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Reviews
Stanislaus A. Blejwas. Choral Patriotism: The Polish Singers Alliance of America, 1888–1998. Rochester, NY: University of Rochester Press, 2005. Pp. xxviii, 351. ISBN 1580461476.
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Stanislaus A. Blejwas's death in 2001 was a loss to Polonian studies that is still keenly felt by many, this reviewer included. Appreciation for his scholarly contributions has grown with time. Blejwas researched and wrote works that are necessary for a clearer understanding of Polonia's past, always keeping in mind that fashionable scholarship is rarely necessary scholarship. Blejwas took a broad approach to Polonian history without sacrificing complexity and detail, demonstrating Polonia as a complex and multi-faceted community. Choral Patriotism is the last work he completed and reading this posthumous publication is a cause for remembrance and reflection. |
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Blejwas completed the manuscript for the history of the Polish Singers Alliance of America (PSAA) shortly before his death. It has been published thanks to the dedication of the officers of the PSAA, Prof. M. B. Biskupski (who holds the endowed chair at Central Connecticut State University now named for Blejwas), and the University of Rochester Press series on Central Europe. In many ways it completes a series of histories of Polonia's major national institutions that includes the Polish National Alliance, the Polish American Congress, the Polish Roman Catholic Union of America, and the Polish Women's Alliance. |
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This work operates on at least two distinct but complementary levels. First, it is a history of an organization and its leaders, officers, and members and how they interacted with one another and Polonia at large. The PSAA and its local choirs were an important part of Polonia's institutional life and in some communities the PSAA affiliated choir contained a complete cross section of local leadership. Choirs were featured in nearly all major community events. The PSAA and its local affiliates participated in Polonian politics at all levels. Blejwas pays particular attention to PSAA activities in relationship to Poland and its changing political fortunes in the early years of the twentieth century through the Cold War. This part of the story can best be understood in the context of Blejwas's earlier work on Polonian politics in the 1940s and 1950s which appeared in a series of articles in Polish American Studies and Przegląd Polonijny. Unlike many who write on politics these days, Blejwas does not treat it as merely a cynical power game or a matter of artificial ideological "constructs" foisted onto the hapless masses by the usual "nationalist" suspects. Rather, it is something that engages community leaders as well as ordinary folk, expressing hopes, fears, and ideas they consider worthy of discussion and dispute. |
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On another level, Choral Patriotism is a history of choral music in Polonia. As such, this book opens up new territory and raises a host of interesting questions about the cultural history of Polish Americans. Blejwas initially—and wrongly—describes first-generation Polish immigrant culture as "rural folk-based" that was rejected by their second-generation children (p. 66). Yet, as the repertoires of the choirs themselves show, first generation choirs rarely sang folk songs. Nor, incidentally, did they wear "traditional" folk garb. There is no evidence of Polish immigrants or their children wearing Polish folk costumes prior to World War I and their widespread adoption is probably a feature of the 1930s if not later. Original choir repertoires featured patriotic songs from the November Uprising or the January Insurrection mixed with religious songs (e.g., Boże cos Polskę) and occasional classical pieces. In fact, it seems as if first generation immigrants did everything they could to sing and listen to "modern" music and move away from a village culture associated with backwardness and poverty, whereas their children had greater luxury and distance to view the old village with a degree of nostalgia. |
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Blejwas's book raises the important question of what cultural baggage and expectations the immigrants did bring. To be sure, folk and religious music was part of that baggage. Yet, even in the case of religious music, it is not clear to what extent Polish Americans were creating new forms as opposed to importing old ones. The extent of formal church choirs in Polish village churches is an open question. Merely singing in church is not the same as belonging to a choir with a repertoire, a director, and regular rehearsals. What is clear is that many "traditional" practices, such as Forty-Hour Devotions, were practiced in America before they were practiced in Poland. Folk music is an even murkier matter since by the time the immigrants arrived in America collecting and repackaging folk music as an "authentic" representation of the true volk had been an obsession with many European cultural elites for some time. Choral Patriotism presents little evidence of Polonian choirs performing music passed down by rote through the generations as opposed to folk music that has been either specifically composed or which is presented in modern arrangements. |
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Blejwas shows that Polish-American choirs creatively developed a new musical repertoire that spoke directly to the experiences and concerns of their communities. The choirs have continued to adapt as the needs and tastes of Polonia have changed. It should be no surprise that many PSAA choirs have tackled the challenging compositions of Henryk Górecki in recent years. |
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The book's two themes are tied together by the concept of "choral patriotism" (or "choral nationalism" as the author originally proposed). The fostering and retention of Polishness in America has always been PSAA's raison d'etre. Devotion to the cause of a free Poland was and remains the impetus behind the development of the musical repertoire which has in turn helped shaped Polish-American culture. To be sure this is not without its complications, as Blejwas details, and is especially problematic in the period after 1989, though this is a problem shared with other Polonia institutions. Choral Patriotism provides a great starting point for a much larger project to write a serious history of the complex evolution of Polish-American culture. Blejwas's legacy in this work, then, presents a challenge to those who remain behind to eschew the fashionable and undertake the necessary. |
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| John Radzilowski
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| University of Alaska, Southeast |
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