37 Musicologica Olomucensia 31 – June 2020 Czechs in Poland in the 19th and 20th Century and Their Influence on the Development of Polish National Music Magdalena Dziadek It is a well-known fact that a lot of Czech musicians worked in Poland in the 18 th century and the frst half of the 19 th century. Tey were German-speaking and typically took the positions of directors, orchestra musicians and teachers in private or public institutions. Tey were held in high esteem on the professional grounds. However, over the years their infuence on the development of Polish national music remained vague, which was to change only with the appearance of two illustrious individuals: Jan Stefani and Wilem Würfel. Jan Stefani, the musical director at the court of the last Polish king Stanislaw August Poniatowski, later the director of the National Teatre in Warszawa is considered to be the author of the frst Polish national opera. It was staged in 1794 under the title Cud mniemany czyli Krakowiacy i górale [Te Pretended Miracle or Krakovians and Highlanders] and represented the so called idyllic op- era, taking place in a rural setting. When it comes to its music style, it combined the style of Mozart with the use of some elements taken from Polish national music, such as the motifs typical of Polish national dances: mazur, polonaise and krakowiak. Wilem Würfel, the pupil of Václav Jan Tomášek, worked in Warszawa as a piano teacher from 1815. He is the author of several polonaises published in Warszawa, but the most important trace of his ties with Polish national music is Grande fantaisie lugubre au souvenir des trois héros Prince Joseph Poniatowski, Kościuszko, et Dąbrowski, composé et dediée à la nation polonaise (Warsaw, 1818). Te composition expemplifes a genre of fantasias fourishing in Poland at that time; its characteristic feature was the use of narrative elements and quotations to express Polish nationalism. Würfel illustrated, among others, the sounds of the bells from the famous Polish churches and put a quotation taken from the patriotic anthem Mazurek Dąbrowskiego (nowadays, it is the Polish national anthem). One can also point out the similarity between Würfel’s polonaises,