University of Silesia in Katowice

The January Uprising: A Lesson in History, a Lesson in Music

| Author: Małgorzata Kłoskowicz, PhD |

162 years ago, on the night of 22-23 January 1863, the January Uprising broke out. It is said to have been the greatest uprising of the Polish nation against the Russians. The defeat of the Russians in the Crimean War and the belief that Western countries would side with the Poles gave hope for regaining independence. It began with an attack by several thousand partisans in the Kingdom of Poland and then spread across the entire country as well as the territories of Lithuania, Belarus, and Ukraine. Although it ended in defeat, it was of great importance for strengthening national identity. Fragments of this history have been preserved in military songs that accompanied the partisans through 19 months of fighting. Urszula Mizia, PhD, DLitt, Associate Professor of the Faculty of Art and Educational Sciences in Katowice, tells more about them.

Urszula Mizia, PhD, DLitt, Assoc. Prof. is a laureate of the Freedom of Research competition under the Research Excellence Initiative of the University of Silesia. Her project “Research on the Patriotic Song of the January Uprising Period, Culminating in a Foreign Chamber Concert” was carried out in 2023 | Photo by Ewa Hajnas

MAŁGORZATA KŁOSKOWICZ, PhD: History interpreted through the prism of music… I must admit, this perspective surprised me. Where did the idea for such an unusual approach come from?

URSZULA MIZIA, PhD, DLitt, Assoc. Prof.: I am interested in activities that have not only an artistic dimension but can also influence who we are today and how we understand reality, society, and indeed history itself. I am convinced that this type of creativity — military songs — was important in shaping Polish identity and says a lot about us. Every year, I choose a certain period in our nation’s history and examine it specifically from the perspective of art. I conducted research on the partisans’ songs from the January Uprising in 2023, because of the 160th anniversary of its outbreak. Earlier, I was interested in the history of the Polish anthem and military music of the November Uprising, as well as the Silesian uprisings. Currently, I am finishing a project on the songs of the Warsaw Uprising. I search for melodies, try to identify authors. Each time, the result of my work is an artistic elaboration of the collected material and its presentation in the form of chamber concerts, usually outside Poland, to bring Polish history closer to the world. I play the cello, the vocalist is Joanna Jatkowska, and Janusz Kohut accompanies us on the piano.

MAŁGORZATA KŁOSKOWICZ, PhD: I remember that at school during music lessons, we learned various military songs. I still remember the words of many of them. What distinguishes these songs?

URSZULA MIZIA, PhD, DLitt, Assoc. Prof.: They are certainly engaged works. They express a view of the reality of a given historical period. Moreover, many of the issues they touch on turn out to be relevant even today. That is why I think it can be an interesting experience to be able to sing soldiers’ songs or just listen to them. We perform concerts in museums, schools, and even prestigious concert halls. Our audience includes students, academic youth (though not only them), as well as adults who are often deeply moved. The songs certainly have an educational dimension; we also enrich them with images corresponding to the historical period. The audience reacts vividly, especially at the foreign concerts I mentioned earlier.

MAŁGORZATA KŁOSKOWICZ, PhD: Every uprising is a difficult moment in our past. Circumstances usually did not favor the fighters, whose chances of victory were slim. As we know from history lessons, such were also the realities of the January Uprising. What do we learn from the songs of that period?

URSZULA MIZIA, PhD, DLitt, Assoc. Prof.: What surprised me most was that the words of the soldiers’ songs very rarely mention hardships. Mainly young people, students, and secondary school pupils went to the uprising — they wanted to fight for freedom. At that time, it was probably the only way to change things and oppose Russian oppression. The circumstances did not favor fighting; there was a lack of weapons above all, and the guerrilla warfare itself posed many problems.

However, before the outbreak of the uprising, tension had already been rising during numerous demonstrations that filled Warsaw’s streets. During one of them, five people died, and their funeral, held on 2 March 1861, became a source of even greater social dissatisfaction and a pretext for another demonstration. National symbols and texts of patriotic songs, whose possession was forbidden, were distributed; people sang, among others, “God, Thou Who for so many centuries…”

MAŁGORZATA KŁOSKOWICZ, PhD: Even before the January Uprising broke out? I rather associate that song with martial law and the 1980s. How far back does its history go?

URSZULA MIZIA, PhD, DLitt, Assoc. Prof.: Many might be surprised that it was created in 1816. What is more, it was written in honor of Tsar Alexander I on the anniversary of the proclamation of the Kingdom of Poland. The words were by Alojzy Feliński, the music composed by Jan Nepomucen Kaszewski. At that time, there was still a belief that the Tsar would support Polish independence efforts. However, this hope quickly died, and the words “Preserve our king for us, Lord!” were changed to “Return our homeland to us, Lord!”. It also began to be sung to the melody of the religious song Dear Mother. In this version, it was performed already during the November Uprising, and its great popularity during another major national liberation uprising caused it to be called the “Marseillaise of 1863.” It almost became our national anthem. It has accompanied us during difficult historical moments, which Poland has had many of. Therefore, the return to this very song in the 1980s during the Solidarity movement is no surprise.

MAŁGORZATA KŁOSKOWICZ, PhD: Which other song was equally popular in 1863?

URSZULA MIZIA, PhD, DLitt, Assoc. Prof.: There is a very stirring song encouraging fighting — The March of the Riflemen by Władysław Anczyc:

Hey, riflemen all! Above us the White Eagle,
And against us stands a mortal enemy.
Soon thunderous shots will roar from our rifles,
And the Savior God directs the flight of the bullets!
So prepare your weapons and load your bullets deep,
Sharpen the bayonets on our fathers’ graves.
At the sound of the trumpets, take your rifle at a glance!
Hey! Focus! Aim and shoot in the head or heart!

We often start our concerts with this song because it heralds mobilisation. Whoever had a firearm was someone. The riflemen’s brotherhood included hunters; officers had them as well.

Closer to the realities of the uprising is the song In the Bloody Field, a Silver Bird (words by Wincenty Pol, music by Alfred Bojarski), known as The Camp Song of Antoni Jeziorański:

In the bloody field a silver bird,
Our boys went to battle.
Hu! Ha! Blood plays, the spirit plays, hu! Ha!
Let Poland know what sons it has!
Next to the Eagle, the sign of the Chase,
Our men went to battle without weapons.
Hu! Ha! Blood plays, the spirit plays, hu! Ha!
Mother Poland, live!
Jesus, Mary! Strike!

MAŁGORZATA KŁOSKOWICZ, PhD: Blood plays, spirit plays, yet there is nothing to fight with. It seems the worse the conditions, the stronger one had to encourage oneself to fight, even through songs…

URSZULA MIZIA, PhD, DLitt, Assoc. Prof.: This is confirmed by The March of the Zouaves:

You have no faith like in our emblem:
Fezzes askew, mustaches up,
Laughter and clinking of flasks at camp,
One goes to battle even if for a dance.

The Death Zouaves were a Polish military unit formed in Ojców in 1863 by the French officer Franciszek Rochebrune. It initially recruited students of the Jagiellonian University. Its members swore they would either win or die fighting. They had their own uniform, a characteristic black outfit with a white cross. The Warsaw poet Włodzimierz Wolski wrote the lyrics to this anthem.

Moreover, thanks to the kindness of Sławomir Kowalski, head of the Library of the Polish Army Museum, I gained access to the songbook Uprising Songs by Włodzimierz Wolski, Z. 1 (Paris 1864), where on page 53, next to this song, is handwritten: “Music by S. M….” Could it be Stanisław Moniuszko? There might be some truth to this, as Włodzimierz Wolski wrote librettos for the famous Polish composer. This would be another interesting fact.

MAŁGORZATA KŁOSKOWICZ, PhD: These songs are march-like, very energetic, making you want to get moving.

URSZULA MIZIA, PhD, DLitt, Assoc. Prof.: I always try to imagine thousands of young boys, partisans, often undernourished and sick, singing this song and others to encourage themselves to fight. This was not a professional army. For example, the concentration of insurgent units in Ojców was carried out by Apolinary Kurowski, the war chief of the Kraków voivodeship. Traces of these actions are found in the song Camp in Ojców from 1863:

From Kraków, from Lwów
Youth ran to Ojców,
Where Kurowski stood.
Day and night with the rattle of weapons,
With noise, song, and neighing of horses
The rocky rampart rang.

MAŁGORZATA KŁOSKOWICZ, PhD: In March 1863, there was a battle in Skała near the mentioned Ojców. A partisan unit commanded by Marian Langiewicz and Antoni Jeziorański, whose name appeared in the title of one of the songs mentioned earlier, took part. They won against the Russians. It must have been an important event since it was commemorated in The March of Langiewicz’s Soldiers by Władysław Tarnowski:

URSZULA MIZIA, PhD, DLitt, Assoc. Prof.:
The Moskals will remember,
How they got beaten in Skała!
Half of them perished,
The rest fled to Staszów.
From Staszów we will drive them out,
Until we reach Kyiv.
And from the Kyiv region,
We will march straight to the capital.
Let the scoundrels remember,
How bravely the Poles fight.

The Moskals (Russians) theme was, of course, popular, and victories were eagerly sung about. In this case, we know the author, but many songs were created spontaneously, out of the need of the moment. I will quote a fragment of yet another song from 1863:

Do you want me to sing to you,
To warm your heart with a note,
Pay close attention,
Listen to what I will say:
Let’s go, let’s fight the Moskals,
The world will hear our voice,
Warsaw and Lublin,
Lwów and Kraków.

The soldiers sang such songs while on patrol or in camps. Often, it was the only way to raise their spirits and encourage each other to continue fighting.

MAŁGORZATA KŁOSKOWICZ, PhD: Did the world really praise them for that?

URSZULA MIZIA, PhD, DLitt, Assoc. Prof.: While conducting archival research and investigations, I took part in several exhibitions: at the Warsaw Citadel, the Zygmunt Szczęsny-Feliński Museum, and a very interesting open-air exhibition organised on Krakowskie Przedmieście in Warsaw in December 2023. Among other things, it presented soldiers from many countries who supported the uprising. It is enough to recall the example of Francesco Nullo, an Italian hero who fought for Poland’s independence and died in the Battle of Krzykawka. Incidentally, his six-shot revolver can be seen today in the Independence Museum in Pavilion X of the Warsaw Citadel. So soldiers from all over Europe fought in the insurgent units: Italians, French, Hungarians, Germans, Austrians, Lithuanians, Ukrainians, Belarusians, Croatians, Serbs, British, Swedes, Swiss, and even a considerable number of Russians, although we did not receive official support from Western states despite the efforts of the Great Emigration.

MAŁGORZATA KŁOSKOWICZ, PhD: The January Uprising lasted 19 months. Its participants took part in over a thousand battles. We suffered heavy losses and did not achieve victory. The consequences were very serious: the remnants of the autonomy of the Kingdom of Poland disappeared, Russification intensified, estates were confiscated, commanders of many insurgent units were executed. It was a very difficult time of many sacrifices and tragedies, but it was also of great importance in paving the way to independence, which we still had to wait over 50 years for. How can the memory of the January Uprising be supported today?

URSZULA MIZIA, PhD, DLitt, Assoc. Prof.: The dedication and courage of those people inspire great respect in me. I try to awaken that memory and curiosity through music. In a sense, the January Uprising comes alive in the songs primarily when they are listened to or performed. That is why concerts are so important to us. We have performed many times in Scotland, where the memory of national heroes is strongly cultivated. The pieces are very well received, and the history itself arouses great interest.

I think one more aspect is important in this context. Today, we increasingly hear questions about the sense of the uprisings. From our perspective, things look different, we know more, but when I look at the insurgent songs, I better understand what those generations felt. I understand that each of these uprisings — November, January, Silesian, or Warsaw — had to inevitably break out. It is not our task to judge them. We should respect the cultural heritage of that time and, remembering that legacy, build a future in such a way that the sacrifice of those generations does not go in vain.

MAŁGORZATA KŁOSKOWICZ, PhD: Thank you very much for the conversation.

Article “The January Uprising: A Lesson in History, a Lesson in Music” appeared in the January issue of Gazeta Uniwersytecka UŚ no. 4 (324).