Approaches to Meaning in Music (Musical Meaning and Interpretation)

"This book represents the most sophisticated historiographical
approach to understanding nation-building. Patrice Dabrowski demonstrates tremendous
erudition... making brilliant use of contemporary newspapers and journals, as well
as archival material." -- Larry Wolff, Boston College, author of Inventing
Eastern Europe

Patrice M. Dabrowski investigates the
nation-building activities of Poles during the decades preceding World War I, when
the stateless Poles were minorities within the empires of Russia, Germany, and
Austria-Hungary. Could Poles maintain a sense of national identity, or would they
become Germans, Austrians, or Russians? Dabrowski demonstrates that Poles availed
themselves of the ability to celebrate anniversaries of past deeds and personages to
strengthen their nation from within, providing a ground for a national discourse
capable of unifying Poles across political boundaries and social and cultural
differences. Public commemorations such as the jubilee of the writer Jozef
Kraszewski, the bicentennial of the Relief of Vienna, and the return to Poland of
the remains of the poet Adam Mickiewicz are reconstructed here in vivid
detail.