Polish sacred song associated with Christmas, analogous to the carol, noël and Weihnachtslied. The term derives from the Latin calendae and has various meanings related to the custom of calling at houses at Christmas with greetings and requests for gifts (accompanied by singing and acting) by a group of boys (kolędnicy), or to visits from the clergy. The term acquired musical meaning by the transference of the usual name for a visit and greeting to the song that regularly accompanied it. This probably occurred in the Middle Ages, but written evidence of the name kolęda is first found in a reference to music in the tablature of Jan z Lublina (written 1537–48). There, ‘colenda’ is used to describe several songs with melodies appropriate for Christmas. As the name of a characteristic musical style, kolęda is associated primarily with a repertory of melodies and texts composed in Poland in the 17th and 18th centuries under the influence of folk styles, particularly the mazurka and polonaise. It is necessary to distinguish between true kolędy – strophic sacred songs sung in churches and homes – and the subgroup of pastorales with texts partly or wholly secular, based on pastoral motifs and performed exclusively outside the church, mainly by carollers and at Christmas folk plays.
Evidence of songs connected with Christmas is found in Poland as early as 1124. These songs developed particularly through the spread of the Franciscan order to Poland after 1237. At first both melodies and texts belonged to an international Latin repertory, which was later supplemented, from the second half of the 14th century, with works by local composers, as shown by the Latin texts of the songs of Bartłomiej z Jasła. In the 15th century the first translations into Polish of Latin kolędy appeared. (Often these translations were from Czech; ten texts of this type are extant and some of their melodies have been identified.) Some polyphonic arrangements are known, both local (in PL-Wn 8054) and imported (in Kj 18, Pr 1361, and Tm 2015). Many melodies with Polish texts survive from the 16th century, both in manuscript Catholic hymnbooks (primarily Benedictine, in Staniątki, near Kraków, from the end of the 16th century) and printed Protestant hymnbooks (notably those of Walenty z Brzozowa, 1554 and 1563, and Artomius, 1587 and 1596). Three versions of a single kolęda are contained in the tablature of Jan z Lublina, and a large corpus of kolędy was published in printed leaflet form around 1550 (including one by Wacław z Szamotuł). The melodies of these pieces were largely derived from an international repertory of medieval songs, and apart from their textual association with Christmas they do not constitute a group of any distinct musical character.
Kolędy in their proper form and pastorales, their secularized variants, proliferated in the 17th and 18th centuries. These kolędy, as yet not fully examined, are anonymous and were the result of spontaneous popular creation. A pastoral strain is predominant, combining local rural elements, lyricism and, occasionally, crude humour, often addressed to actual situations or people. Their melodies adopt the popular folk style of their region (e.g. Mazovia or Podhale), or are of particular types like the lyrical lullaby, or, more commonly, the mazurka and the polonaise (common to the whole of Poland). It is also possible to find in them motifs from west European dances, like the moresca, saraband and minuet. In the 17th century the melodies of kolędy permeated ambitious artistic works (e.g. Patrem na rotuły by Bartłomiej Pękiel) and became the basis of choral works and staged pastorales (by S.S. Szarzyński and Józef Kobierkowicz). In the 19th century the kolęda took on a stylized quality. The melody of one was quoted by Chopin in the Scherzo in Bminor (‘Lulajże Jezuniu’). Later, attention was concentrated on choral arrangements of kolędy (by Stanisław Niewiadomski, J.A. Maklakiewicz, Feliks Nowowiejski). The great popularity of the kolęda and the richness of its repertory have led it to its retention as a special feature of Polish Christmas customs.
Ceremonies of various names etymologically related to kolęda(such as the Romanian kolenda) form an important part of non-Christian winter solstice celebrations throughout eastern Europe, from the Baltic and Russia to Greece. These ceremonies have common characteristics, including the performance of songs wishing luck to the hearers and of rituals by masked dancers to drive away evil spirits; singers and dancers are usually rewarded with food, drink or money by householders. It is possible that the Polish Christian custom originated in the assimilation of Christian symbols into such winter solstice celebrations.
See also Bulgaria, §II, 2(ii); Czech Republic, §II, 1(i); Romania, §II, (iii)(b); Russian federation, §III, 1(ii); Ukraine, §II, 2(i); and Yugoslavia, §III, 1(i)(a).
MGG2 (P. Poźniak)
S. Dobrzycki: Kolędy polskie i czeskie: ich wzajemny stosunek [Polish and Czech kolędy: their relationship to each other] (Poznań, 1930)
J. Prosnak: ‘Melodie “Symfonii anielskich”’ [The melodies of angelic symphonies], Muzyka, vii/4 (1962), 68–86
B. Andrzejczak: ‘Rękopis z 1721 roku, źródło do historii polskiej kolędy’ [A manuscript of 1721, source for the history of the Polish kolędy], Muzyka, xi/1 (1966), 37–72
J. Nowak-Dłużewski, ed.: Kolędy polskie [Polish kolędy] (Warsaw, 1966)
K. Hławiczka: ‘Vom Quempas-Singen in Polen’, JbLH, xii (1967), 149–54; xiii (1968), 151–2
B. Krzyżaniak: ‘Informacje o ludowych instrumentach muzycznych w tekstach kolęd’ [Information on popular musical instruments in kolędy texts], Muzyka, xvii/4 (1972), 116–21
T. Maciejewski: Zasób utworów z ksiąg Archikonfraterni literackiej w Warszawie 1668–1829 [The collection of works from the books of the Archikonfraterni Literacka in Warsaw, 1668–1829] (Warsaw, 1972)
K. Mrowiec: ‘Kolędy w osiemnastowiecznych rękopisach Biblioteki klasztoru Św. Andrzeja w Krakowie’ [Kolędy in 18th-century manuscripts in the library of St Andrzej's monastery, Kraków], Muzyka, xviii/3 (1973), 29–50
A. Filaber: ‘Kolędy polskie w rękopisach XV i początku XVI wieku’ [Polish kolędy in manuscripts of the 15th and early 16th centuries], Muzyka religijna w Polsce, i/1 (Warsaw, 1975), 15–57
B. Krzyżaniak: Kantyczki z rękopisów karmelitanskich [Canticles from Carmelite manuscripts] (Kraków, 1977)
W. Marchwica: ‘Pastorelle ze zbiorów gidelskich’ [Pastorales from the collection in Gidle], Muzyka, xxxv/2 (1990), 65–81
MIROSŁAW PERZ