Lublin Charity Concerts of 1900-1914 and their Depiction in the Press

Abstract

The article thesis is based on a corpus made by the author of this paper. The corpus consists of selected Lublin journals from 1900-1914 that constitute a source of information regarding charity concerts of the period mentioned above.

After facing consecutive defeats in national uprisings, Poles abandoned their military quest for independence. Instead, they stressed the importance of basic work in the field of education of the young generation in accordance with the positivistic approach of the times. It aimed at maintaining Polishness in the hearts of the youth that, in the future, was to be ready to fight for liberty.

That philosophy was followed by not only private people but, even more frequently, by societies and social organizations. They organized fund-raising concerts, the income of which was used to support poor students. That social activity was partly facilitated by the First Russian Revolution which took place on the territory of the Russian Partition in 1905-1907.

Numerous artists, both local and visiting ones, were willing to partake in those musical events. Their repertoire, very diverse and surprising is presented in this paper.