"To Sing Out the Future of Our Beloved Fatherland" Choral Nationalism and The Polish Singers Alliance of America, 1889–1939

by Stanislaus A. Blejwas

ON 30 MAY 1995, the New York Times reviewed a performance by the internationally known composer Henryk Gorecki. Apart from the music, what brought Gorecki to New York intrigued the reviewer. The composer, who has declined invitations from prestigious ensembles, did not perform at a conventional concert hall or with famous musicians. Rather, he appeared at the Marriott Marquis Hotel "on a program otherwise devoted to amateur Polish-American choruses and dancers." The occasion was the forty-fourth international convention of the Polish Singers Alliance of America. The reviewer commented favorably upon Gorecki's performance, and then tried to explain Gorecki's presence. The event had a certain "bittersweet charm." There were choirs in folk costume and others in contemporary dress; the signing and conducting were "longer on enthusiasm than on such niceties as unified attacks and releases"; and the piano accompaniment was "often slipshod." However, the reviewer concluded, "the point here is safeguarding a tradition, not giving streamlined performances."