Franek
Now you're back a small query off thread a bit but relevant to Poland in WW2.
Listening to the radio the other day I heard the "Warsaw Concerto" by Richard Addinsell being played and wondered whether this concerto was still popular today in Poland?
Originally written in 1941 for the British film 'Dangerous Moonlight' the concerto was an immediate success and is still aired regularly today, so is it still well known in Poland?
Synopsis of the film from Wiki::
Dangerous Moonlight takes place at the start of World War II and tells the story of a Polish concert pianist and composer, Stefan Radecki (Anton Walbrook) who defends his country by becoming a fighter pilot. After an air raid in Warsaw by the German army, he is discovered by an American reporter, Carol Peters (Sally Gray), practising the piano in a bombed-out building. It is the opening of his Warsaw Concerto, at this point a work in progress, and the first line he says to her is, "It is not safe to be out alone when the moon is so bright" (referring to the moonlight bombing raids). Gazing intently at Carol and disclosing "something lovely you've just given me", he introduces the lyrical second theme of the Concerto. And, indeed, this melody is always associated with Carol.[4] Like Rachmaninoff, Addinsell introduces it almost as a nocturne. Stefan speaks of the piece later in the film: "This music is you and me. It's the story of the two of us in Warsaw, of us in America, of us in … where else I don't know. That's why I can't finish it". But finish it he does. Similar to the way that Rachmaninoff returns to his second theme in his Second Piano Concerto, the "Carol" melody is used, not only to bind together the emotional strands of the drama, but to bring the Concerto to a triumphant conclusion. Throughout the film, the unfinished piece is defined in a relationship with Frédéric Chopin's "Military" Polonaise, symbolising Polish patriotism.[4] It is "completed" when the Polonaise elements are integrated with the Romantic theme, implying the fusion of romantic and patriotic love.[4]
Within the context of its story, Dangerous Moonlight is also effective in creating the impression of a larger work written and performed by the film's fictional composer and pianist. When snatches of the Concerto are first played, one character tells another, "I've got the records", and when the "premiere" is shown, we are provided with a close-up of the program, Warsaw Concerto, with three movements listed. Only one movement was actually written by Addinsell.
A performance on You Tube can be seen here:
Thanks
WT