|
|
 |
 |
Background history
Could grand music resound through the Wehrmacht-run prisoner-of-war camps? The program of the original concert of composer Zdenko Karol Rund proves that classical music was not only known, but also great efforts were made to popularize it in German camps designed for POWs during World War II. The program relates to the concert which was repeated several times in Oflag VI B Dössel between 7 and 11 November 1943. The camp orchestra and the choir performed original pieces by Captain Rund and compositions of Jan Ignacy Paderewski in Runda’s arrangement. The soloists, among others, Second Lieutenants Cierniak, Sawicki and Lieutenant Dobrowolski, performed with the orchestra and with the choir, as well. The introductory word was prepared by Major Bogusław Sidorowicz, a conductor, Doctor of Philosophy, musicologist and expert in the output of Jan Ignacy Paderewski. In the interwar period, Major Sidorowicz was an educational officer in the Polish Army, managing the Music Department of the Ministry of Military Affairs. The main hero of the concert, Cpt. Zdenko Karol Rund is not less interesting. Born in Moravia on 20 or 27 July 1889, he completed his studies at the Music Conservatory in Prague in the years 1901-1906. Having passed his diploma examination in Prague in 1919, he also successfully took the bandmaster’s exam in Warsaw two years later. After completing his studies, he worked as a music teacher and a conductor. He gave concerts as a violinist in Lvov, Przemyśl, Stryj and Sambor. After the end of World War I and Poland’s regaining its independence, he was admitted to the Polish Army and promoted to the rank of captain in the corps of administration officers. In the years 1921-1924, he was the conductor of the band of the 12th Infantry Regiment, as well as the Municipal Symphonic Orchestra in Wadowice, then the bandmaster of the 3rd Regiment of Podhale Rifles, and in 1934, he became the conductor of the band of the 36th Regiment of Infantry of Academic Legion in Warsaw. It was at that time that he composed the piece under the title Pułkownik Cšadek (Colonel Cšadek) in honor of the commander of the regiment. At the beginning of 1941, together with other interned soldiers, he was transferred by Romanians into the hands of Germans, next isolated in the following oflags: VI E Dorsten (from January 1941 till September 1942) and VI B Dössel (from September 1941 until the end of the war). Both during the internment in Romania and the stay in the German captivity, he took an active part in the cultural activity relating to music, the proof of which, among others, is the concert program, as well as some other mementos and documents collected in the Museum. After the end of the war he returned to Poland and conducted a choir in Gliwice in the years 1947-1949, lectured in the Officers’ School of Army Bandmasters based in Łódź and Rembertów, and – from 1950 – in the State College of Music in Katowice. He was a composer of cantatas and oratorios, symphonic and chamber music, numerous marches and choral and solo songs, as well as pieces for brass bands and studies for solo violin. He died in Gliwice on 1 April 1962. In 1997, Leon Markiewicz published the book entitled Zdenko Karol Rund. Kapelmistrz, kompozytor, pedagog (Zdenko Karol Rund. Bandmaster. Composer. Educator).
Prepared by: Beata Madej
|
|
|
Program of a concert
Source of acquisition
Donation by Józef Kobylański, a POW in Oflag VI B Dössel.
Description of the item
The program of the concert of 20cm x 15cm, folded in the form of a notebook; on the cover – a black and white linotype, presenting a blazing bird rising upwards, as well as the heading: Composer’s concert of ZK Rund and the date: from 7 to 14 November 1943. Inside, two pages with the program of the concert. In 1978, the document underwent conservation.
|
