Special Musical Presentation Following This Weekend’s Masses…

Following the weekend Masses we want to share with you an audio link to our past. Recently, while going through some old files in the rectory, we came across a set of two 78 speed records. The recording was made here at St. John Kanty Church over 65 years ago and is called ‘Pasterka’, which is the traditional Polish midnight Mass celebration. There are 68 choir members listed on the jacket; at that time Professor John Lezon was the choir director and Msgr Joseph Glapinski was pastor.

As a prelude to this we also included a 45 speed record titled ‘Hymns of Solidarity’, recorded here in 1985 when Msgr Robert Golombek was pastor. The Ars Nova musicians, Mary Louise Nanna, Conductor, provided the music, and the vocal was provided by the University of Buffalo and Canisius College choral groups. The presentation will last 28 minutes. The cost to turn these treasures into the current format, which is digital CD’s, was donated by a parishioner. We hope you can stay and enjoy this music 65 years after it was first sung here at St. John Kanty. 

In 1936, at the age of 27 Jan J. Lezon,  came to Buffalo to be the organist at St. John Kanty. Prior to arriving in Buffalo he held the position of director of all church choirs in the state of Massachusetts. In addition to studying at the University of Buffalo, Professor Lezon went on to attend the Eastman Konservatory, now the Eastman School of Music in Rochester. He composed several musical scores and was also the director of The Kalina Singing Society, a Polish Women’s Choral group formed in 1901 that is still in existence.

Msgr. Josef Glapinski, Pastor from 1941-1957, made the commitment to rebuild St. John Kanty following the fire of ’55.

It is interesting to note that the family names of some of the chorus members listed on the album cover are still represented within the SJK community! 

Pasterka - click on photo to enlarge

Pasterka – click on photo to enlarge