The Academic Student Choir of Stephen Báthory University in Vilnius during the Interwar Period

Patryk Tomaszewski

Abstract

The aim of this text is to present the activities of the Academic Student Choir of Stephen Báthory University in Vilnius, with the primary focus on its development and the difficulties it faced in the years 1924–38. The text supplies more details concerning the choir, found mainly in archives that were not available to Maria Ankudowicz-Bieńkowska, author of the monograph Polskie życie muzyczne w Wilnie lat II Rzeczypospolitej [Polish musical life in Vilnius during the inter-war period], published in Olsztyn in 1997, and the article ‘Środowisko muzyczne USB’ [The musical environment at Stephen Báthory University], in Wilno i świat. Dzieje środowiska intelektualnego [Vilnius and the world. The history of an intellectual environment], vol. ii (Białystok, 2002). Throughout the entire period of its existence, the Academic Student Choir of Stephen Báthory University struggled with dwindling membership and financial difficulties, caused by some singers losing touch with the choir after graduating from the university. Nevertheless, despite its relatively modest potential, the choir performed during the most important events in the academic year.