Muzyka i teatr na łamach londyńskiego „Dziennika Polskiego" w latach 1940-1943

Abstract

The article is one more study within the series presenting the cultural life of the Polish emigration, in the broadest sense of the word, during World War II, as written about in the London “Dziennik Polski in 1940-1943, i.e. before merging with “Dziennik Żołnierza”. It analyses the music and the theatre. It argues that the Poles-artists, everyone of them, to the best of their abilities, got actively involved in the struggle to maintain the vitality of the Polish cause on the international arena during the discussed period. They accomplished that through organizing regular concerts and recitals in Great Britain, the United States, in the Middle East, or in Africa; promoting the Polish music by Fryderyk Chopin, Ignacy Paderewski (including his patriotic political activity) and Stanisław Moniuszko; presenting the profiles of the contemporary Polish composers living abroad, as for example Henryk Opieński; organizing fundraisers for the Polish prisoners of war; organizing theatre and ballet performances. Glorification of the national composers and performers was also meant to augment the national pride, and to build the sense of national community in the traumatic time of war.