ABSTRACT
In his inauguration speech delivered on 27 November 1948 at the Congress of the Union of Polish Composers (ZKP), the newly elected president of the organisation – Zygmunt Mycielski – said: ‘We are the custodians of the State and it is our duty to fulfil the tasks that the State and society demand of us. … Therefore, if we do not provide the State with music, a new music that closely reflects life, which is a document of this our new life – our Union is doomed to a shameful future’ (Mycielski, 1949: 2). 1
