Although my last name is associated with the visual arts—painting in particular—I have to say that music has always played a major role in my life. What began as a curated LP collection eventually became a curated CD collection, and now exists mostly through music streaming. My tastes run wide, from Gregorian chant to the masters of classical music, to jazz and rock. While I enjoy listening to music, making music has always been even better.
Those of us with slightly geekish tendencies often find a home in bands. In high school, that meant wind ensembles and pit orchestras, playing clarinet and saxophone. In college, marching band provided instant friendships through practices, games, and road trips. These days, I’ve turned my admittedly modest talents to choir singing—either with my church choir or in combined community choirs. All in all, I’m far more a musical enthusiast and amateur musician than a truly accomplished one.
When it comes to genuine musical talent, however, I have to turn to my wife’s side of the family. Her family is Polish, though because much of Poland was under Russian rule at the time, their country of origin was often listed simply as Russia. One particularly intriguing ancestor—whom we’ve met before—was Wincenty (or Vincent) Działakiewicz, who emigrated from Hamburg in 1904. Born on 5 April 1884, his first 20 years in Poland were eventful. According to family stories, he aspired to the priesthood and attended seminary. There is also a tradition that he received conservatory training, possibly in Warsaw, though documentary evidence is scarce. What we do know is that his ship manifest listed him as an organist, bound for Brooklyn.
At the time, Russia was drafting young men from seminaries for service in the Russo-Japanese War of 1904–1905. Unwilling to fight for the empire that was oppressing his homeland, Vincent was smuggled out of Poland to Germany, where he embarked for America—and freedom.
In Brooklyn, he met his future wife, Zophia Wysocka, who also came from a family of Polish patriots, and they married less than four years after his arrival. Beyond his family, Vincent’s great loves were music and the Polish Catholic Church. He expressed both through his work as an organist at Polish parishes in Naugatuck, Connecticut, and Glen Cove, Long Island, where he died in 1959. One family story holds that he was a friend—possibly even a student—of the great Polish pianist and nationalist Ignacy Paderewski, and that Paderewski visited him while touring the United States.
As for later generations, my daughter took piano lessons for years and became quite accomplished. My son, however, showed exceptional musical ability, studying classical guitar at the Manhattan School of Music and later film score composition at the Seattle Film Institute. Although he didn’t pursue a high-profile career, he has performed on occasion and, like his father, sings in his church choir—though with considerably stronger musicianship.
My children inherited my enthusiasm for music, but fortunately for them, they were also blessed with far more talent.
Note: The picture is of St. Joseph's Roman Catholic Church in Glen Cove, NY. While it's not certain that this was the church where Vincent presided as organist, it was the Polish Catholic church in Glen Cove.
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