SILESIAN MONIUSZKO. RECEPTION OF THE FIGURE AND WORK OF THE COMPOSER

Discover a fascinating journey through the reception of the figure and work of Stanisław Moniuszko in Upper Silesia. This sociological analysis, contained in the first volume of the study, examines national identity and the role of music in its construction. Learn how Moniuszko's music influenced the shaping of national identity during his lifetime and in the activities of the Union of Silesian Singing Societies in the first half of the 20th century.

• Sociological analysis of Moniuszko's reception in Silesia
• Study of national identity through music
• Role of the Union of Silesian Singing Societies in popularizing the work
• Mythologization of the composer's figure as a national symbol
• Letters of Stanisław Moniuszko as a source of knowledge about the context of creation
• Journal "Śpiewak Śląski" as a chronicle of the Moniuszko narrative

This book shows how building national identity is a long-term process that takes place in the intersubjective space of social life. An indicator of this process are situations in which the performance and reception of musical works is accompanied by the mythologization of given works of art into national symbols, and the figures of composers into national creators in music. The author analyzes the Letters of Stanisław Moniuszko from the perspective of humanistic sociology, focusing on press reports and written statements by the composer, which testify to the reception of his works.

Maja Drzazga-Lech examines the ways in which the Moniuszko narrative is present in Upper Silesian culture, created by the Union of Silesian Singing Societies in the first half of the 20th century. The journal "Śpiewak Śląski"/"Śpiewak" from 1920 - 1948 is taken as the unit of analysis. The Moniuszko narrative, present in the Upper Silesian intersubjective cultural space, is an element of social/cultural memory, entangled in the ethnic/national relations occurring among the inhabitants of the Silesian land, especially between Polishness and (Upper) Silesianness.

The University of Silesia Publishing House presents this study in hardcover, on 180 pages in 158x219 mm format. The year of publication is 2018. This book is a valuable source of knowledge for sociologists, historians and all those interested in the culture and history of Upper Silesia.