December 6, 2018

DECEMBER 6 - DAILY CHRONICLES OF HISTORY

DECEMBER 6

1846

Henryk Jarecki (dob) was a Polish composer, conductor and teacher.  He came from a family of musicians and received his first instruction from his father, Jozef Jarecki, then with J. Meller. He pursued formal studies at the Institute of Music in Warsaw where he studied the piano, double-bass and composition, but his name did not appear in any of the graduate lists. For eight years,  Henryk was Stanisław Moniuszko's favorite and outstanding student, who showcased the youth's work in many of his concertos. He played in Paris (December 1882) one of his own works, the overture to Balladyna (with the orchestra Pasdeloup). In March 1883 he returned to the Skarbek Theater having been appointed by the new director J. Dobrzański.  He performed premieres of his operas and of many other works there. Both at the opening concert of the Polish opera in Lviv and after 28 years at the farewell performance, Henryk Jarecki presented himself in a dual role as a composer and conductor. In 1902, Henryk Jarecki was the second conductor in the Lviv Philharmonic alongisde Ludwik Czelański. But after two weeks, Jarecki fell ill due to the many years of exhausting work in the theater, forcing him to resign from his position. From then on he conducted only occasionally with his own works, such as Oda to his youth (1904) concert for the fund for the construction of the Adam Mickiewicz monument), Rapsodem warnym and Pneumella (1905).


1942

Operation Oyster was a bombing raid launched by the RAF on December 6, 1942 on the Philips Works at Eindhoven, Netherlands. The manufacturing plant was a major producer of electronics equipment, that included vacuum tubes for radio communication. In 1940, prior to the Battle of the Netherlands,  Philips had become a leading research firm in infrared and radar technology.  The allies planned a daylight raid in order to insure accuracy and minimize casualties among the Dutch citizens. Medium bombers of 2 Group were given the task of dropping the bombs, while a series of diversionary raids were underway to draw German defenses astray.  It was the largest and most successful raid conducted by 2 Group during the war.


1953

Konstanty Ildefons Gałczyński was a Polish poet and well known for the "paradramatic" absurd humorous sketches of the Green Goose Theatre.  Gałczyński's poetry is an inspiration to many authors of popular music. They were used by Olga Lipińska in her TV cabaret among others. At the time of the People's Republic of Poland, his poem Beloved Country (Ukochany kraj) was made into a socialist feel-good song. A musical, Beloved Country, was directed by Janusz Józefowicz at Studio Buffo musical theatre.  Gałczyński was portrayed in the book The Captive Mind (Zniewolony umysł) by Czesław Miłosz; he is Delta.  When WW2 broke out,  Gałczyński received a draft card from the Polish army. He fought during the September Campaign.  On September 17, 1939, he was captured by the invading Russians and imprisoned; he later was captured by the Nazi Germans and spent the remainder of the war in Stalag XI (a POW camp in Altengrabow). Meanwhile he printed his poems secretly. After the war he travelled to Brussels and Paris, and returned to Poland in 1946. He founded The 13 Muses Club in Szczecin in 1948 before moving back to Warsaw, and produced work for many weekly magazines.  He passed away on December 6, 1953 from a heart attack. His name is commemorated - since 1998 a biennial poetry competition has been held in Szczecin, named Gałczynalie in honour of the poet. A Green Goose foundation was formed in Warsaw in September 2007.


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