STATE-RUN MUSIC SCHOOLS/MUSIC CLUBS/MUSICAL INSTRUCTION/POLITICAL INDOCTRINATION IN MUSIC SCHOOLS

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP80-00926A007600430007-6
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: C
• Document Page Count: 4
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: November 9, 2012
• Sequence Number: 7
• Publication Date: December 8, 1954
• Content Type: REPORT

Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/11/09: CIA-RDP80-00926AO07600430007-6
U.S.., Officials Only
CONFIDENTIAL
CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY
INFORMATION REPORT
COUNTRY
SUBJECT
Poland
State-run Music Schools/Music Clubs/
Musical Instruction/Political Indoctrination
in Music Schools.
THIS DOCUMENT CONTAINS INFORMATION AFF CTIN THENATIONAL OEFCNSE
OF THE UNITED STATES, WITHIN THEMEANINO OF TITLE 14, SECTIONS 7BB
AND 754, OF THE U.S. CODE. AS AMENDED. ITS TRANSMISSION OR SEYS?
CATION OF ITS CONTENTS TO OR RECEIPT BY AN UNAUTHORI'LED PERSON IS
THIS IS UNEVALUATED INFORMATION
DATE D I STR. g D(C .954
NO. OF PAGES '50X1-HUM
NO. OF ENCLS.
SUPP. TO
REPORT NO.
In Spite of the regime's propaganda boast of the state a as patronage for arts,
nut, much has been done to develop the teaching of music in Waarsaa;w; apart from.
nationalizing the existing pre-var schools of music, the regime has opened only
one new school, in Aleje derozolimskie> Most of the music schools in Warsaw
after World War II were run by the Warsaw Musical Society, later named after
S Moniusszko (Waarezaawekie Tow arzystwo Muzyczne ima Stanislav& Monlu.szki) o .e
rest were privately owned and were nationalized quite early after the war. he
Society, which lost most of its effects during the Warsaw Uprising, remestab-,
lished itself with great difficulty and, in addition to ?schools, also operated
a very good symphony orchestra. It also managed (in r~pri 1951) to open its
own house' (at 2. Nowy Swiat, in the back of the EI ~: ##tauurar.,t reconstructed
from a fire-destroyed ruin.)
About 1949, however, the regime began to interfere with the affairs of the
Society; this was the time when the Commuunistg began gradually to liquidate the
remnants of voluntary associationa and to subject them to their management. Until
then, the Society had been expected only to observe the recommendations of?the
Cultural Department of the Party Central Committee concerning the program. In 1949,
under the pretext of some a diasorder a in the Society's affairs, the government;
appointed a curator to run the organization. This curator was Jerzy Jassienski,
at that time musical adviser in the Ministry of Culture, later transferred to the
Central Management of Operas and Phi armonice (Czof iaa) o Under this curatorship,
the music schools run by the Society were taken over by the State. It was soon
quite.clear thaa4, the, number of existing schools was not sufficient, but the state
apparently could not spare funds to open new ones. It is presumably for this reason
that the Warsaw Music Society, in 1951, succeeded in obtaining the government ?s
permission to operate the so-called EOgninkaa Muzycsne', i.e., courses of musical
instruction,
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This report is for the use within the USA of the Intelligence components of the Departments or
Agencies indicated above. It is not to be transmitted overseas without the concurrence of the
originating office through the Assistant Director of the Office of Collection and Dissemination, CIA.
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/11/09: CIA-RDP80-00926AO07600430007-6
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3. It might be added that, also in 1951, the curator was recalled and, the Society
was again able to elect its ova executive; but the atmosphere of mutual distrust
and intrigues, initiated by Communist interference, could not be removed, and to-
wards the end of 1952 the regime again anointed a curator to put the Society's
t th
th
e
a
affairs in order: This time it was a womssin, a Party member. It is said
Society will be `rrrsed from this constant supervision when it is ready to elect an
executive totally subservient to the wishes of the Party.
A Communist 'trustee' in the Society is Wiktor Koscinski, director of the Warato w
Philharmonic Orchestra, D ring the short spel en two curatorshipp be bald
the post of.vices-chairs n and virtually ruled the Society, often against the visa**
of the chairman professor Piotr Aytol. ascinski is a member of the Communist'Partya
5. Beside the schools, the Society also lost its Symphony Orchestra, which was taken
over by the State in 1952; later on it made an effort to organise a brass band, but
had to give that up for lack of financial support. In fact, the Waaorsaww MusiOal
Society's case may be treated as typical for the way in which the regime copbi' 'with
voluntary associations: It takes over all valuable assets and enter rises
makes them state-run, ana does not give any support to independent voluntary efforts
It is. indeed a patronage of arts, but only of state-controlled arts.
6J However,, the Society',$ music clubs (Ogniska) are still operating as they oontri-
buts a little musical instruction, which the few state-schools cannot satisfy,
Apart from these two categories of musical schools (state-run and music clubs), m asl, ;
is al r taught in Warsaw an the level of working people's or youth's clubsr,a
but no interesting results are obtained,
from,,, he preparatory school; the course lasts 3 years.
One academy of music, course lasting 4 years, accepting ud.ents who have
graduated from the middle school. The program inclu ee music composition
and a course for orchestra conductors o
8.
earn about zl.l000 a month. It often happens however that teachers take Jobs
in two sschools simultaneously, end .in this, w ay may raise their standard.of living.
? Students in the music schools live, for the most part, in very difficult conditions.
They do not have to pay to attend &state school but, on the other hand, they
receive very little financial support-for their naintenance during the studies
There is. a scholarship, fund of the -Warsaw City National council, but scholarship
grants are very small. for students of music schools: Only zl J 00 a month or no,
perhaps. more than that in the Academy of.Music . Moreover, only a. few students are
granted theme scholarships (out. of the hundreds of those who need them). Piano
students can also receive scholarships from the so-called'Frederick Chopin Fund',
the amounts granted are even smaller than those offered by the National Council.
State-run music schoolst There are about 10 or 12 schools of music in Warsaw,
run the 1 Ute. hose include:
a. Preparatory music schools which train children up to i14 years old; the**
have a five-year course.
b. Middle schools of music, to which students are accepted after graduating
in the middle schools,, there is a special faculty training teachers of music 6,nd
singing for ordinary schools.
Al]. these schools remain under the control. cf' the Ministry of Culture, through
a special body called 'Central Board of Schools of Arts' (Centraainy Zarsed Szkol
Artystycznych). The finances for their operationaare provided by -the Praesidiusm
of National Council of the City of Warsaw. The funds allotted are very meagre,
and the schools can scarcely make ends meet. Very rarely, an additional grant is
given for some indispeeaasible investment, such as the purchase of new musical
instruments..
9. Teachers' Salaries are very masdeste `Those rho acre,in the highest 'sala ?y group,
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Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/11/09: CIA-RDP80-00926AO07600430007-6
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Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/11/09: CIA-RDP80-00926AO07600430007-6
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11ueic Clubs. Music instruction In the '' gnisske M?T.vezne', operp'tp~a by the
areaw ul Society, is paid for by the students, because the Society does not
receive any subsidies for this activil~yo stuaente pay from zi CC LL 21-7Z au