Feliks Nowowiejski - United Poland: A Songbook for Mixed Choir Op. 38 (Delimat)

Feliks Nowowiejski - Zjednoczona Polska: Śpiewnik na chór mieszany 1928 Choir Director: Wiesław Delimat Choir: Chór Pueri Cantores Cracovienses 0:00 - I. Hymn Rzeczypospolitej Polskiej / Anthem of the Polish Republic Lib. Stanisław Rybka 3:51 - II. Rota / The Oath Lib. Maria Konopnicka 6:15 - III. Nasz Bałtyk. Hymn floty polskiej / Our Baltic: Anthem of the Polish Navy Lib. Stanisław Rybka 10:32 - IV. Hymn Kaszubski / Kashubian Anthem Lib. Jarosz (Hieronim) Derdowski 13:28 - V. Hymn Górnośląski / Upper Silesian Anthem Lib. Stanisław Rybka 15:49 - VI. O polski kraju święty / Oh, Sacred Polish Land Lib. Władysław Belza 19:04 - VII. Marsz ochotnika polskiego / March of the Polish Volunteer Lib. Jan Kasprowicz 21:03 - VIII. Marsyljanka Wielkopolska. Marsz Powstańców na pamiątkę dnia 27 grudnia 1918 r. / La Marseillaise: March of the Revolutionaries: Commemorating the Day of December 27th, 1914 (The beginning of the Greater-Poland Uprising) Lib. Stanisław Rybka 23:32 - IX. Wejście wojsk polskich do Torunia. Marsz Hallerczyków / The Entrance of Polish Forces into Toruń: March of the Hallerites (Those serving under Józef Haller von Hallenburg) Lib. Stanisław Melsztyński 28:03 - X. Zaślubiny Bałtyku / The Wedding of the Baltic Lib. Stanisław Melsztyński 31:50 - XI. Gniezno. Kolebka narodu. Gniezno (the first capital of Poland), the Cradle of the Nation Lib. Anna Karwatowa 34:29 - XII. Ratusz Poznański / The Poznań Town Hall Lib. Anna Karwatowa 37:40 - XIII. Krakowskie wesele. Kanon / A Cracovian Wedding: A Canon Lib. Kajetan Bojarski 39:29 - XIV. Lwowskie Orlęta / Leopolitian Eaglets (AKA - Lwów Eaglets, Polish Child Soldiers that fought for Lwów in the Polish-Ukrainian War of 1918-19) Lib. Waleria Szalay-Groele 41:56 - XV. Obrona Warszawy. Na pamiątkę odparcia nawały bolszewickiej dnia 2 sierpnia 1920 r. / The Defense of Warsaw Commemorating the Repelling of the Bolshevik Onslaught on the 2nd of August, 1920 Lib. Or-Ot (Artur Oppman) Bio Feliks Nowowiejski (1877-1946) was a Polish composer born in Barczewo (then Wartenburg). He was a prolific composer who, like Noskowski, faced censorship in his composition. Nowowiejski, however, was much more overt in his Polish patriotism. His composition "Rota" directly protested the Germanization of Poland by taking a patriotic poem and setting it to music. His direct Polish patriotism led to a boycott by the German public, after which his relevancy in Germany quickly dissolved. After the war, He appeared at the East Prussian Plebiscite as a pro-Polish speaker. To understand Nowowiejski, one must consider the environment in which he was raised. Nowowiejski grew up in Warmia, which was then part of the newly declared Germany. Soon after the declaration of the German Empire, Bismarck began his Kulturkampf against the "...Catholic and regionalist tendencies in the empire [1]." These efforts of targeting Catholicism necessarily put the Polish Language in the new German Empire's crosshairs. According to Adam Zamoyski, "...Pomeranian peasants who had never asked themselves whether they were Poles or Germans but knew they were Catholics declared themselves to be Polish, since this had become synonymous with being Catholic [1]." The use of Polish was gradually forbidden, culminating in 1900 with a law prohibiting religious education in Polish, leading to farcical moments involving German police searching churches to ensure no children were being taught to pray in Polish [1]. Nowowiejski was born to patriotic parents. His father, Franciszek, owned a tailor's workshop and supported soldiers who fought in the January Uprising by providing clothing to them as well as distributing flyers and encouraging voting in elections where Poles could be sent to the Prussian Parliament [2]. His mother, Katarzyna, was German by birth, but she and her husband spoke Polish. On paper, Nowowiejski's upbringing was a Polish one, but he and his siblings ended up speaking far better German as a result of Polish being banned in schools [2]. Nowowiejski's home life encouraged music, and Feliks began composing early. His mother sang folk songs and read poetry to her children while her husband was a member of a choir. Nowowiejski went on to study music in Święta Lipka, then to Olsztyn, and then to Berlin. At first, Nowowiejski did not make his Polishness known [3], but after having close contact Ludomir Różycki and Mieczysław Karłowicz at the university, his interest in his homeland was given new life [2]. From there, he began to appreciate the efforts of his father [2] and began to study Polish [4]. Nowowiejski's experience as an organist and a composer combined with his newfound dedication to his homeland to invigorate a whole new creative dimension that broke forth, leading to the compositions Rota, Quo Vadis, Ojczyzna, etc.