This year’s Bolesławiec Days opened to the sound of a fanfare performed from the town hall tower by trumpeters from the Polfowska orchestra. This pleasant ceremony had been abandoned in recent years, and credit is due to the organizers of the 1994 Bolesławiec Days for returning to the tradition.
The town hall fanfare was, is and will always be an adornment of municipal events, and when it was performed in years past, it aroused great interest and appreciation among the town’s residents and visitors.
We would like to introduce the young readers of Głos, as well as everyone else interested, to the author of Bolesławiec’s fanfare and, on this occasion, write a few sentences about the circumstances surrounding its creation.
Józef Dolecki (known to his friends as JOZO) came to Bolesławiec with a large group of Polish re-emigrants from Yugoslavia in the autumn of 1946. In 1947, the song, music and dance ensemble “Jutrzenka” was reactivated from this group (in Yugoslavia, the ensemble cultivated Polish folklore and was called DANICA, which also meant “Jutrzenka”). The ensemble was reactivated by Ignacy Kunecki, with the participation of Filip Zielonka and Józef Dolecki (instrumental ensemble). Jozo was a beginner, talented amateur musician. He earned the qualifications of a mature musician and instructor several years later by studying at the School of Music Instructors in Łódź, where he took lessons from leading masters (Lasocki, Skorupka, Skinder, Kolasiński, Straszyński, Sielski and other well-known musicians who lectured at the school). After graduating, Dolecki established choirs, vocal-instrumental ensembles and instrumental groups in Nowogrodziec and Bolesławiec.
At that time, Bolesławiec had a railway wind orchestra led by Andrzej Pajda. After the expansion of the “Wizów” Chemical Works, around which the cultural life of the time was concentrated, a large wind orchestra was formed at “Wizów”. It absorbed the railway musicians and former military musicians, and the position of bandmaster was entrusted to instructor Dolecki.
Working at “Wizów” began the longest and most significant chapter of Józef Dolecki’s life. This chapter comprised 30 years of promoting various forms of culture and art, first at the Factory Club located in the building of today’s District Court (which housed a dormitory for the chemical school, with a common room and club), and later at the company cultural center on Nowotki Street, now Mikołaja Brody Street.
Thousands of children, young people and adults inspired by Dolecki sang, danced, played instruments, took photographs, made films, learned foreign languages and participated in hundreds of cultural and entertainment events.
The Wizów cultural center was home, among other things, to the town’s first and only film section, whose members recorded important municipal events and celebrations on film. Jozo still keeps these reels today, and the material certainly deserves the attention of historians preparing a monograph of the town.
And this is how the town hall fanfare came about: toward the end of the 1950s, regional cultural days began to be organized (something like the Bolesławiec Days). The then chairman of the Municipal Council, mgr Michał Skoczeń, and the head of the culture department, Stanisława Szwabowska, announced an open competition for a town hall fanfare. Several works were submitted, including a composition by Józef Dolecki. The jury selected this particular work. From then on (starting in 1961), the fanfare rang out from the town hall tower throughout the May cultural days of Bolesławiec, performed by trumpeters from the military orchestra. Thanks to the efforts of the town hall clock’s caretaker, Mr. Adam Kowalski, in later years the fanfare was played daily from magnetic tape at noon, after the clock struck twelve. After several years, when the clock was sent for repairs, the fanfare ceased to sound.
Józef Dolecki is now a pensioner and a military invalid. He was entrusted with the voluntary position of president of the Bolesławiec branch of the Association of War Invalids of the Republic of Poland.
He was unable to part with music. After retiring, he continued for more than 10 years to teach children and young people at the State Music School, as a teacher in the cello class. His former student and State Music School graduate, Dorota Straburzyńska, is continuing her studies at the Academy of Music in Poznań, joining Zbigniew Górny’s famous orchestra whenever needed. Other graduates are studying in various cities across the country. Józef Dolecki also leads a 31-member school orchestra, a cello ensemble and a male vocal quartet at the State Music School. He performs with his students at all events organized by the school.
At school and among his colleagues, Jozo is valued and respected for his modesty, collegiality, expertise and, most often, selfless hard work.