018
(c) 2018 by Maja Trochimczyk

Maja Trochimczyk reciting Paderewski-themed poems, photo by Marcin Szerle.

Residence of Poland's Ambassador, Prof. Wilczek, Washington, D.C. January 6, 2018.

Watch The Moonlight Sonata 1937 film with Paderewski on YouTube.com (90 min):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZM3sWUAexaM