Written between 1879 and 1883 | Published 15 September 1883 Composer(s) Józef Pławiński | |
Writer(s) Wacław ŚwięcickiDouglas Robson (1st English version)Randall Swingler (2nd English version) | ||
Whirlwinds of Danger (original Polish title: Warszawianka) is a Polish socialist revolutionary song written some time between 1879 and 1883. The Polish title, a deliberate reference to the earlier song by the same title, could be translated as either "The Song of Warsaw" (as in the Leon Lishner version) or "the lady of Warsaw". To distinguish between the two, it is often called "Warszawianka 1905 roku" ("Warszawianka of 1905"), after the song became the anthem of worker protests during the Revolution in the Kingdom of Poland (1905–1907), when 30 workers were shot during the May Day demonstrations in Warsaw in 1905.
Contents
According to one version, Wacław Święcicki wrote the song in 1879 while serving a sentence in the Tenth Pavilion of the Warsaw Citadel for socialist activity. Another popular version has it written in 1883, immediately upon Święcicki's return from exile in Siberia. By the beginning of the next decade the song became one of the most popular revolutionary anthems in Russian-held Poland. The music was written by composer Józef Pławiński, who was imprisoned together with Święcicki, based partially on the January Uprising song "Marsz Żuawów".
Lyrics and variants
Its Russian version with altered lyrics, which removed any mention of Warsaw from the song, the "Varshavianka" (Варшавянка), once experienced considerable popularity. Gleb Krzhizhanovsky is usually reported as the author of the Russian version and the moment of writing the text is thought to be 1897, when Krzhizhanovsky was imprisoned.
The Spanish song "To The Barricades" is set to the same tune. In East Germany, a German translation was created and used as a common piece of marching music by the Army; whilst France's 1st Parachute Hussar Regiment adopted the same music using different lyrics.
In 1924, Isadora Duncan composed a dance routine called Varshavianka to the tune of the song.
An English version of the lyrics, originally titled "March Song of the Workers", but known more widely as "Whirlwinds of Danger", was written by Douglas Robson, a member of the Industrial Workers of the World in the 1920s. A London recording of this version by "Rufus John" Goss, made ca. 1925, is available online. It was notably sung by Paul Robeson (only the first stanza) and Leon Lishner (full version, but with modified lyrics),. A different version, which kept Robson's first stanza, but with the second and third completely rewritten by Randall Swingler, was published in 1938. However, this version never achieved major popularity.
In movies
The first words of the Russian version served as a name for 1953 film Hostile Whirlwinds.
In Doctor Zhivago, an instrumental version of the song is played by the peaceful demonstrators in Moscow.
The song, in version performed by The Red Army Choir, featured in the opening scene of "The Jackal" (credited as "Warsovienne") as well as in the submarine scene of "Hail, Caesar!" (credited as "Varchavianka").