The origin of Polish music in America is traced to the appearance of Felix Yaniewicz, an esteemed violinist, conductor, and composer who visited the young American republic sometime in the early nineteenth century. In 1805, Yaniewicz published in Philadelphia a song, “The Birth Day of Freedom,” to celebrate the American victory in the war with Tripoli. He also published a rondo, “The Indian War Whoop,” and his works appeared in several collections of music published in the United States. Polish musical activities increased following the arrival of émigrés who made their way to New World after the defeat of the November 1830 Insurrection. This small political immigration landed when there were neither Polish settlements nor organizations, nor an organized Polonia. Many insurgents were gentry. They possessed some education, and established the first Polish organizations in America. Among these exiles were a few talented composers and musicians. While their compatriots employed their cultural talents to propagate the cause of Polish independence in Europe, the new arrivals did likewise in America. Adam Kurek dedicated marches to the leaders of the November Insurrection, and Edward Bohuszewicz composed waltzes and mazurkas with romantic titles like The Polish Pilgrim and The Memory of a Polish Exile, as well as a Selection of Polish Aires. Polish patriotic songs such as The Polonez of the Third of May and The Varsovienne [Warszawianka] were also published, and Paweł Sobolewski translated and printed, “Poland is not lost.” However, these early political exiles were too small to imprint anything more than a faint, albeit positive, image of Poland upon the popular American consciousness.

The January 1863 Insurrection renewed political activity on Poland's behalf, and, after the Insurrection's defeat, a new generation of political émigrés found their way to the United States. At the same time, the growing rural immigration from partitioned Poland fundamentally changed the character of Polish life in America. As the immigrants congregated in cities, they organized the parishes and societies that became the infrastructure of American Polonia. And as the immigrants developed their social life, their inner needs and emotions found their necessary expression in cultural activities.