Renegotiating the Borders of National Culture: Polish Émigré Composers and National Music Histories in the Twentieth Century

Abstract

This review of From Poland with Music: 100 Years of Polish Composers Abroad (1918–2018) contextualises the project within a tradition of cultural outreach. Both the project itself (which aims to reach a general audience) and the stories it tells (of émigré artists who left Poland during the turbulent twentieth century) represent the movement of culture across borders. The conveners seek to reintroduce oft-omitted émigré artists into the canons of Polish national music history. In so doing, the volume serves as a successful and useful tool, introducing readers to new repertoire and inviting them to pose complex questions about the various motivations and effects of artists’ cultural mobility.