Poland [Polish Republic]

(Pol. Rzeczpospolita Polska).

Country in eastern Europe. Christianity was introduced in the late 10th century, and in 1025 Bolesław I became the country’s first king. With the death of Bolesław III (1138) the kingdom was divided into principalities and was threatened by outside powers, but it was reunited in the 14th century by Wladisław I and his son Kasimir the Great. By the Union of Lublin (1569) Poland absorbed Lithuania, thus reaching its maximum extent, and subsequently prospered both economically and culturally. In the 18th century the country was attacked by both Sweden and Russia, losing considerable territory; by the First Partition of Poland (1772) much of the country became West Prussia, while Lithuania was lost to Russia and Galicia to Austria. By the Second Partition (1793) further territory was lost and the country was reduced to a third of its former size; with the Third Partition (1795) the remaining territory was divided between Russia, Prussia and Austria. A result of the constant interchanges of domination of parts of present-day Poland, notably Silesia, Pomerania and West Prussia, is that at times they have partaken of German cultural traditions, especially such cities as Wrocław (Breslau), Gdańsk (Danzig), Szczecin (Stettin) and Legnica (Liegnitz); while L'vov (Pol. Lwów; Ger. Lemberg), now in Ukraine, has partly Polish traditions.

There were suppressed insurrections and changes of territory during the 19th century, but it was not until 1918 that Poland achieved independence. By that time more than a third of the population consisted of minorities, Germans, Ukrainians, Belarusians, Lithuanians and Jews, all of whom influenced musical life. The German invasion of Poland precipitated World War II, after which the country became a socialist state until 1989.

I. Art music

II. Traditional music

KATARZYNA MORAWSKA (I, 1), ZYGMUNT M. SZWEYKOWSKI (I, 2), ZOFIA CHECHLIŃSKA (I, 3), ADRIAN THOMAS (I, 4), JAN STĘSZEWSKI (II, 1–7), KRZYSTOF ĆWIŻEWICZ (II, 8)

Poland

I. Art music

1. To 1600.

2. 1600–1750.

3. 1750–1900.

4. Since 1900.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Poland, §I: Art music

1. To 1600.

The earliest signs of music on the terrain of modern Poland are remains of instruments dating from the Palaeolithic, Neolithic and later periods, found in the Małopolska, Kujawy and Wielkopolska regions: bone and clay whistles, rattles and pipes used in battle, hunting, worship and recreation. Indirect records of music are included in the Life of Methodius and other writings of the 10th and 11th centuries by Theophylactus, Theophanes and Ibrahim-Ibn-Jakub. By about the 9th century an extensive range of musical instruments was in use in the lands inhabited by the Vistulans (now the Kraków region) and Polanians (now the Gniezno region), and there was playing, singing and dancing at the duke's court and at cult sites.

After 966, when Mieszko I, ruler of the Polanians, introduced Western Christianity, the Church destroyed and obliterated traces of pagan culture. Centres for the propagation of the Church's own culture (including music to serve the new rituals) were established at the duke's court, in bishoprics and in monasteries. The first liturgical books containing Roman chant were imported from the Czechs and the Germans, and include the Codex aureus (latter half of the 11th century), the Tyniec Sacramentary (c1060), and the Missale plenarium, Wrocław Pontificale and Pontificale of the Kraków bishop (11th and 12th centuries). The oldest traces of a local chant tradition date from the start of the 13th century and are associated with cults of Polish saints. There are sequences, hymns and rhymed Offices in honour of St Wojciech (Adalbert), St Stanisław (e.g. the Office Dies adest celebris attributed to Wincenty z Kielc, c1200–1260) and St Jadwiga. This early chant writing reached its peak during the 15th century. The beginning of the 14th century saw the appearance of the first manuscripts containing local versions of the liturgical rite plus chant specifically intended for Polish dioceses (e.g. the Wiślica Gradual written for Kraków). Despite prohibitions by the Church authorities, this practice survived the reforms of the Council of Trent in the form of the Piotkrowski Chant which was sung throughout Poland at the end of the 16th century and start of the 17th. Other kinds of chant (e.g. Benedictine and Cistercian) were sung in monastic houses. From the 14th century to the end of the 16th century an increasing number of Polish liturgical manuscripts with music were recorded in numerous monastery and cathedral scriptoria, while in the 16th century liturgical books of music were also printed.

Information about musical culture, musical life and secular music during the Piast dynasty – from the reign of Duke Mieszko I to that of King Kasimir the Great (d 1370) – appears in Polish chronicles, for example those of Gallus Anonymous (early 12th century), Wincenty Kadłubek (1150–1223) and Jan Długosz (1415–80), and also in liturgical volumes and other documents. Diverse song types were cultivated during the period, including knightly, military and epic songs as well as the lyric (which drew on Minnesang and was heard at kings' and magnates' courts). The sole surviving example of a religious hymn with a melody and a Polish text is Bogurodzica, dating from the end of the 13th century. This piece was extraordinarily popular at the time but was not notated until 1407. Itinerant home-bred musicians, courtly and civic musicians, instrumentalists and singers performed at courts and in towns throughout Poland. An ever-increasing range of West European instruments was employed; there are mentions of bells (c1038) and of organs at the court of Kasimir the Just (c1177–94). Ludi teatrales involving singing and dancing were staged. Musical notation was known; there were many educated scribes; schooling (which included the study of music) was developing; and in the mid-13th century the first original theoretical-musical inscriptions were recorded in volumes of the liturgy. Yet despite these developments, no music representing them has survived. So the first examples of possibly native polyphonic music added in the 14th century to 12th- and 13th-century liturgical volumes from the convents of the Poor Clares in Stary Sącz and Kraków are regarded as epoch-making. These inscriptions consist of organum accompaniments to the chants Benedicamus Domino, Iube Domine and Surrexit Christus hodie. Another manuscript from Stary Sącz contains organa, a four-voice conductus Omnia beneficia and fragments of motets in the style of the Notre Dame school. Meanwhile Silesian sources of the time include motets in Ars Nova style, by Phillipe de Vitry and others.

During the 15th and 16th centuries, when the Polish state was at the height of its political power under the Jagellonian dynasty (from Władysław Jagiełło's coronation in 1386 to the death of Zygmunt II August in 1572) the medieval traditions of musical culture gradually yielded to new trends. Music, however, still retained its status as an ancillary, utilitarian craft. There is a striking contrast between the scant quantity of Polish music that has survived and the widespread practice and teaching of music in Poland. The royal court maintained vocal and instrumental groups and solo musicians of every kind: a modest ensemble at the end of the 14th century, a European-scale cappella under the last Jagellons, a modern ballet and opera company at Zygmunt III's court. The same range of musicians was employed at the magnates' courts, by the nobility and Church dignitaries, in cathedrals, churches and religious houses, and in towns (particularly the larger cities like Kraków, Gdańsk, Poznań and Warsaw). Music-making was supplied on demand: foreign musicians (Russians, Germans, Czechs, Netherlanders and later Italians) were hired and even specially imported, while native musicians were taught in German-style church schools and, in the 16th century, in cathedrals, courts, Dissenters' schools and other centres. The Kraków Academy and colleges that offered a high standard of instruction taught arithmeticum cum musica based on Johannes de Muris's treatise, as well as musica choralis and musica mensuralis. This teaching made reference to Guido of Arezzo, Ornitoparchus, Listenius, Spangenberg and also Polish theoretical works, for the most part manuals of plainchant and musica mensuralis, for example the 15th-century Musica magistri Szydlovite and, from the first half of the 16th century, the works of Sebastian z Felsztyna, Jerzy Liban and Marek z Płocka. At the very end of the 16th century education became dominated by the Jesuits. Assorted instruments were imported from abroad or built locally, e.g. in the 16th-century lute and violin workshops of Marcin Groblicz and B. Dankwart or, during the 15th and 16th centuries, in master organ-builders' workshops up and down the country. In the latter half of the 16th century the lute became extremely popular; unfortunately none of these instruments has survived, not even fragmentarily. A widely performed repertory of European and native music was disseminated first in manuscripts (prepared by countless scribes and writers of tablature) then at the beginning of the 16th century by means of imported presses. Local printing houses were soon established, first mainly in Kraków (Florian Ungler, Hieronim Wietor, Jan Haller, the Siebeneichers, Łazarz Andrysowicz) and then in Gdańsk, Toruń and Vilnius. Reformation circles also set up numerous presses in smaller centres.

The margins of liturgical volumes and other manuscripts contained many examples of monodies set to secular texts, Polish-language songs and primitive organum-type polyphonic works set to religious texts: carols, Marian hymns, songs etc. At the start of the 1440s, manuscripts of considerable artistic merit began to appear which included movements of the mass and motets combining features of the Italian school of Ciconia and Zacharias with the Burgundian style, or combining ballade style with elements of conductus, fauxbourdon and imitative technique. Native composition is represented here by Mikołaj z Radomia and various anonymous compositions, for example a student song Breve regnum, a piece in honour of Kraków, Cracovia civitas, and countless hymns with religious texts. This repertory is included in two important manuscripts: no.378 (lost) and no.8054 from the Biblioteka Narodowa in Warsaw. The latter half of the 15th century saw the cultivation of the eclectic song-motet typical of Central European (German, Silesian, Czech and Polish) circles, which combined elements of Ars Antiqua and Ars Nova styles, plus the styles of the Ciconia and Burgundian schools. Examples are Piotr z Grudziądza's music (which is scattered throughout various sources) and the repertory of the Glogauer Liederbuch. The seeds of polyphony in the imitative Franco-Flemish style appear in religious songs with Polish texts – Chwała tobie gospodzinie (‘Glory to Thee, O Lord’) and O najdroższy kwiatku (‘O dearest flower’) – and also, most importantly, in the music of Heinrich Finck, a German composer active in Poland.

Vocal polyphonic composition in the 16th century developed rather late by comparison with West Europe, and remained within the stylistic orbit of the Josquin school, then, to a somewhat lesser degree, the Roman school, and finally, at the end of the century, the Venetian school. From the early 16th century complete masses and individual movements of the mass, motets and songs have survived mainly in tablature notation, most of them based on cantus firmus technique (by Mikołaj z Krakowa, Mikołaj z Chrzanowa and various anonymous composers). After 1550 these pieces were published separately and in collections such as the Wawel Part-Books (16th and 17th centuries), and the Łowicz Organ Tablature (1580). In their mass cycles and motets, Marcin Leopolita, Tomasz Szadek, Krzysztof Borek and above all, Wacław z Szamotuł (two of whose compositions were published in Nuremberg in 1554 and 1564) exploited the riches of the quodlibet and parody techniques, and in addition to cantus firmus employed imitation and through-imitation, drawing on Flemish polyphony. The end of the century saw distinct elements of thoroughbass (Jan Brant) and polychoral technique (Andrzej Staniczewski, Andrzej Hackenberger and other composers of the Royal Chapel whose works W. Lilius collected in his Melodiae sacrae of 1604). However, the Polish legacy of masses and motets is slight. Considerably more songs have survived, but there is a complete absence of native chansons and madrigals. The songs are simple four-part settings of religious texts in Polish, chiefly psalms (by Mikołaj Gomółka, Cyprian Bazylik and Wacław z Szamotuł among others). In the latter half of the 16th century these pieces were published in collections and cantionals, for example the Puławski Cantional (1545–67), the Zamoyski Cantional (1558–61), and the publications of J. Seklucjan (1547) and P. Artomiusz (1587). Songs with occasional and historical themes merit special attention, including Krzysztof Klabon's cycle Pieśni Kalliopy Slowienskiey (‘Songs of the Slavonic Calliope’), which contains elements of antique metre.

Information about the practice of instrumental music survives from the earliest times; the oldest records include the Organ Tablature of Jan z Lublina (c1537–40), the Organ Tablature from the monastery of the Holy Ghost in Kraków (c1548), the Łowicz Organ Tablature (c1580) and several lesser collections and fragments. All of these tablatures are in German notation and typical in repertory and style of mid-16th century German organ music, though they include Polish pieces (by Mikołaj z Krakowa, Mikołaj z Chrzanowa, Seweryn Koń, Jakób Sowa, Marcin Wartecki and Krzysztof Klabon) as well as anonymous dances and songs with Polish incipits. Lute music is of a higher standard – particularly the original pieces in the Kraków Tablature (c1550) composed by Polish lutenists and foreign lutenists resident in Poland (Valentin Bakfark; the Italian, Diomedes Cato; Jakub Polak, who lived in France; and Wojciech Długoraj). Lute pieces by these composers were published in the most important collections of lute music in Western Europe dating from the turn of the 17th century (e.g. those of J.-B. Besard and Joachim van den Hove).

Poland, §I: Art music

2. 1600–1750.

King Zygmunt III's hiring of 23 Italian musicians for his Chapel Royal around 1600 had a decisive influence on Polish music in initiating a strong Italian presence. More than 100 Italians are recorded as working at the Chapel Royal in the first half of the century, among them composers (Vincenzo Bertolusi, Giovanni Valentini (i), Tarquinio Merula) and virtuoso singers (Baldassare Ferri, Margharita Cattaneo), under Italian maestri up to 1649 (Luca Marenzio, Asprilio Pacelli, Giovanni Francesco Anerio, Marco Scacchi). Then, until 1699, the maestri were Poles (Bartłomiej Pękiel and Jacek Różycki), after which the coronation of the Saxon elector August II as king of Poland led to a connection with the Dresden chapel. The Chapel Royal had its most magnificent period during the first half of the 17th century, when its modern repertory and high standards of performance left their mark on the works of native composers, especially Adam Jarzębski, Marcin Mielczewski and Pękiel. The royal establishment also influenced the newly founded or refounded chapels of such magnates as Stanisław Lubomirski, Mikołaj Wolski, W.D. Zasławski and the Radziwiłłs, who also engaged Italians, especially singers.

The royal court's move to Warsaw at the start of the 17th century stimulated the development of a new musical centre there, but Kraków continued to play an important role. State celebrations still took place there, bringing the Chapel Royal from Warsaw; the Rorantists' music remained active; and a new musical establishment was instituted at the cathedral in 1619, with 30 singers and instrumentalists, again under Italian maestri (Annibale Orgas and Franciszek Lilius in the first half of the century), though at the end of the century the maestro was Grzegorz Gerwazy Gorczycki, the outstanding Polish composer of the late Baroque. Smaller musical establishments existed in many of the churches in Kraków at that time, some of them – including those of the Jesuits and Carmelites, according to surviving inventories – with rich repertories. The Jesuits, in particular, had musical boarding schools and religious houses around the country. Speculative music theory was taught at the Kraków Academy throughout the Baroque period, and printing houses in the city issued liturgical books, four-part Protestant songs in cantionals, and music primers. Melodiae sacrae (Kraków, 1604), a collection of 20 pieces by royal musicians, is the single most ambitious musical publication produced in Poland during this century, in the second half of which music printing declined.

The presence of Italians inevitably had a great effect in introducing the new styles of monody and recitative. Merula's Satiro e Corisca, performed in Warsaw in 1625, is a particularly interesting and influential example, its strict but emotional recitative deriving from the style of Monteverdi. Ten operas were performed by the Chapel Royal between 1635 and 1648, all with librettos by the king's secretary, Virgilio Puccitelli, who showed originality in his clear ideological programmes. His librettos were published in Warsaw and Vilnius, but the music is lost; we know only that the composers were members of the Chapel Royal (Scacchi, for example, was responsible for Il ratto di Helena). After the death of Władysław IV, in 1648, operatic productions were rare.

Polychoral music was known in Poland early in the 17th century, the outstanding representative being Mikołaj Zieleński's Offertoria/Communiones totius anni (Venice, 1611), a collection of more than 150 settings for seven, eight or twelve voices, close to early Giovanni Gabrieli in style. Later composers, such as Mielczewski and Pękiel, adhered more to the later Venetian school or, when writing in prima pratica, to the Roman polychoral school. In sacred concertato works, again known from the first decades of the century, the Venetian tradition prevails, but Roman character is found too. Of secular songs, very few have been preserved with their music, since only texts were printed.

Organists active during the 17th century included Adam of Wągrowiec, Andrzej Niżankowski (a pupil of Frescobaldi), Pękiel and Andrzej Rohaczewski; almost none of their keyboard music has survived. Chamber music flourished, mainly of Venetian fantasia and canzona types, as exemplified by the works of Zieleński, Mielczewski and Jarzębski, the trios of whose canzonas show a distinctly Polish style before 1627, privileging the violins and thereby suggesting a connection with the 16th-century tradition of violin-making in the Groblicz and Dankwart families. A local tradition existed too in church music, defined by quotations from sacred or secular songs regarded as Polish (to be found in Mielczewski, Pękiel, Stanisław Sylwester Szarzyński, Gorczycki and others). There are also mazurka rhythms in Mielczewski's canzonas; in the late 17th century, folkdance came to have a great effect on sacred music for Christmas. Mazurka, oberek and polonaise quotations, and stylizations of a folk band (drones, natural trumpet sounds, open fifths), appear in works by, for example, Szarzyński, Józef Kobierkowicz, Jacek Szczurowski and Mateusz Zwierzchowski.

In the first half of the 18th century there were composers active throughout the republican era, such as Andrzej Sieprawski, Siewiński and Policki, but no outstanding personalities appeared. Religious music dominated, especially the ensemble cantata, solo cantatas being much rarer. In cantatas by Wołoszko, Zwierzchowski, Marcin Józef Żebrowski, Antoni Milwid and Szczurowski and others, the transition from late Baroque to early Classical style can be charted.

Poland, §I: Art music

3. 1750–1900.

Polish musical life of the second half of the 18th century revolved around the royal court, the private manor houses and the churches. There was also sporadic growth of public concerts in towns, the repertory of which often included works by composers of the Mannheim and Viennese schools. Stanisław II (1764–95), the last polish king, actively encouraged the cultural life of his country, and among the institutions he founded was the National Theatre in Warsaw (1765) which staged Italian, French and German works as well as operas by Polish composers; the first Polish opera was staged there in 1778. In the 1780s municipal theatres were established in Lwów (1780), Kraków (1781), Lublin (1782), Poznań (1783) and Wilnio (1785), and numerous operas were also performed at private manor houses. Performances of symphonies were equally popular during this period; in 1781 Haydn's symphonies were performed in Poland for the first time. Contemporary Polish composers who wrote symphonies include Dankowski, Gołąbek, Milwid and Jan Wański. Poland also played host to some of the most celebrated European musicians of the time, including Pugnani, Giovanni Battista Viotti and Jan Ladislaw Dussek. In 1795 Poland lost its independence, and for the whole of the 19th century was divided between Russia, Prussia and Austria. The main centre of Polish music in the 19th century was Warsaw, followed closely by Lwów. In Warsaw, the new National Theatre building opened in 1779 and in 1833 the company moved to the newly built Teatr Wielki (Grand, or Wielki, Theatre). This was the only musical institution in Poland which continued to function throughout the entire 19th century, and which had a secure financial basis through support from the (Russian) authorities. After Warsaw, the most important opera theatre in Poland during the 19th century was the Municipal Theatre in Lemberg (Lwów). Especially in the second half of the 19th century, the theatre gave many premières of works by Polish composers, because these were not welcomed by the Russian government in Warsaw. The opera ensembles in Warsaw and Lemberg gave guest performances in other Polish cities, including Kraków, Lublin and Kalisz. Opera performances were also given at theatres in other cities, especially Kraków and Poznań.

Public concert life was dominated by benefit concerts and by programmes comprising many short items played by different performers. The latter type of concert, which was typical in Western Europe during the first half of the 19th century, remained popular in Poland through the later part of the century. These concerts usually featured solo performances and small chamber ensembles. Besides leading Polish performers (including Szymanowska, Lipiński, Chopin, Wieniawski and Paderewski), the most famous European musicians performed in Poland, among them Hummel, Paganini, Dreyschock, Vieuxtemps, Pasta, Liszt and Saint-Saëns. Orchestral music, including that by native composers, was rarely performed, due to the lack of permanent orchestras other than opera orchestras. There were cycles of subscription concerts devoted mainly to chamber music in Warsaw (from 1817) and subsequently in Kraków, Lemberg and smaller towns such as Lublin. In addition, concerts of religious music took place in churches. The number and variety of concerts gradually increased during the course of the century, primarily through the activities of the music societies which were created in many Polish cities. These societies had their own choirs and often their own amateur orchestras, and sometimes even supported music schools (for example, the Galician Music Society in Lemberg, the Warsaw Music Society and the Kraków Music Society). In the second half of the century many choral societies were created, initially in the region of Wielkopolska (Greater Poland) which was under Prussian occupation. The first such societies were formed in the 1860s, and were followed by choral societies in other regions such as the Lutnia Society in Lemberg (1880) and the Lutnia Society in Warsaw (1886).

The first conservatory to provide a full range of music education in Poland was founded in Warsaw in 1821 as the Institute for Singing and Declamation. Its principal was Józef Elsner, later the teacher of Chopin. After the failure of the November Uprising the conservatory was closed down in 1831; its functions were later taken over by the Music Institute (1861), which became the Warsaw Conservatory after World War I.

The 19th century saw a considerable growth in writings on music and music criticism, and the appearance of the first Polish music journals. The most important of these were published in Warsaw: Tygodnik muzyczny (‘Musical Weekly’, 1820, edited by Karol Kurpiński); Ruch muzyczny (‘Musical Movement’, 1857, edited by Józef Sikorski), and Echo muzyczne (‘Musical Echo’, 1877, edited by Jan Kleczyński). The leading figures in Polish music criticism included Maurycy Mochnacki, Sikorski, Józef Kenig, Maurycy Karasowski and Kleczyński. The beginnings of Polish musical lexicography date from the middle of the century; its most important manifestation was the dictionary of Polish musicians by Wojciech Sowiński, Les musiciens polonais et slaves anciens et modernes (Paris, 1857). Research into early Polish music began in the first years of the century and gave rise to many publications on this subject, together with concerts of early music and the publication of numerous works, including J. Cichocki’s Chants d’église a pleusiers voix des anciens compositeurs polonais (Warsaw, 1838) and the important four-volume source by Józef Surzyński, Monumenta musices sacrae in Polonia (Poznań, 1885–96). From the beginning of the century folksongs were also collected. The most important research in this field was by Oskar Kolberg, whose monumental work was without precedent in Europe. He collected more than 15,000 melodies, of which he published almost 9000 in 33 volumes between 1865 and 1890.

There was also a growth in music publishing. The first part of the century saw the creation of a series of small, mostly short-lived, firms, including Klukowski, Friedlein, Józef Zawadzki and J.K. Żupański. Especially after 1850, several larger music publishers were founded, some of which continued into the 20th century. These included Gebethner & Wolff and Sennewald, both based in Warsaw, and Juliusz Wildt, based in Krakó. The output of these firms was dominated by solo and chamber works; the relatively few orchestral, choral and operatic works that were published tended to appear in piano reductions. For example, Gebethner & Wolff published a short score of Halka by Moniuszko in 1857, and one of the opera Monbar by I.F. Dobrzyński in 1863. The 19th century also witnessed a growth in the manufacture of musical instruments, notably of pianos. The best-known Polish piano manufacturers were Antoni Leszczyński, Krall & Seidler, and Fryderyk Buchholz, who had his factory in Warsaw from 1815 to 1837. Chopin had a piano by Buchholz in his Warsaw apartment.

In the 19th century Poland produced many performers of European renown. These included the violinists Karol Lipiński, Apolinary Kątski, Henryk Wieniawski and Stanisław Barcewicz, the cellist Aleksander Wierzbiłłowicz, the pianists Maria Szymanowska, Antoni Kątski, Aleksander Michałowski, Paderewski, Natalia Janotha and Józef Wieniawski, and the singers Władysław Mierzwiński, the Reszke family, Aleksander Bandrowski-Sas and Marcella Sembrich.

From the early years of the 19th century Polish musical culture was dominated by the concept of nationalism. With the loss of Polish independence art was invested with a special significance, reinforcing the sense of national identity. One of the musical consequences of this was that throughout the century composers worked with the metrical rhythms of Polish folkdances (polonaises, mazurkas and krakowiaks). In addition to the numerous self-contained dance pieces, these metrical rhythms also pervaded large-scale works such as sonatas, symphonies, concertos, operas and even sacred works. The generation of Polish composers before Chopin included M.K. Ogiński (primarily a composer of polonaises), Franciszek Lessel, Józef Elsner, Karol Kurpiński, Józef Deszczyński, Franciszek Mirecki, Maria Szymanowska and Karol Lipiński. The works of these composers were predominantly in the Classical style, and particularly influenced by Haydn. Some pre-Romantic elements are also apparent, especially in the works of Maria Szymanowska, whose piano miniatures (including mazurkas, études, polonaises, waltzes and nocturnes) prefigure Chopin. The most important opera composers of that time were Elsner, Kurpiński and Mirecki.

With Chopin Polish music became internationally influential; his piano works evolved a highly individual style through their original harmony and their transformation of folk music, and subsequently became a symbol of Polish nationalism. The other composers of Chopin’s generation were mostly fellow pupils of Elsner: I.F. Dobrzyński, Józef Nowakowski, T.N. Nidecki, Antoni Orłowski and Julian Fontana. The strongest influence on Polish composers of the second half of the 19th century was Moniuszko, the most significant Polish composer after Chopin and widely acknowledged as the creator of Polish national opera. His operas show stylistic affinities with the works of Auber, but make much use of Polish themes and the metrical rhythms of Polish folkdances. The principal composers of the following generation were Władysław Żeleński and Zygmunt Noskowski, who were also important as teachers and conductors. Each worked in a wide range of musical genres. Żeleński is notable above all for his songs and operas, which continued the tradition of Moniuszko, while Noskowski concentrated more on chamber and orchestral works, and wrote the first Polish symphonic poem, Step (‘The steppe’, 1896). Other composers of the period include Paderewski (1860–1941), Gustaw Roguski (1839–1921), Antoni Stolpe (1851–72), Henryk Jarecki (1846–1918), whose operas show some Wagnerian influence, and Roman Statkowski (1859–1925). Stylistically, the works of Polish composers in the later 19th century are conservative, rarely going beyond Schumann or Mendelssohn. The only exceptions are the songs of Eugeniusz Pankiewicz (1857–98), which reveal a more adventurous approach to harmony and, above all, the works of Juliusz Zarębski (1854–85), whose music sometimes foreshadows Impressionism. Neither Pankiewicz nor Zarębski, however, had a decisive influence on the development of Polish music. The situation only changed with the next generation of composers, such as Karłowicz and Szymanowski, whose work extended well into the 20th century.

Poland, §I: Art music

4. Since 1900.

20th-century Polish music was intimately bound up with the two world wars and a sequence of what, at the time, seemed to be insuperable socio-political problems. At the turn of the century, Poland as an independent country still did not exist, partitioned as it was between Russia, Prussia and Germany. Its musical life was stagnating too, with composers caught in a conservative time warp (Paderewski's compositions were, however, of some importance). Warsaw's Philharmonic Hall opened in 1901, enabling the city to have a full symphony orchestra for the first time. However, it took a handful of musicians – called Young Poland after the fin-de-siècle literary and artistic circle in Kraków – to make active contact with the European mainstream. The group's first concert (Warsaw, 6 February 1906) marked the official moment of recognition for its members: Grzegorz Fitelberg, Ludomis Różycki, Szeluto and Szymanowski.

It was Szymanowski and his colleague Karłowicz who initially set the pace of reform by embracing recent Germanic influences; Karłowicz died prematurely and Szymanowski shouldered the burden until his own death in 1937. He brought other European, Mediterranean and Eastern influences to bear on his own music and, after World War I and Poland's resultant independence in 1918, turned to Polish folk music as both a new exoticism and his way of helping to establish a Polish national identity. At the same time he encouraged his younger compatriots to study abroad, especially in Paris, as a means of ensuring musical renewal and as a guard against provincialism.

French neo-classicism provided the mainstay of Polish music until the mid-1950s because of two further periods of cultural isolation. During World War II Poland's occupation by the Nazi forces crippled its musical life, which barely survived in underground educational activities and in café concerts. After the war, however, Polish musicians quickly regrouped, setting up a network of music schools and conservatories, radio and concert orchestras, music organizations and journals which have survived into the 21st century.

Composers re-formed their union, which also established a musicology section. This latter move was to prove crucial as postwar political manoeuvring led to a one-party communist state at the end of 1948. Soviet cultural dogma weighed heavily on Polish music in the years 1947 to 1954, when the Stalinist policy of socrealizm (socialist realism) was promulgated by the Polish Ministry of Art and a few key figures such as the Soviet-trained musicologist, Zofia Lissa (the policy's critics, especially Kisielewski, were only partly silenced). Genres such as the mass song, cantata and opera, none of which had much of a Polish pedigree, were encouraged, especially after a government-led composers' conference at Łagów (5–8 August 1949). Peer-review sessions were set up so that music of all types could be vetted. Against the odds, significant contributions were made in this postwar decade by Bacewicz, Lutosławski and Panufnik; the less experienced younger generation, such as Baird and Serocki, struggled to establish themselves against the backdrop of ‘music for the masses’. Although many works were criticized and some banned, the system was far less severe and watertight than in the USSR, and after Stalin's death in 1953 the restrictions slowly faded. Nevertheless, this did not prevent Panufnik's defection to the West in 1954.

Tumultuous political events in Poland at the end of October 1956, which were to lead to artistic freedoms unparalleled elsewhere in the Soviet bloc, coincided with the first Warsaw Autumn international festival of contemporary music. The brainchild of the Union of Polish Composers, and of Baird and Serocki in particular, this festival, now the longest-running of its kind anywhere in the world, played the crucial role in bringing contemporary music and composers from inside and outside Poland together. The late 1950s saw an astonishing explosion of talent and avant-garde experimentation that soon earned composers the soubriquet abroad of the ‘Polish School’. It was the generation of Górecki and Penderecki that provided the real shocks, alongside the slightly older Kotoński and Bogusław Schaeffer. After sampling serial systems and aleatory trends from the West, Polish composers, almost as one, shifted towards a direct, expressive engagement with sound and textures, which for a while seemed to justify the term ‘sonorism’ attached to their music in Poland itself. And yet composers revealed individual characteristics which went beyond the initial catalysts and musicological labels. By the mid-1960s Lutosławski had clearly defined his own rich idiom, Bacewicz and Szabelski had made their personal accommodations with new methods of pitch organization, while Baird and Serocki had gone their separate expressive ways.

The tide against Western European and American experimental aesthetics became apparent in the 1960s not only in the ‘Polish’ appropriation of old music and religious genres by Górecki and Penderecki – trends which were to lead in the mid-1970s to the modalism and slow repetitive rhythms of Górecki's Third Symphony and, more controversially, to Penderecki's regression to 19th-century symphonism – but also in the ultra-reductive, reiterative abstractions of even younger composers such as Krauze and Tomasz Sikorski. In the early 1970s, Krauze was joined by Kilar in brashly embracing Polish folk music, an ironic recall of the very materials to which Szymanowski had turned in 1921 and which had been more or less obligatory under socrealizm after World War II.

The reaction of the generation of composers born in the 1950s and 60s was to take detached, often ironic attitudes to contemporary culture. This coincided with new political turmoil: the election of a Polish pope (1978), the rise of the Solidarity trade union (1980) and the declaration of martial law (1981). Postmodernism emerged in lean Baroque fragmentation (Szymański), minimalism in hard-driven edginess (Kulenty) and nostalgia in post-Romantic opulence (Knapik). If a cross-section of Polish musical culture were to be made as the country regained democracy in 1989, after decades of vicissitudes, it would reveal that many of its composers had achieved Szymanowski's goal of international stature, that its musicology had emerged with dogma-free successes, especially in the field of medieval and Renaissance Polish music, that there was a vigorous growth in new high-quality performing ensembles, both authentic and modern, but that most of its musical institutions were hard pressed by new competitive initiatives (especially in publishing and the media) and by the drastic cuts in state subsidy which post-communism brought in the 1990s.

Poland, §I: Art music

BIBLIOGRAPHY

a: catalogues, dictionaries, bibliographies

A. Sowiński: Les musiciens polonais et slaves (Paris, 1857; Pol. trans., 1874/R, as Słownik muzyków polskich dawnych i nowoczesnych)

A. Chybiński: Słownik muzyków dawnej Polski do roku 1800 [Dictionary of early Polish musicians to 1800] (Kraków, 1949)

Z. Szulc: Słownik lutników polskich [Dictionary of Polish violin-makers] (Poznań, 1953)

K. Michałowski: Bibliografia polskiego piśmiennictwa muzycznego [A bibliography of Polish music literature] (Kraków, 1955–78)

M. Hanuszewska and B. Schäffer: Almanach polskich kompozytorów współczesnych [Almanac of contemporary Polish composers] (Kraków, 1956, 3/1982)

L.T. Błaszczyk: Dyrygenci polscy i obcy w Polsce działający w XIX i XX wieku [Polish and foreign conductors working in Poland in the 19th and 20th centuries] (Kraków, 1964)

J.M. Chomiński, ed.: Słownik muzyków polskich [Dictionary of Polish musicians] (Kraków, 1964–7)

S. Śledziński, ed.: Muzyka polska – informator [Polish music – a handbook] (Kraków, 1967)

A. and E. Mrygoń: Bibliografia polskiego piśmiennictwa muzykologicznego (1945–1970) [A bibliography of Polish musicological literature] (Warsaw, 1972)

Z.M. Szweykowski, ed.: Musicalia Vetera: katalog tematyczny rękopiśmiennych zabytków dawnej muzyki w Polsce [Thematic catalogue of manuscripts of early music in Poland], i (Kraków, 1969–83), ii (Kraków, 1972)

J. Pikulik: Indeks sekwencji w polskich rękopisach muzycznych [Index of sequences in Polish musical manuscripts] (Warsaw, 1974)

S. Burhardt: Polonez: katalog tematyczny [Polonaise: thematic catalogue] (Kraków, 1976–85)

E. Dziębowska, ed.: Encyklopedia muzyczna PWM (Kraków, 1979–)

W. Smialek: Polish Music: a Research and Information Guide (New York, 1989)

K. Michałowski: Polish Music Literature (Los Angeles, 1991)

R. Wolański: Leksykon polskiej muzyki rozrywkowej [Dictionary of Polish popular music] (Warsaw, 1995)

b: general histories and studies

A. Poliński: Dzieje muzyki polskiej w zarysie [A history of Polish music in outline] (Lemberg, 1907)

H. Opieński: La musique polonaise (Paris, 1918, 2/1929)

L. Biernacki: Teatr, dramat i muzyka za Stanisława Augusta [Theatre, drama and music during the reign of Stanisław August] (Lwów, 1925)

M. Gliński, ed.: Muzyka polska: monografia zbiorowa [Polish music: a collective monograph] (Warsaw, 1927)

J. Reiss: Najpiękniejsza ze wszystkich jest muzyka polska [Polish music is the most beautiful] (Kraków, 1946, 3/1984)

J.W. Reiss: Polskie skrzypce i polscy skrzypkowie [Polish violins and violinists] (Warsaw, 1946)

Z. Jachimecki: Muzyka polska w rozwoju historycznym od czasów najdawniejszych do doby obecnej [Polish music in its historical development from earliest times to the present day] (Kraków, 1948–51)

K. Michałowski: Opery polskie [Polish operas] (Kraków, 1954)

T. Strumiłło: Szkice z polskiego życia muzycznego XIX wieku [Sketches of Polish musical life in the 19th century] (Kraków, 1954)

Z.M. Szweykowski ed.: Z dziejów polskiej kultury muzycznej [From the history of Polish musical culture] (Kraków, 1958–66) [ii: ed S. Łobaczewska, W. Poźniak and A. Romanowicz)

Bydgoskie Towarzystwo Naukowe, ed.: Z dziejów muzyki polskiej [From the history of Polish music] (Bydgoszcz 1960–66)

S. Jarociński, ed.: Polish Music (Warsaw, 1965)

W. Kamiński: Instrumenty muzyczne na ziemiach polskich [Musical instruments in Polish lands] (Kraków, 1971)

J. Gołos: Polskie organy i muzyka organowa [Polish organs and organ music] (Warsaw, 1972)

Z. Chechlińska and J. Steszewski, eds.: Polish Musicological Studies (Kraków, 1977–86)

T. Ochlewski: An Outline History of Polish Music (Warsaw, 1979)

J.M. Chomiński and K. Wilkowska-Chomińska: Historia muzyki polskiej, i [History of Polish music] (Kraków, 1995–6)

c: to 1600

A. Chybiński: Stosunek muzyki polskiej do zachodniej w XV i XVI w. [The relationship between Polish and Western music in the 15th and 16th centuries] (Kraków, 1909)

Z. Jachimecki: Wpływy włoskie w muzyce polskiej [Italian influences in Polish music] (Kraków, 1911)

W. Gieburowski: Chorał gregoriański w Polsce od XV do XVII w. [Gregorian chant in Poland from the 15th to the 17th century] (Poznań, 1922)

J.M. Chomiński and Z. Lissa: Muzyka polskiego odrodzenia [Music of the Polish Renaissance] (Warsaw, 1953)

Z.M. Szweykowski: Kultura wokalna XVI-wiecznej Polski [Vocal culture in 16th-century Poland] (Kraków, 1957)

A. Szulcówna: Muzykowanie w Polsce renesansowej [Music-making in Renaissance Poland] (Poznań, 1959)

J. Morawski: Polska liryka muzyczna w średniowieczu: repertuar sekwencyjny cystersów (XIII–XVI) [The Polish musical lyric in the Middle Ages: Cistercian sequence repertory] (Warsaw, 1973)

M. Perz: ‘Organum, conductus i średniowieczny motet w Polsce’ [Organum conductus and the medieval motet in Poland], Muzyka, xvii/4 (1973), 3–11

M. Perz: ‘Wyznaczniki początków renesansu muzycznego w Polsce’ [Determinants of the beginnings of the musical Renaissance in Poland], Polsko-włoskie materiały muzyczne/Argomenti musicali polacco-italiani: Warsaw 1971 and Bardolino 1972 [Pagine, ii (1974)], 57–70

H. Feicht: Studia nad muzyką polskiego średniowiecza [Studies on music in medieval Poland] (Kraków, 1975)

T. Maciejewski: Kyriale w Polsce do XVII w. [Kyriale in Poland up to the 17th century] (Warsaw, 1976)

A. Szweykowska: Dramma per musica w teatrze Wazów [Dramma per musica in the theatre of the Waza Dynasty in Poland] (Kraków, 1976)

E. Cramer: ‘Polish Music in the Sixteenth Century and the Idea of the Golden Age’, Canadian Association of University Schools of Music, ix/2 (1979), 14–23

B. Brzezińska: Repertuar polskich tabulatur organowych w I połowie XVI w. [The Polish organ tablature repertory in the first half of the 16th century] (Kraków, 1987)

E. Głuszcz-Zwolińska: Muzyka nadworna ostatnich Jagiellonów [The Court music of the last Jagellons] (Kraków, 1988)

A. Czekanowska: Studien zur Nationalstill der polnischen Musik (Regensburg, 1990)

K. Morawska: Renesans 1500–1600: historia muzyki polskiej [Renaissance 1500–1600: history of Polish music] (Warsaw, 1994)

K. Morawska: Średniowiecze 1320–1500: historia muzyki polskiej [The Middle Ages, 1320–1500: history of Polish music] (Warsaw, 1998)

d: 1600–1900

T. Strumiłło: Szkice z polskiego życia muzycznego XIX wieku [Sketches from 19th century Polish musical life] (Kraków, 1954)

T. Strumiłło: Źródła i początki romantyzmu w muzyce polskiej [The sources and origins of the Romanticism in Polish music] (Kraków, 1956)

M. Przywecka-Samecka: Drukarstwo muzyczne w Polsce do końca XVIII wieku [Music printing in Poland up to the end of the 18th century] (Kraków, 1969)

Z. Chechlińska, ed.: Szkice o kulturze muzycznej XIX w. [Outlines of musical culture in the 19th century] (Warsaw, 1971–84) [incl. K. Mazur: ‘Polskie edytorstwo między powstaniem listopadowym a styczniowym’ [Polish music publishing between the November uprising (1831) and the January uprising (1863)], i, 51–89; K. Morawska: ‘Badania nad muzyką dawną w Polsce w XIX w’ [Studies of old music in Poland in the 19th century], iii, 7–129, incl. Eng. summary]

H. Feicht: Studia nad muzyką polskiego renesansu i baroku [Studies on music in Renaissance and Baroque in Poland] (Kraków, 1980)

B. Vogel: Instrumenty muzyczne w kulturze Erólestwa Polskiego: Przemysł muzyczny w latach 1815–1914 [Musical instruments in the culture of the Kingdom of Poland: the music industry, 1815–1914] (Kraków, 1980)

Recepcja wzorów włoskich w polskiej kulturze muzycznej: Romantyzm (Warsaw, 1994)

J. Erdman: Polska muzyka organowa epoki romantycznej [Polish organ music of the Romantic era] (Warsaw, 1994)

A. Nowak-Romanowicz: Klasycyzm 1750–1830: historia muzyki polskiej [Classicism 1750–1830: history of Polish music] (Warsaw, 1995)

A. Żórawska-Witkowska: Muzyka na dworze i w teatrze Stanisława Augusta [Music at the court and in the theatre of Stanisław August] (Warsaw, 1995)

P. Poźniak: Repertuar polskiej muzyki wokalnej w epoce renesansu [Repertory of Polish vocal music in the Renaissance] (Kraków, 1999)

e: since 1900

J. Chomiński and Z. Lissa, eds.: Kultura muzyczna Polski Ludowej, 1944–1955 [The musical culture of People's Poland] (Kraków, 1957)

H. Tomaszewski, ed.: Nasze muzyczne dwudziestolecie: reportaż fotograficzny 1944–1964 [Our 20 years of music: photo-reportage 1944–64] (Kraków, 1965)

J. Chomiński: Muzyka polski ludowej [Music of People's Poland] (Warsaw, 1968)

E. Dziębowska, ed.: Polska współczesna kultura muzyczna 1944–1966 [Contemporary Polish musical culture 1944–1966] (Kraków, 1968)

L. Erhardt: Music in Poland (Warsaw, 1975) [also in Fr., Ger., It., Pol. and Sp.]

J. Chomiński: ‘The Contribution of Polish Composers to the Shaping of a Modern Language in Music’, Polish Musicological Studies, i (Kraków, 1977), 167–215

L. Polony, ed.: Muzyka w kontekście kultury [Music in the context of culture] (Kraków, 1978)

J.P. Lee: Musical Life and Sociopolitical Change in Warsaw, Poland: 1944–1960 (diss., U. of Carolina, 1979)

T. Malecka and L. Polony, eds.: Muzyka w myzyce [Music within music] (Kraków, 1980)

B. Wysocka, ed.: Muzyka polska a modernizm (Kraków, 1981)

Z. Helman: Neoklasycyzm w muzyce polskiej XX wieku [Neo-classicism in 20th-century Polish music] (Kraków, 1985)

L. Polony, ed.: Przemiany techniki dźwiękowej, stylu i estetyki w polskiej muzyce lat 70 [Changes in sound technique, style and aesthetic in Polish music in the 1970s] (Kraków, 1986)

K. Baculewski: Polska twórczość kompozytorska 1945–1984 [Polish composition 1945–84] (Kraków, 1987)

J. Prosnak: Kantata w Polsce (Bydgoszcz, 1988)

C. Bylander: The Warsaw Autumn International Festival of Contemporary Music, 1956–1961: its Goals, Structures, Programs, and People (diss., U. of Ohio, 1989)

I. Nikol'skaja: Ot Simanovskogo do Ljutoslavskogo i Pendereckogo: ocerki razvitija simfoniceskoj muzyki v Pol'se XX veka [From Szymanowski to Lutoslawski and Penderecki: essays on the development of 20th-century Polish symphonic music] (Moscow, 1990)

L. Rappoport-Gelfand: Musical Life in Poland: the Postwar Years 1945–1977 (New York, 1991)

Inspiracje w muzyce XX wieku [Inspiration in 20th-century music] (Warsaw, 1993)

T. Malecka, ed.: Krakowska szkoła kompozytorska 1888–1988 [The Kraków Composition School 1888–1988] (Kraków, 1993)

M. Szoka: Polska muzyka organowa w latach 1945–1985 (Łódź, 1993)

L. Erhardt, ed.: 50 lat Związku Kompozytorów Polskich [50 years of the Polish Composers' Union] (Warsaw, 1995)

S. Dąbek: Twórczość mszalna kompozytorów polskich XX wieku [20th-century Polish composers and the mass] (Warsaw, 1996)

M. Jabłoński, ed.: Muzyka i totalitaryzm (Poznań, 1996)

B. Jacobson: A Polish Renaissance (London, 1996)

H. Oleschko, ed.: Muzyka polska 1945–1995 (Kraków, 1996)

K. Baculewski: Współczesność, i: 1939–1974 [Contemporary, i: 1939–1974] (Warsaw, 1997)

A. Thomas: ‘Mobilising Our Man: Politics and Music in Poland during the Decade after the Second World War’, Composition-Performance-Reception, ed. W. Thomas (Aldershot, 1998), 145–68

Poland

II. Traditional music

1. Introduction.

2. Sources and research.

3. Function and context.

4. General characteristics.

5. Instruments.

6. Music regions.

7. Popular song and ‘folklorism’.

8. Recent trends.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Poland, §II: Traditional music

1. Introduction.

The ‘Polishness’ of Polish folk music does not reside in its stylistic uniformity, but in its use of the Polish language, one of the western family of Slavonic languages, and in the performer's consciousness of his or her Polish identity. The concept of ‘folk’ usually denotes a local collection of integrated, rural communities with a traditional culture, but in the 20th century research has been broadened to include the working urban environment and the oral tradition of religious songs. Poland has a population of nearly 40 million, two-thirds of which is urban and approximately 1·5% of which represents national minorities (Lithuanians, Belarusians, Russian Old Believers, Ukrainians, Ruthenians, Slovaks, Czechs, Jews, Germans and the Romani people). About a million Poles live abroad as minorities, in Russia, Lithuania, Belarus, Ukraine, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Germany, France, the British Isles, the USA, Canada, Latin America and elsewhere; the study of their musical traditions is just beginning. Polish has a number of dialects which differ in varying degrees from the literary language and there are numerous cultural regions (fig.1). Since 1945 the west of the country has been the scene of intensive resettlement, which precludes discussion of the characteristic features of this culture in terms of geographical categories.

Poland, §II: Traditional music

2. Sources and research.

There are a number of important sources for the pre-folkloristic period (before the 18th century). Excavations from the Palaeolithic era to the Middle Ages have revealed ceramic rattles (including zoomorphic and ornithomorphic types), ceramic hourglass drums, bone and clay whistles, panpipes (from the 8th century to the 6th bce, in Małopolska) made from nine bone pipes and probably constructed in an anhemitonic pentatonic scale, pipes and chordophones, including five-string zithers of the Kantele type (fig.2). Written sources include the reports of travellers and merchants (e.g. the Arab geographer Ibn Rustah, fl 903), of writers (e.g. Theophylactus Simokatta, 7th century) and of foreign and Polish chroniclers (e.g. Wincenty Kadłubek), sermons, statutes and synodal resolutions, economic accounts and tax registers dealing with such varied items as Slavonic chordophones, Polish trumpets, pipes and the distribution of pipers, superstitions and songs (e.g. historical songs, midsummer night customs and the songs that were sung at them). In literature there are references to customs and songs (e.g. by Jan Kochanowski) and instruments (e.g. by Kasper Miaskowski). Musical sources yield quotations of melodies and metrorhythmic features in compositions from the Renaissance onwards, including contrafacta and dances. Further information comes from iconography, especially wall paintings (e.g. the earliest Polish representation of bagpipes, in the church at Mieronice, early 14th century) and woodcuts in printed works (fig.3); and from organological literature (e.g. M. Agricola, Musica instrumentalis deudsch, Wittenberg, 1529, on Polish violins).

In the 19th century the first attempts were made to note down folk music, inspired partly by the ideas of Romanticism (the search for ‘Slavonic antiquities’), and later by ‘positivism’ (a desire for scientific documentation). Folk art was also looked to for confirmation of the national identity by a nation deprived of its existence as an independent political unit. The year 1802, when Hugo Kołłątaj first formulated the needs of Polish historiography, is regarded as the date when the study of Polish folklore began. The first collections of songs, most often without melodies, were made by Joachim Lelewel, Adam Czarnocki (under the pseudonym Zorian Dołęga-Chodakowski), Kazimierz Wójcicki, Wacław Zaleski (pseudonym Wacław z Oleska), Karol Lipiński, Żegota Pauli, Józef Konopka, Ludwik Zejszner and Jan J. Lipiński. The first articles on folklore were written by Paweł Woronicz on folksong and Karol Kurpiński on folk music (1820).

An important change of direction was effected by the work of Oskar Kolberg (1814–90), who collected and published ethnographic materials, including some on folklore, arranged in volumes according to region and encompassing Polish, Lithuanian, Belarusian and Ukrainian ethnic areas. 33 volumes were published during his lifetime. The reprinting of these, and publication of the unpublished manuscripts (begun in 1961), will amount to about 80 volumes, containing about 25,000 songs and dances and about 15,000 melodies. Other important collectors of Kolberg's period and later were Gustaw Gizewiusz, Florian Cenowa, Józef Lompa, Andrzej Cinciała, Jan Kleczyński and Zygmunt Gloger.

From about 1904 folk music began to be recorded on the phonograph: musicologists engaged in this work included Adolf Chybiński, Helena Windakiewiczowa, Łucjan Kamieński, Marian Sobieski and his wife Jadwiga, and the ethnographer Kazimierz Moszyński. Between 1930 and 1939 archives of recordings were built up in Poznań (under Kamieński) and Warsaw (director Julian Pulikowski), containing a total of 25,000 recordings. Individual collectors of folk music included Marian Stoiński, Władysław Skierkowski and Stanisław Mierczyński.

During World War II these collections of recordings were completely destroyed. From 1945, initially under the direction of the Sobieskis, an important new collection has been built up totalling about 120,000 recordings and housed in the Institute of Fine Arts, Warsaw (M. Sobieski Archive). Other important collections are to be found in university institutes of musicology (Warsaw, Poznań, Kraków and Katowice) and in the archives of the Polish Broadcasting Corporation’s Centrum Kultury Ludowej (Centre of Folk Culture). In 1970 the Catholic University of Lublin began documentation and research into the oral tradition of religious songs, examining the immense local variability of these songs and the changes taking place in the Catholic liturgy. Research is currently being carried out by B. Bartkowski, Ludwig Bielawski, Jadwiga Bobrowska, Anna Czechanowska, J.K. Dadak-Kozicka, Ewa Dahlig, Piotr Dahlig, Adolf Dygacz, Alojzy Kopoczek, Bogusław Linette, Bożena Muszkalska, Aleksander Pawlak, Zbigniew Przerembski, Jan Stęszewski and Sławomira Żerańska-Kominek.

Poland, §II: Traditional music

3. Function and context.

Folklore survives to varying degrees in different villages and regions. Until the mid-20th century everyone in the villages sang, and professional musicians, untrained in the Western sense, played for dances. The repertory of songs is divided in the communities into that of children and adults. The adults sing either in groups, as in some ritual songs, or solo, as in women's lullabies and men's and women's przyśpiewki (the przyśpiewka is associated with rituals or with the dance and consists of a short ‘pre-dance’ stanza sung by a dancer as a musical cue to the instrumentalists, followed by the playing of this melody for the dance by the ensemble). Some songs are led by individuals, such as the czepiarka, the woman who puts the married woman's headdress on the bride at the wedding. The musicians play local przyśpiewki for the dance, a small number of dances being purely instrumental, and a few melodies for ceremonial occasions. The relationship between the singers and players in performance of dance music is usually one of two types: singing is followed by dancing with the instrumental group, followed by singing again; or, singing with the instrumental group is followed by dancing with the instrumental group, followed by singing with the instrumental group again. The first type of relationship is encountered in Wielkopolska and the Kielce and Lublin regions, and the second type in Podhale, Beskid Śląski, the Kraków area and Kielce region. A similar relationship between instrumental group and singers is found in ritual group songs (e.g. of weddings), although there are occasions when the ritual songs are sung by a group without instrumental accompaniment.

The most important ritual is the wedding, with a rich repertory of melodies. Some wedding songs have a wide distribution (e.g. the chmiel), others are more local. A lively tradition is the singing of special religious songs before a funeral. The most important annual ceremonies are those clustered around Christmas, such as the singing of carols (kolędowanie) and processions with masked figures; spring customs of driving away winter and welcoming spring (gaik, topienie marzanny, dyngus) and sobótki (customs for midsummer night), traditions known to have existed from the Middle Ages; and ceremonies for summer, the harvest and the end of the harvest.

A considerable number of the melodies are for dances, and many others possess dance characteristics – the connection with the dance leaves its mark on the music. Dances are usually accompanied by instruments, but a few dances are accompanied by songs only: these are children's dances and a traditional women's dance at weddings in the Kurpie region, called przytrampywanie. Dances can be divided into group dances and couple-dances. Among those for groups are dances based on a circle (e.g. the zbójnicki, a men's dance, and the przytrampywanie) and figure-dances (e.g. szewc, miotlarz, kadryl). Most common are round-dances for many couples, for example the kujawiak, oberek, okrągły, światówka, powolniak and Polka.

Song texts may be loosely associated with particular melodies, in which case they form a repertory primarily of single stanzas which are joined into cycles as needed, as in certain situations at a dance, for example. A closer link between melody and text is apparent in ritual and multi-stanza songs, such as ballads. Jan Bystroń distinguished three basic groups of songs: songs related to rituals; general songs, which can be sung at any time, anywhere, by anyone, and include ballads, comic songs and przyśpiewki; and occupational songs. The most numerous are the ritual and general songs, the most vital are the sub-group of przyśpiewki. The epic is not a characteristic genre.

Participants in a local musical culture have a system of concepts which classify songs according to their ritual function, their place of performance and their dance type; these correspond to fairly distinct musical groups. In the terminology of Sandomierz (Table 1) polne (‘field’) songs are those sung in the open air; światowe (‘worldly’ songs) are przyśpiewki melodies and are sung to texts with varying content. In Podhale (table 2) the word nuta means melody; wierchowe (‘peak’ songs) are those versions of dance-tunes, called ozwodne, which are not danced to, and are sung as general songs in the open air. Children's songs, funeral laments, shepherds' calls etc. are not generally considered as music.

Poland, §II: Traditional music

4. General characteristics.

Vocal and instrumental music is based on a more or less equal-tempered tonal system. Two groups of forms, one recited rhythmically (children's play songs), the other without a fixed rhythm (laments), display the merest traces of melodic organization. In some types of scale (e.g. narrow-range or pentatonic) the third and the seventh occur with a neutral pitch or are unstable (ex.1). Particular scales or types of scale predominate in the songs of a specific region, or are connected with certain genres. The melodic range of the songs varies from one region to another. Melodies with a range of a 3rd or a 4th are considered survivals and are found in wedding songs and annual rituals (ex.2). Many street vendors' calls are based on two pitches a 3rd apart, or three notes ranging over a 4th. The pentatonic scale is found in conservative regions (e.g. Kurpie region), but it is unknown in the Carpathian area (Orawa, Podhale, Pieniny). Major and minor modes are known all over Poland.

Most frequently, a single note is sung to each syllable of a text (syllabic song). A certain amount of melisma, generally of two notes (as in grace-, passing and changing notes), occurs in about 10–20% of songs in the south and about 60–70% in the central regions, although these usually occur as isolated instances. More melismas are found in slower and ceremonial songs, fewer in the lively ones and in dance-songs. Glissando is frequent. Monophony predominates; the earlier polyphony is characteristic of the Carpathian area. Harmonic songs (i.e. in harmony of the Western type) in folk usage date from the 19th and 20th centuries and are rarely found. Folksong melodies usually move in 2nds and 3rds; larger intervals may occur at the beginning of a phrase, in przyśpiewki, and in songs from the western and north-western regions. The general melodic contour is undulating. The melody is divided into sections coinciding with the divisions of the text lines and limits of the beat. Melodic motifs, except in archaic ceremonial melodies, are sharply outlined and distinct.

Syllabic verse forms predominate, although deviation from the strict syllabic system does occur; there is, for instance, an asyllabic system, in which the number of syllables and accents in a line is variable, and a tonic system (e.g. in children's songs and those of annual rituals), in which there is a set number of accents in a line, but the number of syllables varies. In the syllabic system the most common divisions of syllables within the line are: 12 (6 + 6) and 6, 8 (4 + 4), 14 (4 + 4 + 6) as in ex.10, 10 (5 + 5) as in ex.1, 7 (4 + 3), 13 (4 + 4 + 5), 11 (4 + 4 + 3) and 10 (4 + 6). The frequency of their occurrence varies in different areas. Syllabic songs are generally composed of two- or four-line rhymed isorhythmic stanzas. Heterosyllabic stanzas are found, for example AABBA (where the third line is of a different length), AABBA' (the fifth line being a section of the first) and AABB. 12- and 8-syllable lines are generally connected with przyśpiewki; the 10 (5 + 5)-syllable line is a verse form used in northern Poland for przyśpiewki, or for wedding or harvest songs; 11-syllable lines are connected with pastoral and wedding songs. The basic words of the text are expanded with interjections (oj, ej, dana), a nonsense refrain or a meaningful one, and repetitions of the text (as in ex.2). Interjections are characteristic of dance-songs (ex.3), while a meaningful refrain is found in wedding songs, among others (e.g. ex.1, second part).

There is a close correlation between syllabic versification and the repetitive and generative qualities of the rhythmic patterns. Some rhythms are particularly frequent, as are those of the mazurka, krakowiak and polonaise, which were the first ‘national dances’. At the beginning of the 17th century ‘Polish dances’ based on the rhythm of the mazurka were fashionable outside Poland. The mazurka rhythm is associated mainly with 8-, 14-, 12- (ex.3) and 13-syllable lines: it is in triple metre, often in fast time, the bar having a maximum of four syllables, condensed in the first part of the bar (ex.4a). The phrases vary in rhythm, depending on the proportions of the line (ex.4b). These rhythms are found in non-dance-songs all over Poland and in przyśpiewki in the central region. The dances with mazurka rhythms have various names, tempos and characteristics: kujawiak (ex.8), obertas, powiślak, światówka (ex.3), mazur and others.

12-syllable lines are the basis for a group of fast, duple-metre krakowiak dances, which are found mainly in Małopolska. Locally they assume various names (szopieniak, mijany, suwany and others). Most frequent are two forms of syncopated krakowiak rhythms (ex.5). The rhythmic formula of the polonez (‘polonaise’) is associated with some dance-songs, also with general ones and a few wedding songs. It is characterized by triple time with a fairly slow tempo; a maximum of six syllables to a bar; like the mazurka, a rhythm of four syllables; and special cadential turns and dotted rhythms (ex.6). The polonaise rhythm uses the rarer lines of 10 (4 + 6), 17 (4 + 6 + 4 + 3) and 19 (6 + 6 + 4 + 3) syllables, and polonaise dances have a number of names: polski, chodzony, pieszy, wolny, wielki and others.

Features common to the whole of Poland are absence of anacrusis and a preponderance of ‘descendental’ rhythm (i.e. progressively decreasing rhythmic density within each bar or phrase) and dotted descendental rhythm. Singing is in a natural chest voice, of medium intensity. Wedding songs are sung lower, dance-songs higher. Ritual songs and those sung out of doors have the slowest tempos.

The stanzaic form predominates in Polish folksongs. Those without stanzas are street vendors’ and shepherds’ calls (wyskanie in Podhale), children's play songs, songs for annual ceremonies and some wierchowe melodies from Podhale. The most frequent forms of musical stanza (where R is the refrain) are: AA', AA'A' (ex.10), AAR (ex.1), AA'RA', AB (ex.7), AA'B (ex.2), ABB' (ex.3), AAAA', AABA, ABAB', ABCA etc. Songs with a bar structure usually have 8 or 16 bars, but are expanded by repetitions and refrains. The arrangement of phrases is usually symmetrical, although other structures occur (ex.7). The most stable elements of the songs are form, versification and rhythm, and to a lesser degree scale and, least of all, melody. The variability of the melody is, however, subject to certain limitations (ex.1 shows the variation in one bar of the melody).

Poland, §II: Traditional music

5. Instruments.

Some instruments are used exclusively by children, and these are mostly toys producing one or a few notes, or percussion instruments. They include wooden fujarki (pipes) with six to eight or fewer finger-holes; fujarki z kory, pipes made from willow bark; piszczałki (reedpipes) made from the stems of plants, with single or double reeds; ivy leaves and pieces of birch bark; gwizdki (whistles) made from various materials; klekotki (rattles) or kołatki (clappers), and the terkotki (rattles) used on Good Friday; grzechotki (rattles); and the diabełek (‘little devil’), which is a small friction drum. Larger and stronger friction drums known as burczybas or huk are used by adults in the Pomorze and Warmia regions as ritual instruments.

Adults use many instruments, some of which are confined to particular regions. They can be divided according to usage into those for accompanying dances, and those which are used in other circumstances. Thus the violin and bagpipes are used to accompany dances, while the violin and various kinds of wooden flutes are also used to play solo music – granie do słuchu (‘for listening’) – in some areas.

There are three types of wooden trumpet, used by shepherds: the bazuna in Pomorze is about 2 metres long (it is also played by fishermen); the ligawka or ligawa from Mazowsze, about 1·5 metres long, can be straight or slightly curved, and is also played in the evenings during Advent; and the trombita (trąbita, trębita; fig.4) from Beskid Śląski, up to five metres long. The bazuna and ligawka are slightly conical and produce only between four and eight harmonics; the trombita is cylindrical and is used for playing slow melodies. The fujarki (duct flutes) are also shepherds' instruments and are of two types: the first has between six and eight finger-holes; the second has no finger-holes, but by overblowing, and either opening or closing the distal end, two series of harmonics are produced, which are the basis of rich melismatic playing. In Mazowsze such pipes are made of willow bark, while in Beskid Żywiecki they are made from a hollowed-out branch about 60 cm long; they are usually played while herding a flock, or during Lent, hence the name postna (‘Lenten’) fulyrka.

There are five basic types of bagpipe in Poland, all with single reeds. The kozioł of western Wielkopolska has the deepest tone and the widest range: b–c'–d'–e'–f '–g'–a'–b'–c''–d''–e''(drone E), the two highest notes being produced by overblowing. The hairy side of the skin is on the outside of the bag. The dudy (figs.5 and 6), common in other parts of Wielkopolska, has a slightly smaller range and a higher pitch: f'–a'–b'–c''–d''–e''–f''–g''(drone B), although it can be tuned higher or lower. In the Beskid Śląski region gajdy are used, tuned to b–e'–f'–g'–a'–b'–c'' (drone E), while in the Beskid Żywiecki there are dudy, similar to the gajdy, tuned to c'–e'–f'–g'–a'–b'–c''–d''(drone F). The koza of Podhale, with no bell, differs considerably from the other types in that it has three drones: one in the separate drone-pipe, and two in the chanter, which has three channels. Its scale is: b'–c''–d''–e''–f''–g'' (drones B, f' and b'). All the bagpipes except those in Beskid Żywiecki and Podhale have bellows for filling the bag with air. Most types have a straight drone-pipe, while that in the kozioł and the dudy from Wielkopolska is bent twice, at an angle of 180° (see fig.5), and has a bell. Historical sources show clearly that the distribution of bagpipes in Poland was once much greater than it is now. Young people learning to play the dudy in Wielkopolska use a bladder pipe known as siesieńki or pęcherzyna (fig.7) with a scale similar to that of the dudy. The siesieńki has no drone or bellows, and the leather bag is replaced by one or two bladders.

Of the string instruments, the fiddle predominates throughout Poland. Common characteristics of fiddle playing are a general adherence to the 1st position; frequent use of the E and A strings for playing the melody and the occasional use of the D and G strings for drone accompaniment; arco playing, in a non-legato style apart from ornamentation; and ‘playing for listening’.

Until the early 20th century, smaller string instruments of the kit type were played in Wielkopolska and Podhale: the mazanki (tuned a'–e''–b'') and złóbcoki or gęśliki (with three to four strings tuned like the violin) respectively (figs.8a and b). They were carved out of one piece of wood, except for the soundboard. In the 19th century there existed in the Lublin area a string instrument called the suka, similar in shape to the violin but with a shorter neck and three strings: the strings were stopped with the fingernails, and it was held like the viola da gamba (cf fig.3). Both the suka and mazanki had bridges constructed so that one foot rested on the soundboard and the other, longer, foot extended through the opening to rest against the back of the instrument: the basy in the Kalisz area had a similar bridge (for further illustration, see Bridge (i), fig.1g). Mazanki began to be replaced at the beginning of the 20th century by a fiddle with an artificial fret, designed to facilitate playing in the 1st position but in a higher register, required for playing with the dudy.

Various bass string instruments with two to four strings and of different shapes are used in Poland, including the basetla or basy, a type of local cello or double bass. Many are carved out of one piece of wood, apart from the soundboard, and are played as drone instruments with unstopped strings (e.g. in the Kielce and Kalisz areas) or with stopped strings in the Podhale and Rzeszów areas, although this is a newer practice. A popular instrument in the Rzeszów area is the locally made cymbały (dulcimer).

Of percussion instruments, the tambourine, usually with jingles around the rim, is known generally, as is a medium-sized double-headed drum, which has been supplemented since the 1940s and 50s by the triangle or cymbals. The tambourine is struck either with a stick or with the hand, while the double-headed drums are struck only with sticks.

Wind instruments in folk ensembles are a relatively new addition and include clarinets (chiefly in C and E), cornets and trumpets. From the end of the 19th century concertinas and accordions began to appear in folk bands.

The most common type of folk band in the 19th century contained a melody instrument (e.g. the fiddle) and a rhythmic one (e.g. drum or basy), and such an ensemble survives in some regions such as Biłgoraj, Lublin, Sandomierz, Kielce and Mazowsze. In bagpipe-playing areas, an ensemble can be composed of bagpipes and a string instrument – mazanki, fiddle or fiddle with artificial fret. Around 1900 a second fiddle, adding a chordal accompaniment, joined the fiddle and drum or fiddle and bass in Podhale, Rzeszów and other regions. Gradually, more instruments have been added to the basic ensemble, so that a band may now consist of, for instance, first fiddle, clarinet, trumpet, second fiddle and double bass (e.g. in the Kraków region).

In instrumental playing there are particular phrases which begin and end the melody, and also appear between stanzas (ex.8). An instrumental performance is based on frequent repetitions of the same melody, embellished each time with new ornaments, variants, rhythmic changes and transpositions. The basic repertory of a folk band consists of przyśpiewki, dance-tunes, wedding tunes and marches.

Poland, §II: Traditional music

6. Music regions.

It is possible to distinguish five large music regions: central, north-western, north-eastern, eastern and southern Poland.

The whole of central Poland is marked by the predominance of mazurka triple time in the dance, associated with a fairly quick tempo and tempo rubato (ex.3 shows in brackets the basic, rationalized rhythmic pattern). The melodies are usually lively and often have a range of an octave or a 9th and a scale that cadences on the lowest note and has its axis of melodic movement on the fourth degree from the lowest (cf the scales of various types of bagpipe): d'–[e']–f'–g'–a'–b'/b'–c''–d''–[e'']. This type of scale is also found in other regions.

The sub-region of Wielkopolska is distinguished by a larger number of songs with different rhythms, polonaises and waltzes (okrągłe,do koła and others), duple time and figure-dances; a tendency for numerous repetitions of text and melody (as in Kujawy); and the instruments mazanki, siesieńki, dudy, kozioł, and the Kalisz two-string basy. West Wielkopolska possesses vocal melodies with the widest average range in Poland, which can be explained by the influence of the kozioł scale on singing. Characteristic of the Kujawy sub-region are: kujawiaki, which are dances somewhat slower than those in, for example, Mazowsze and the Kielce region; dance cycles of various tempos; and a rich technique of violin playing (ex.8). Śląsk has many dances of the polonaise and figure type, and dance-games; ensembles with a relatively large number of wind instruments; and more homophonic songs than other regions. Many survivals of calendar ritual and wedding music are found in the Opole area of Śląsk. In Mazowsze, Kielce and Sandomierz, mazurka rhythms are characteristic; the tradition of fiddle playing is extremely rich in Sandomierz and Kielce. Some characteristics of central Poland are common to the neighbouring regions.

The north-western region has lost its individuality: duple and triple metres are now equally common; the tempo is leisurely and the vocal register fairly low. There is wide use of major and minor scales, and in the Kaszuby region relatively wide melodic intervals are found.

Besides frequent duple and triple metres the north-eastern region is characterized by five- and eight-beat bars, and apocope. Przyśpiewki in triple time usually contain three syllables to a bar. In five-beat metre a four-syllable group (ex.9a) plays a basic role, and can be seen in verse lines with eight, 11 (ex.7) and 13 syllables. Five-beat bars are mostly associated with wedding songs, fairly slow and not accompanied by dancing: they are found in Kurpie, Mazury and northern Podlasie. In the same area it is possible to find eight-beat bars associated with archaic scales of medium range (e.g. a pentachord, also the pentatonic), with 12-syllable lines, wedding texts and fairly slow tempo. There are two forms of eight-beat bars (exx.9b and c), which are reminiscent of the krakowiak, but are certainly earlier. The archaic manner of articulation of the apocope rests on the absence or, more rarely, the strong diminuendo of the final syllable of the stanza's text (ex.10). The distribution of apocope is similar to that of the five- and eight-beat bars. The songs from this region have relatively slow tempos; its open-air songs (leśne) are rich in melisma.

The eastern region is distinguished by its greater number of archaic, slow ritual songs (wedding, harvest and midsummer eve) without metre, which use narrow diatonic (e.g. tetrachordal) scales. In these melodies the highest ratio of melisma has been recorded, with the frequent appearance of somewhat syllabic and non-syllabic verse forms, texts in stichic form and non-stanzaic musical structure. Wedding songs make use of dance melodies to a lesser extent. The dance repertory is largely in triple time (e.g. the oberek), and shows a strong influence from central Poland. In these last two regions, certain differences in musical traditions characterize villages inhabited by freeholders. Their repertory lacks the archaic wedding melodies, and there is no singing at wedding ceremonies. Songs are usually more recent, often composed and of literary provenance. Lyrical or patriotic texts predominate. Both peasant farmers and freeholders, however, share a common local repertory of religious songs including Christmas carols and funeral songs.

The southern region is characterized by a marked preponderance of duple-metre melodies, which also serve as dance przyśpiewki. In the lowland parts of the territory krakowiak rhythms are strongly represented, and have spread from there to the highland regions. Parts of the Carpathian district (e.g. Beskid Żywiecki, Podhale and Pieniny) possess their own repertory of dance melodies and dotted rhythms alla zoppa. In the Beskid Śląski region chromaticism plays a considerable part; Podhale, Orawa and Pieniny have produced a style of polyphonic singing that owes nothing to Western harmony. Podhale is distinguished by a descending melodic outline; the dance cycles góralski (for a pair of soloists) and zbójnicki (men's dances); the predominant range of a 6th (in about 30% of the repertory); the frequent occurrence of the F mode; a high vocal register and great tension of the voice in men's singing, and low women's voices; the koza and złóbcoki (see §5); a decided preponderance of 12-syllable lines; and the dance ozwodny with a five-bar phrase (ex.11), which occurs in dance cycles. The music of the mountainous regions is characterized by the narrowest average melodic range; dance- and wedding-songs are performed in tempo giusto, contrasting with the rigours of the slow metrical wierchowe and wałęsane melodies, sung in the open air.

The geo-ethnic situation of Poland is reflected in the character of its folk music. This is connected with western Europe in the decided predominance of strophic song forms and in some of its song subjects (e.g. in the ballad). Polish folk music has the syllabic system of versification common to other western Slavs (except for the Czechs); with the Lusatians it shares the types of instrument which appear in Wielkopolska. With the Finns, Sames (Lapps), Estonians and Latvians, Polish folk music shares the five-beat bar structure; with them and with the eastern and southern Slavs, the apocope. The link with the eastern Slavs is also seen in the traces of non-syllabic versification, some common melodic motifs and narrow-range types of scale. With the Slovaks, Hutsuls (from the east Carpathians), Hungarians and Balkan peoples, southern Poles share many instruments, alla zoppa rhythms, polyphonic forms and some dances; these phenomena may be traces of the migrations of the Vlachs (Wallachians) who brought their pastoral culture from the south.

Poland, §II: Traditional music

7. Popular song and ‘folklorism’.

From 16th century sources onwards one can trace the widely increasing circulation of originally composed folk songs and dances and consequently the beginnings of a popular repertory. Examples are the tańce polskie or ‘Polish dances’ (‘polnischer Tanz’, ‘danza polacca’, polonaise) which from the 16th century were widely distributed throughout Europe in organ and lute tablatures, and were mentioned in numerous accounts, including Valentin Hausmann's writings on Polish proportio. The appearance of dances with mazurka rhythms (and subsequently polonaise rhythms) in the music of European composers also dates from that period.

In the 19th century an increasing number of Polish sentimental songs were composed and – above all – patriotic, national and soldiers' songs were written as a reaction to the partitions of Poland by Russia, Prussia and Austria. Songs and dances from foreign countries became popular, for example those from Ukraine (kolomyjka etc.), Austria (walczyk, sztajerek), Germany and France. In the 20th century all the fashionable dances were in general circulation, including Latin American dances (tango etc.). The mass media contributed to a gradual internationalization of the repertory, and this has been accompanied by a dwindling of traditional folk music and folksongs of Polish provenance.

If one understands the simplest form of ‘folklorism’ to mean the re-creation of folklore outside its rural environment with an altered (aesthetic) function, then traces of this practice were quite common at the royal court and at those of Polish magnates as early as the Renaissance. For example, in the 18th century the last king of Poland, Stanisław August, was greeted by a folk band when he visited the provinces, while in the late 19th century in Galicia groups of villagers played, sang and danced for the Austrian archduke at an agricultural show. Between the two World Wars folklorism was a part of official ceremonies (e.g. the dożynki – ‘harvest homes’ – attended by the Polish president). The political apparatus of the Polish socialist state, particularly after 1948, entrusted folklorism with an important role. Numerous amateur and professional ensembles (Mazowsze, Śląsk) were formed and assigned a propaganda role at home and abroad.

Poland, §II: Traditional music

8. Recent trends.

From the 1950s to 80s, sanitized ‘folklore’ structured by central cultural policies was performed in ensembles, ‘culture houses’ and festivals. This gave way in the 1990s to new musical forms: predominantly young people, immersed in a completely modern life style, performing folk music for a variety of reasons including commercial benefit. This new music, often consisting of stylized versions of traditional songs, occurs mostly in urban centres. For instance, the Jorgi Quartet are from Poznań and Orkiestra Swietego Mikolaja (Saint Nicholas's Orchestra) from Lublin. After the collapse of Soviet communism, the new political climate of liberal democracy and the market economy also brought a revival of the music of national minorities, such as Jewish klezmer music.

In the mid-1990s, traditional music also began to be re-invented within its rural environment. A primary centre of this new ‘folklore’ is Podhale, the district around Zakopane in the Tatra Mountains. There are three main types of music-making: traditionalist, including the pan-Carpathian trend (e.g. Jan Karpiel); fusions, such as that performed by the Trebunia Family Band, who compose new melodies with local characteristics thereby breaking the attachment to ‘fossilized tradition’; and market-orientated, such as disco polo or folk-musak.

The traditional music of Podhale has influenced other musical genres such as classical music, pop, rock and jazz, both nationally and internationally. Works that have been inspired by this music include Karol Szymanowski's ballet Harnasie (1931), Wojciech Kilar's Krzesany (1974) and Siwa mgła (1979), as well as fusions with Polish pop-rock music (e.g. the groups No To Co, Skaldowie and Krywan), jazz (e.g. the saxophonist Zbigniew Namysłowski and his Jazz Quartet play with traditional fiddlers) and reggae (e.g. a series of recordings was initiated in 1991 through cooperation between the Trebunia Family Band and Norman ‘Twinkle’ Grant from Jamaica).

By the 1990s, the music of the Polish Tatra Mountains was being played at Highland weddings and gatherings, in Zakopane restaurants and hotels, as well as in cosmopolitan centres such as London and Chicago. There are countless commercial recordings, ranging from the local Folk label to the English company Nimbus. Podhale regionalism, boosted in this way, has gradually become the prototype for other ‘regionalisms’. The Tatra Highlanders' expressive life style, revolving around their dance and music, has become a model for the rest of Poland.

Poland, §II: Traditional music

BIBLIOGRAPHY

and other resources

A Collections. B General studies. C Instruments and instrumental peformance. D Recordings.

a: collections

W. z Oleska [W.M. Zaleski]: Pieśni polskie i ruskie ludu galicyjskiego [Polish and Ukrainian songs of the Galician people] (Lemberg, 1833)

K.W. Wójcicki: Pieśni ludu Białochrobatów, Mazurów i Rusi znad Bugu [Folksongs of Białochrobatie, Mazury and the Ukrainians from across the Bug] (Warsaw, 1836/R)

J. Konopka: Pieśni ludu krakowskiego [Songs of the Kraków people] (Kraków, 1840/R)

O. Kolberg: Pieśni ludu polskiego [Songs of the Polish people] (Warsaw, 1857/R)

J. Roger: Pieśni ludu Polskiego na Górnym Szląsku z muzyką [Polish folksongs from Upper Silesia] (Wrocław, 1863, 2/1976, with a foreword by P. Świerc in Ger., Pol.)

O. Kolberg: Lud, jego … pieśni, muzyka i tańce [The people, its … songs, music, dances] (Warsaw and Kraków, 1865–90/R)

O. Kolberg: Pokucie: obraz etnograficzny [Ethnographic sketch of Pokucie] (Kraków, 1882–9/R)

O. Kolberg: Lubelskie: obraz etnograficzny (Kraków, 1883)

O. Kolberg: Mazowsze: obraz etnograficzny (Kraków, 1885–90)

O. Kolberg: Chelmskie: obraz etnograficzny (Kraków, 1890–91/R)

Z. Gloger and Z. Noskowski: Pieśni ludu [Folksongs] (Kraków, 1892)

J.S. Bystroń: Polska pieśń ludowa: wybór [Polish folksong: a selection] (Kraków, 1920, 3/1945)

J.S. Bystroń and others: Pieśni ludowe z polskiego Śląska [Folksongs from Polish Silesia] (Kraków, 1927–39, Katowice, 1961)

W. Skierkowski: Puszcza kurpiowska w pieśni [Kurpie green forest in song] (Płock, 1928–34)

S. Mierczyński: Muzyka Podhala/La musique du Podhale (Lwów and Warsaw, 1930, 3/1973)

Ł. Kamieński: Pieśni ludu pomorskiego [Folksongs from Pomorze] (Toruń, 1936)

J. Chorosiński: Melodie taneczne Powiśla [Dance melodies from the banks of the Vistula] (Kraków, 1949, 2/1953)

A. Dygacz and J. Ligęza: Pieśni ludowe Śląska Opolskiego [Folksongs from Opole Silesia] (Kraków, 1954)

S. Wallis: Pieśni górnicze Górnego Śląska [Mining-songs from Upper Silesia] (Kraków, 1954)

M. Sobieski: Wybór polskich pieśni ludowych [Selection of Polish folksongs] (Kraków, 1955)

M. Sobieski and M. Sobolewska: Pieśni ludowe Warmii i Mazur [Folksongs from Warmia and Mazury] (Kraków, 1955)

W. Poźniak: Pieśni ludu krakowskiego [Songs of the Kraków people] (Kraków, 1956)

E. Mika and A. Chybiński: Pieśni ludu polskiego na Orawie [Polish folksongs from Orawa] (Kraków, 1957)

J. Sadownik, ed.: Pieśni Podhala: antologia [Songs from Podhale: an anthology] (Kraków, 1957, 2/1971)

J. Sobieska: Wielkopolskie śpiewki ludowe [Folksongs from Wielkopolska] (Kraków, 1957)

A. Szurmiak-Bogucka: Górole, górole, góralska muzyka: śpiewki Podhala [Mountain music: songs from Podhale] (Kraków, 1959)

J. Tacina: Gronie, nasze gronie [Our mountain ridges] (Katowice, 1959)

A. Dygacz: Pieśni górnicze [Mining-songs] (Katowice, 1960)

J. Burszta, ed.: Oskar Kolberg: Dzieła wszystkie [Collected works] (Kraków, Wrocław and Poznań, 1961–)

J. Tacina: Pieśni ludowe Śląska Opolskiego [Folksongs from Opole Silesia] (Katowice, 1963)

S.M. Stoiński: Pieśni żywieckie [Songs from Żywiec] (Kraków, 1964) [with appx, Dudy żywieckie [Bagpipes from Żywiec]]

A. Oleszczuk: Pieśni ludowe z Podlasia [Folksongs from Podlasie] (Wrocław, 1965)

J. Mikś: Pieśni ludowe ziemi Żywieckiej [Folksongs from Żywiec] (Żywiec, 1968)

W. Kirstein: Pieśni z Kociewia [Songs from the Kociewie region] (Gdańsk, 1970)

J. Lisakowski: Pieśni Kaliskie [Songs from Kalisz] (Kraków, 1971)

J.P. Dekowski and Z. Hauke: Folklor regionu opoczyńskiego [Folklore of the Opoczno region] (Warsaw, 1974)

A. Szurmiak-Bogucka: Wesele góralskie [Weddings of the Tatra highlanders] (Kraków, 1974)

B. Krzyżaniak and others: Polska pieśń i muzyka ludowa, i: Kujawy [Polish folksong and music, i: Kujawy region] (Kraków, 1974–5)

J. Pluciński: Wesele spiskie [Weddings from the Spisz region] (Kraków, 1987)

B. Bartkowski, K. Mrowiec and J. Stęszewski, eds.: Polskie śpiewy religijne społeczności katolickich: studia i materiały [Polish hymns of Catholic communities] (Lublin, 1990)

K. Dadak-Kozicka: Śpiewajże mi jako umiesz [‘Show me how you can sing’] (Warsaw, 1992)

L. Bielawski and A. Mioduchowska: Polska pieśń i muzyka ludowa, ii: Kaszuby [Polish folksongs and folk music, ii: Kaszuby] (Warsaw, 1997)

b: general studies

H. Windakiewiczowa: Studia nad wierszem i zwrotką poezji polskiej ludowej [Studies on the verse and stanza of Polish folk poetry] (Kraków, 1913)

B. Wójcik-Keuprulian: ‘Polska muzyka ludowa’ [Polish folk music], Lud słowiański, iii/B (1932), 3–33

C. Baudouin de Courtenay-Jedrzejewiczowa: ‘O tańcach ludowych w Polsce’ [On folkdances in Poland], Teatr Łudowy, xxvii/8 (1935), 112–19

S. Benet: Song, Dance and Customs of Peasant Poland (London, 1951)

W. Kotoński: ‘Uwagi o muzyce ludowej Podhala’ [Notes on the folk music of Podhale], Muzyka, iv/5–6 (1953), 3–25; iv/7–8 (1953), 43–58; iv/11–12 (1953), 25–45; v/1–2 (1954), 3–15

A. Czekanowska: ‘Pieśń ludowa Opoczyńskiego na tle problematyki etnograficznej’ [Opoczno folksong against the background of ethnographic problems], Studia muzykologiczne, v (1956), 444–533

W. Kotoński: Góralski i zbójnicki: tańce górali podhalańskich [Góralski and zbójnicki: dances of Podhale highlanders] (Kraków, 1956)

A. Wozaczyńska: Pieśni kurpiowskie: ich struktura i charakterystyka w świetle zbiorów W. Skierkowskiego [Kurpie songs, their structure and characteristics in the light of W. Skierkowski’s collections] (Wrocław, 1956)

L. Bielawski, ed.: Adolf Chybiński: O polskiej muzyce ludowej: wybór prac etnograficznych [On Polish folk music: a selection of his ethnographical works] (Kraków and Warsaw, 1961)

A. Czekanowska: Pieśni biłgorajskie [Songs of Biłgoraj] (Wrocław, 1961)

O. Żeromska: Tańce polskie narodowe i regionalne [Polish national and regional dances] (London, 1963)

L. Bielawski: ‘Muzyka ludowa polska’ [Polish folk music], Słownik folkloru polskiego, ed. J. Krzyżanowski (Warsaw, 1965)

J. Stęszewski: ‘“Chmiel”: szkic problematyki etnomuzycznej wątku’ [Chmiel: a sketch of its ethnomusicological problems], Muzyka, x/1 (1965), 3–33

J. Stęszewski: ‘Polish Folk Music’, Polish Music, ed. S. Jarociński (Warsaw, 1965), 200

L. Bielawski: ‘Polnische Volksgesänge ohne Strophenbau und primitive Strophenformen’, Analyse und Klassifikation von Volksmelodien: Radziejowice 1967, 53–72

R. Lange: ‘Historia badań nad tańcem ludowym w Polsce’ [A history of research on folkdances in Poland], Lud, li (1967), 415–49

J. Stęszewski: ‘Die Apokope, eine Eigentümlichkeit im Volksliedervortrag’, Festschrift für Walter Wiora, ed. L. Finscher and C.-H. Mahling (Kassel, 1967), 641–7

L. Bielawski: Rytmika polskich pieśni ludowych [The rhythm of Polish folksongs] (Kraków, 1970)

J. Stęszewski: ‘Remarques concernant les recherches sur la tradition vivante des chants réligieux polonais’, Etat des recherches sur la musique réligieuse dans la culture polonaise: Warsaw 1971, 123–46

A. Czekanowska: Ludowe melodie wąskiego zakresu w krajach słowiańskich [Folk-tunes of narrow range in Slavonic countries] (Kraków, 1972)

J. Sobieska: Ze studiów nad folklorem muzycznym Wielkopolski [Studies of the folk music of Wielkopolska] (Kraków, 1972)

J. Stęszewski: ‘Sachen, Bewusstsein und Benennungen in ethnomusikologischen Untersuchungen’, Jb für Volksliedforschung, xvii (1972), 131–70

J. Sobieska and M. Sobieski: Polska muzyka ludowa i jej problemy: wybór prac [Polish folk music and its problems: selected works], ed. L. Bielawski (Kraków, 1973)

J. Stęszewski: ‘Polish Research on Musical Folklore after 1945’, Poland at the 9th International Congress of Anthropological and Ethnological Sciences: Chicago 1973, ed. W. Dynowski (Warsaw, 1973), 109–21

J. Stęszewski: ‘Uwagi o etnomuzycznej regionalizacji Polski’ [Notes on the ethnomusicological regionalization of Poland], Dyskurs o tradycji (Wrocław, 1974), 323–48

R. Lange: Tradycyjny taniec ludowy w Polsce i jego przemiany w czasie i przestrzeni [Traditional folkdance in Poland and its changes in time and territory] (London, 1978)

G. Dąbrowska: Taniec ludowy na Mazowszu [Folkdance in the Mazury region] (Kraków, 1980)

J. Bobrowska: Pieśni ludowe regionu żywieckiego [Folksongs from the Żywiec region] (Kraków, 1981)

A. Pawlak: Folklor muzyczny Kujaw [Musical folklore of the Kujawy region] (Kraków, 1981)

B. Bartkowski: Polskie śpiewy religijne w żywej tradycji [Polish religious songs in living tradition] (Kraków, 1987)

B. Linette: Obrzędowe pieśni weselne w Rzeszowskiem: typologia wątków muszycznych jako kryterium wyznaczania regionu etnograficznegro [Ceremonial wedding songs in the Rzeszów region: typology of musical subjects as a criterion of regional ethnographic marking] (Rzeszów, 1981)

J.R. Bobrowska: Ludowa kultura muzyczna XVII-wiecznej Polski w świetle twórczości Wacława Potockiego [The musical folk culture of 17th-century Poland in the light of Wacław Potocki’s writings] (Wrocław, 1989)

A. Trojanowicz: Lamenty, rymowanki, zawołania w polskim folklorze muzycznym [Laments, rhymes and calls in Polish folk music] (Łódź, 1989)

A. Czekanowska: Polish Folk Music: Slavonic Heritage – Polish Tradition – Contemporary Trends (Cambridge, 1990)

S. Żerańska-Kominek, ed.: Kultura muzyczna mniejszości narodowych w Polsce: Litwini, Białorusini, Ukraińcy [The musical culture of national minorities in Poland: Lithuanians, Belarusians, Ukrainians] (Warsaw, 1990)

P. Dahlig: Ludowa praktyka muzyczna w komentarzach i opiniach wykonawców w Polsce [Performers’ commentaries and opinions on folk music in Poland] (Warsaw, 1993)

Z.J. Przerembski: Style i formy melodyczne polskich pieśni ludowych [Melodic styles and forms of Polish folksongs] (Warsaw, 1994)

J. Steszewski: ‘Polish National Character in Music: What is it?’, Stereotypes and Nations: Kraków 1991, ed. T. Walas (Kraków, 1995), 225–30; also in Interdisciplinary Studies in Musicology II: Poznań 1993, 147–52

P. Dahlig: Tradycje muzyczne i ich przemiany: między kulturą ludową popularną i elitarną Polski międzywojennej [Music tradition and its transformation: between folk popular culture and élite culture in Poland between the wars] (Warsaw, 1998)

c: instruments and instrumental performance

J. Sobieska and M. Sobieski: Szlakiem kozła lubuskiego [On the trail of the Lubus kozioł] (Kraków, 1954)

J. Stęszewski: ‘Polish Folk Music’, Polish Music, ed. S. Jarociński (Warsaw, 1965), 200

W. Kamiński: ‘Instrumentarium muzyczne w Polsce średniowiecznej’ [An inventory of musical instruments in medieval Poland], Musica medii aevi, ii (1968), 7–39

J. Stęszewski: ‘Geige und Geigenspiel in der polnischen Volksüberlieferung’, Die Geige in der europäischen Volksmusik: St Pölten 1971, 16–37

C. Pilecki: ‘“Gajdy”: Ludowy instrument muzyczny w Beskidzie Śląskim’ [The ‘gajdy’ bagpipe: a folk instrument from Beskid Śląski], Roczniki Etnografii Śląskiej, iv (1972), 91 – 146

S. Olędzki: Polskie Instrumenty Ludowe [Polish folk instruments] (Kraków, 1978)

A. Dygacz and A. Kopoczek, eds.: Polskie Instrumenty Ludowe: studia folklorystyczne [Polish folk instruments: Folkloristic studies] (Katowice, 1981)

W.H. Noll: Peasant Music Ensembles in Poland: a Culture History (diss., U. of Washington, 1986)

L. Bielawski, P. Dahlig and A. Kopoczek, eds.: Instrumenty muzyczne w polskiej kulturze ludowej [Musical instruments in Polish folk culture] (Łódź, 1988)

A. Kopoczek: Ludowe narzędzia muzyczne z ceramiki na ziemiach polskich [Ceramic folk music instruments in Polish lands] (Katowice, 1989)

E. Dahlig: Ludowa gra skrzypcowa w Kieleckiem [Folk fiddle-playing in the Kielce region] (Warsaw, 1990)

A. Kopoczek: Loduwe instrumenty muzyczne polskiego obszaru karpackiego: instrumente dęte [Traditional instruments in the Polish Carpathian region: wind instruments] (Rzeszów, 1996)

d: recordings

Pry roku na wsi pszczyńskiej [The seasons of the year in the villages of Pszczyna district], Veriton SXV-764 (1972) [incl. notes by A. Spyra in Eng., Pol.]

Grajcie dudy, grajcie basy [Play, bagpipes, play, basses], rec. 1950–74, Polskie Nagrania SX 1125 and 1126 (1976) [incl. notes by J. Sobieska in Eng., Pol.]

Pologne dances, Arion ARN64188 (1992)

Music of the Tatra Mountains, Poland: Gienek Wilczek's Bukowina Band, Nimbus Records NI5464 (1996) [incl. notes]