Dąbrowski's Mazurka

Encyclopedia : D : DB : DBR : Dąbrowski's Mazurka

---

Mazurek Dąbrowskiego (Dąbrowski's Mazurka) is the Polish national anthem, written by Józef Wybicki in 1797. Originally called the "Anthem of the Polish Legions in Italy", it is also informally known in English as "Poland Is Not Yet Lost" or "Poland Has Not Yet Perished" from its initial verse, "Jeszcze Polska nie zginęła," which is sometimes erroneously taken to be the Polish state motto.

Origin and legacy

The song originated during the formation of the Polish Legions in Italy under the command of Henryk Dąbrowski. Józef Wybicki, a close friend of Dąbrowski, wrote it in Reggio Emilia between 15 and 21 July 1797 to the tune of a mazurka. Beginning with the words, "Poland has not yet perished...", it was to counteract the rumour spread by the Prussians that in 1794, after the defeat at Maciejowice, Tadeusz Kościuszko, commander of the Polish army, was to have shouted, "Finis Poloniae!" ("This is the end of Poland").

The "Anthem of the Polish Legions in Italy" ("Pieśń Legionów Polskich we Włoszech") quickly became very popular with the legionnaires, but also gained currency within Poland. It became one of the most popular hymns during Poland's November 1830 and January 1863 Uprisings. During the European Revolutions of 1848, it won favor throughout Europe as a revolutionary anthem in Berlin, Vienna, Prague and Paris. This led the Slovak poet Samuel Tomašik to write the anthem, Hey, Slavs, based on the melody of Dąbrowski's Mazurek, and 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 causes confusion during the matches of football or volleyball representations of these countries.

Notes and historical context

See also Partitioned Poland

• Dąbrowski: Henryk Dąbrowski, one of the leaders of the Polish Legions (he was not, however, the author of this anthem).
• "Poland will never lose her life so long as we shall live": Poland had been erased from the political map of Europe by Russia, Prussia and Austria in 1795, two years before Wybicki composed this anthem (see Partitions of Poland).
• Czarniecki: Stefan Czarniecki, one of the leaders of Poland's ultimately victorious war against the 17th-century Swedish invasion.
• "As Czarniecki to Poznań": King John II Casimir spent the winter of 1657–1658 at the Royal Castle in Poznań. Here Czarniecki joined him. In the same castle, Józef Wybicki started his career as a lawyer (in 1765 ).
• "crossed the sea": after the liberation of Poland, Czarnecki fought in Denmark.
• Italy, Bonaparte: the Polish Legions had been created in Italy by Napoleon Bonaparte. The Polish Legionnaires believed that they would eventually fight for the independence of Poland.
• Basia: diminutive of "Barbara."
• Racławice: village in southern Poland — site of a significant battle, during the 1794 Kościuszko Uprising, in which the Polish insurgents' victory against the Russians was largely assured through the valor of peasants armed with scythes.

Media

Lyrics

External links

• ["Mazurek Dąbrowskiego" in Mp3 format] (Full version)
• ["Mazurek Dąbrowskiego" in Mp3 format] (Instrumental version)

 

---

From Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Original article here. Support Wikipedia by contributing or donating.
All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License See Wikipedia Copyrights for details.

Search Titles

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

A

B

C

D

E

F

G

H

I

J

K

L

M

N

O

P

Q

R

S

T

U

V

W

X

Y

Z

?