Poland is not yet lost as long as we still live.
The once world-famous legionnaire's song was composed in 1797 by General Josef Wybicki, a participant of the Napoleonic campaigns in Italy. The composer of the folk melody was Michal Kleofas Oginski for a while. Dabrowski, who is mentioned in the text of the hymn, was the commander of the Polish troops that took Poznan in 1806. That was when the song is said to have been sung for the first time.
The beautiful, though somewhat simple melody almost invited me to "build" a prelude and a fugue out of it - especially since my son-in-law has Polish roots. So I dedicated this piece to him.
There is not much to say about the piece itself, there is a little riddle in the fugue in the pedal from bar 84 on ... it obviously happened by chance while composing, and I only noticed it when I listened to the finished piece ... who comes up with it?