Poland Is Not Yet Lost
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| Mazurek Dąbrowskiego English: Dąbrowski's Mazurka |
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One of a series of postcards, designed by Juliusz Kossak, illustrating the lyrics of Mazurek Dąbrowskiego
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| National Anthem of |  Poland |
| Also known as | Pieśń Legionów Polskich we Włoszech English: Song of the Polish Legions in Italy Jeszcze Polska nie zginęła English: Poland Is Not Yet Lost |
| Lyrics | Józef Wybicki, 1797 |
| Music | Composer unknown |
| Adopted | 1926 |
Mazurek Dąbrowskiego (pronounced [ma'zurɛk dɔmbrɔf'skʲɛgɔ], "Dąbrowski's Mazurka") is the national anthem of Poland. It is also known by its original title, Pieśń Legionów Polskich we Włoszech ("Song of the Polish Legions in Italy"), or by its incipit, Jeszcze Polska nie zginęła ("Poland Is Not Yet Lost" or "Poland Has Not Yet Perished").
The song is a lively mazurka with lyrics penned by Józef Wybicki in Reggio nell'Emilia, Cisalpine Republic (now in Italy), around 16 July 1797, two years after the Third Partition of Poland erased the once vast country from the map. It was originally meant to boost the morale of Polish soldiers serving under General Jan Henryk Dąbrowski in the Polish Legions, which were part of the French Revolutionary Army led by General Napoléon Bonaparte in its conquest of Italy. The mazurka, expressing the idea that the nation of Poland, despite lack of political independence, had not perished as long as the Polish people were still alive and fighting in its name, soon became one of the most popular patriotic songs in Poland.
The song's popularity led to a plethora of variations, sung by Polish patriots on different occasions. It also inspired other peoples struggling for independence during the 19th century. One of the songs strongly influenced by Poland Is Not Yet Lost is Hey Slavs, a former national anthem of Yugoslavia. When Poland re-emerged as an independent state in 1918, Mazurek Dąbrowskiego became its de facto anthem. It was officially adopted as the national anthem of the Republic of Poland in 1926.
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[edit] Lyrics
The original lyrics authored by Wybicki was a poem consisting of six stanzas and a chorus repeated after all but last stanzas, all following the ABAB rhyme scheme. The official lyrics, based on a variant from 1806,[1] show a certain departure from the original text. It misses two of the original stanzas and reverses the order of other two. Notably, the initial verse, "Poland has not yet died" was replaced with "Poland has not yet perished", suggesting a more violent cause of the nation's possible death.[2] Wybicki's original manuscript was in the hands of his descendants until February of 1944, when it was lost in Wybicki's great-great-grandson, Johann von Roznowski's home in Charlottenburg during the Allied bombing of Berlin. The manuscript is known today only from facsimile copies, twenty four of which were made in 1886 by Edward Rożnowski, Wybicki's grandson, and donated to Polish libraries.
The main theme of the poem is the idea that was novel in the times of early nationalisms based on centralized nation-states – that lack of political sovereignty does not preclude the existence of a nation. This notion is expressed especially by the poem's initial verses: "Poland has not yet perished / So long as we still live." The song also includes a call to arms and expresses the hope that, under General Dąbrowski's command, the legionaries would rejoin their nation and retrieve "what the alien force has seized" through armed struggle.
The chorus and subsequent stanzas include heart-lifting examples of military heroes, set as role models for Polish soldiers: Jan Henryk Dąbrowski, Napoléon Bonaparte, Stefan Czarniecki and Tadeusz Kościuszko. Dąbrowski, for whom the anthem is named, was a commander in the failed 1794 Kościuszko Uprising against Russia. After the Third Partition in 1795, he came to Paris to seek French aid in re-establishing Polish independence and, in 1796, he started the formation of the Polish Legions, a Polish unit of the French Revolutionary Army. Bonaparte was, at the time when the song was written, a commander of the Italian campaign of French Revolutionary Wars and Dąbrowski's superior. Having already proven his skills as a military leader, he is described in the lyrics as the one "who has shown us ways to victory." Bonaparte is the only non-Polish person mentioned by name in the Polish anthem.
Stefan Czarniecki was a 17th-century hetman (military commander), famous for his role in driving the Swedish army out of Poland after an occupation that had left the country in ruins and is remembered by Poles as the Deluge. With the outbreak of a Dano-Swedish war, he continued his fight against Sweden in Denmark, from where he "returned across the sea" to fight the invaders alongside the King who was then at the Royal Castle in Poznań. In the same castle, Józef Wybicki, started his career as a lawyer (in 1765). Kościuszko, mentioned in a stanza now missing from the anthem, became a hero of the American Revolutionary War before coming back to Poland to defend his native country from Russia in the war of 1792 and a national uprising he led in 1794. One of his major victories during the uprising was the Battle of Racławice where the result was partly due to Polish peasants armed with scythes. Alongside the scythes, the song mentioned other types of weapon, traditionally used by the Polish szlachta, or nobility: the sabre, known in Polish as szabla, and the backsword.
Basia (a female name, diminutive of Barbara) and her father are fictional characters supposed to evoke a sentimental image of women and elderly men waiting for Polish soldiers to return home and liberate their fatherland. The route that Dąbrowski and his legions hoped to follow upon leaving Italy is hinted at by the words "cross the Vistula (Polish: Wisła), cross the Warta", two major rivers flowing through the parts of Poland that were in Austrian and Prussian hands at the time.
[edit] Current official lyrics[3]
Przejdziem Wisłę, przejdziem Wartę,
Jak Czarniecki do Poznania
Już tam ojciec do swej Basi
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[edit] English translation[4]
Cross the Vistula and Warta
Like Czarniecki Poznań regains
Father, in tears
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[edit] Original lyrics[1](modern spelling)
Jak Czarniecki do Poznania
Przejdziem Wisłę, przejdziem Wartę
Niemiec, Moskal nie osiędzie,
Już tam ojciec do swej Basi
Na to wszystkich jedne głosy |
[edit] English translation[4]
Like Czarniecki to Poznań
Cross the Vistula and Warta
Germans, Muscovites will not rest
Father, in tears
All exclaim in unison |
[edit] Music
| Instrumental | Vocal |
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The melody of the Polish anthem is a lively and rhythmical mazurka. Mazurka as a musical form derives from the stylization of traditional melodies for the folk dances of Masovia, a region in north-eastern Poland. It is characterized by a triple meter and strong accents placed irregularly on the second or third beat. Considered one of Poland's national dances in pre-partition times, it owes its popularity in 19th-century West European ballrooms to the mazurkas of Frédéric Chopin.[6]
The composer of Mazurek Dąbrowskiego is unknown. The melody is most probably Wybicki's adaptation of a folk tune that had already been popular during the second half of the 18th century. The composition used to be erroneously attributed to Michał Kleofas Ogiński who was known to have written a march for Dąbrowski's legions. Several historians confused Ogiński's Marche pour les Légions polonaises ("March for the Polish Legions") with Wybicki's mazurka, possibly due to the mazurka's chorus "March, march, Dąbrowski", until Ogiński's sheet music for the march was discovered in 1938 and proven to be a different piece of music than Poland's national anthem.[1]
Wojciech Sowiński was the first to arrange Mazurek Dąbrowskiego for the piano. The arrangement, accompanied by the lyrics in Polish and French, was published 1829 in Paris.[1] The current official musical score of the national anthem was arranged by Kazimierz Sikorski and published by the Polish Ministry of Culture and National Heritage. Sikorski's harmonization allows for each vocal version to be performed either a cappella or together with any of the instrumental versions. Some orchestra parts, marked in the score as ad libitum, may be left out or replaced by other instruments of equivalent musical scale.[5]
[edit] Regulations
The national anthem is, along with the national coat of arms and the national colors, one of three national symbols defined by the Polish constitution.[7] As such, it is protected by law which declares that treating the national symbols "with reverence and respect" is the "right and obligation" of every Polish citizen and all state organs, institutions and organizations.[8] The anthem should be performed or reproduced especially at celebrations of national holidays and anniversaries. Civilians should pay respect to the anthem by standing in a dignified manner; additionally, men should uncover they heads. Members of uniformed services should stand at attention; if their uniform includes headgear and they are not standing in an organized group, they should also perform the two-finger salute. Color guards pay respect to the anthem by dipping their banners.[8]
[edit] History
[edit] Origin
- See also: Polish Legions (Napoleonic period)
In 1795, after a prolonged decline and despite last-minute attempts at constitutional reforms and armed resistance, the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth was ultimately partitioned by its three neighbors: Russia, Prussia and Austria. A once vast and powerful empire was effectively erased from the map while monarchs of the partitioning powers pledged never to use the name "Poland" in their official titles. For many, including even leading representatives of the Polish Enlightenment, this new political situation meant an end of the Polish nation.[9] In the words of Hugo Kołłątaj, a notable Polish political thinker of the time, "Poland no longer belonged to currently extant nations,"[10] while historian Tadeusz Czacki declared that Poland "was now effaced from the number of nations."[11]
Meanwhile, Polish patriots and revolutionaries turned for help to France, Poland's traditional ally, which was at war with Austria (member of the First Coalition) at the time. Józef Wybicki was among the leading moderate émigré politicians seeking French aid in re-establishing Polish independence. In 1796, he came up with the idea of creating Polish Legions within the French Revolutionary Army. To this end, he convinced General Jan Henryk Dąbrowski, a hero of the Greater Poland campaign of the 1794 Kościuszko Uprising, to come to Paris and present the plan to the French Directory. Dąbrowski was sent by the Directory to General Napoléon Bonaparte who was then spreading the French Revolution in northern Italy. In January 1797, the newly-created French-controlled Cisalpine Republic accepted Dąbrowski's offer and a Polish legion was formed. Dąbrowski and his soldiers hoped to fight against Austria under Napoleon and, subsequently, march across the Austrian territory, "from Italy to Poland," where they would ignite a national uprising.[9]
In early July 1797, Wybicki arrived in Reggio Emilia where the Polish Legions were then quartered and where he wrote the Song of the Polish Legions soon afterwards. He first sung it at a private meeting of Polish officers in the Legions' headquarters at the episcopal palace in Reggio. The first public performance most probably took place on 16 July 1797 during a military parade in Reggio's Piazza del Duomo (Cathedral Square). On 20 July, it was played again as the Legions were marching off from Reggio to Milan, the Cisalpine capital.[1]
With its heart-lifting lyrics and folk melody, the song soon became a popular tune among Polish legionaries. On 29 August 1797, Dąbrowski already wrote to Wybicki from Bologna: "soldiers gain more and more taste for your song."[12] It appealed to both officers, usually émigré noblemen, and simple soldiers, most of whom were Galician peasants who had been drafted into the Austrian army and captured as POWs by the French. The last stanza, referring to Kościuszko, who famously fought for freedom of the entire nation rather than the nobility alone, and the "scythes of Racławice", seems to be directed particularly at the latter. Wybicki may have even hoped for Kościuszko to arrive in Italy and personally lead the Legions which might explain why the chorus "March, march, Dąbrowski" is not repeated after the last stanza. At that time Wybicki was not yet aware that Kościuszko had already returned to Philadelphia.[1]
[edit] Influence
During the European Revolutions of 1848, it won favor throughout Europe as a revolutionary anthem. This led the Slovak poet Samuel Tomašik to write the anthem, Hey Slavs, based on the melody of the Polish Anthem. This was later adopted by the First Congress of the Pan-Slavic Movement in Prague as the Pan-Slavic Anthem. During the Second World War, a translation of this anthem became the national anthem of Yugoslavia, and later, Serbia and Montenegro. Similarity of the anthems sometimes caused confusion during the matches of football or volleyball teams of these countries. However, after the 2006 split between the two, neither Serbia nor Montenegro kept the song as its national anthem, choosing instead Bože pravde and Oj, svijetla majska zoro respectively.
[edit] Footnotes
- ^ a b c d e f Russocki, Kuczyński, Willaume (1978)
- ^ Davies (2005)
- ^ Ustawa z dnia 31 stycznia 1980 r. o godle, barwach i hymnie Rzeczypospolitej Polskiej oraz o pieczęciach państwowych – Dziennik Ustaw z 2005 r. Nr 235, poz. 2000
- ^ a b Based on translations from Davies (2005) and Kendall
- ^ a b Pałłasz
- ^ Trochimczyk
- ^ (Polish) Konstytucja Rzeczypospolitej Polskiej [(English) Constitution of the Republic of Poland], Dz.U. 1997 nr 78 poz. 483
- ^ a b (Polish) Ustawa o godle, barwach i hymnie Rzeczypospolitej Polskiej oraz o pieczęciach państwowych [Coat of Arms, Colors and Anthem of the Republic of Poland, and State Seals Act], Dz.U. 1980 nr 7 poz. 18
- ^ a b Czapliński (1985)
- ^ Polish: "(Polska) przestała należeć do narodów aktualnie będących." Source: Czapliński (1985)
- ^ Polish: "Już Polska wymazana jest z liczby narodów." Source: Czapliński (1985)
- ^ Polish: "Żołnierze do Twojej pieśni coraz więcej gustu nabierają." Source: Russocki, Kuczyński, Willaume (1978)
[edit] References
[edit] Books
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[edit] Websites
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[edit] External links
- (Polish) Muzeum Hymnu Narodowego w Będominie, National Anthem Museum at Będomin
[edit] Media
- Mazurek DąbrowskiegoMP3, instrumental and vocal
- Mazurek DąbrowskiegoMP3, instrumental
- Mazurek DąbrowskiegoMP3 sung by Ignacy Dygas in 1926, the oldest known recording of the Polish anthem
- Polish anthem played and Polish flag raised in Piłsudski Square in Warsaw on Constitution Day at YouTube
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