At a Warsaw Rally for voice and piano (1955)

This only popular song in the catalogue of Baird’s works was written and published to mark the 5th World Festival of Youth and Students for Peace and Friendship, which took place in the summer of 1955 in Warsaw, shortly after the opening of the Palace of Culture and Science. The composer used a work by Helena Kołaczkowska, which tells a story of a young girl preparing for a rally and intending to meet a boy of her dreams. Like the lyrics, the music, too, is uncomplicated. It has a simple rhythm in duple metre and Allegretto con grazia tempo, a tuneful melody of folk provenance, tonal harmony (the key of A minor), homophonic texture as well as a clear periodical structure.