The paper presents selected aspects of Polish tradition of sacred hymns in the era of the great r... more The paper presents selected aspects of Polish tradition of sacred hymns in the era of the great reform movements of 19th century – „cecilianism” and „Solesmes”. The effects of reforms were insufficient and finally collapsed during liturgical changes of 20th century. In the first decades of 19th century Polish sacred hymns were considered as eternal, unchanging and without doubt full of sacrum. That repertory was the successor of the Gregorian chant and a significant part of it had genetic relationship with an old church tradition. Although as a repertory which arose through ages, Polish sacred hymns were also heterogeneous. The first attempt of entire codification of that complex repertory was published in 1838 by catholic priest M.M. Mioduszewski. Difficult political and financial situation caused the recession of church institutions and foundations – including musical ensembles and choirs. The secularization of the repertoire (e.g. introduction into churches the opera musical style) had taken place in the second half of 19th century and caused general ruin of church music. As a remedy for that situation Polish intelectual and musical elites recognized new trends from Western Europe. The idea of „cecilianism” acquired some influence in Polish churches and at first its effects were encouraging (e.g. founding of mixed-choirs consisting of amateur singers). Finally, in the beginning of 20th century under the influence of the new singing style of Gregorian chant introduced by Solesmes, the old style of singing was rejected and noticed as „rural” and connected with a kind of disgrace. The liturgical reforms of Vaticanum II caused general change of musical repertory. The old repertory was again rejected and a lot of liturgical music was newly composed – some even with pop-culture influences. The only possible way of preserve the old repertory is the survival of the archaic style of singing. The hope for it is the fact of succesful reintroduction of Bogurodzica – it started in 1928 and now that chant is again well known in Poland.
The paper presents selected aspects of Polish tradition of sacred hymns in the era of the great r... more The paper presents selected aspects of Polish tradition of sacred hymns in the era of the great reform movements of 19th century – „cecilianism” and „Solesmes”. The effects of reforms were insufficient and finally collapsed during liturgical changes of 20th century. In the first decades of 19th century Polish sacred hymns were considered as eternal, unchanging and without doubt full of sacrum. That repertory was the successor of the Gregorian chant and a significant part of it had genetic relationship with an old church tradition. Although as a repertory which arose through ages, Polish sacred hymns were also heterogeneous. The first attempt of entire codification of that complex repertory was published in 1838 by catholic priest M.M. Mioduszewski. Difficult political and financial situation caused the recession of church institutions and foundations – including musical ensembles and choirs. The secularization of the repertoire (e.g. introduction into churches the opera musical style) had taken place in the second half of 19th century and caused general ruin of church music. As a remedy for that situation Polish intelectual and musical elites recognized new trends from Western Europe. The idea of „cecilianism” acquired some influence in Polish churches and at first its effects were encouraging (e.g. founding of mixed-choirs consisting of amateur singers). Finally, in the beginning of 20th century under the influence of the new singing style of Gregorian chant introduced by Solesmes, the old style of singing was rejected and noticed as „rural” and connected with a kind of disgrace. The liturgical reforms of Vaticanum II caused general change of musical repertory. The old repertory was again rejected and a lot of liturgical music was newly composed – some even with pop-culture influences. The only possible way of preserve the old repertory is the survival of the archaic style of singing. The hope for it is the fact of succesful reintroduction of Bogurodzica – it started in 1928 and now that chant is again well known in Poland.
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Papers by Bartosz Izbicki
In the first decades of 19th century Polish sacred hymns were considered as eternal, unchanging and without doubt full of sacrum. That repertory was the successor of the Gregorian chant and a significant part of it had genetic relationship with an old church tradition. Although as a repertory which arose through ages, Polish sacred hymns were also heterogeneous. The first attempt of entire codification of that complex repertory was published in 1838 by catholic priest M.M. Mioduszewski.
Difficult political and financial situation caused the recession of church institutions and foundations – including musical ensembles and choirs. The secularization of the repertoire (e.g. introduction into churches the opera musical style) had taken place in the second half of 19th century and caused general ruin of church music.
As a remedy for that situation Polish intelectual and musical elites recognized new trends from Western Europe. The idea of „cecilianism” acquired some influence in Polish churches and at first its effects were encouraging (e.g. founding of mixed-choirs consisting of amateur singers). Finally, in the beginning of 20th century under the influence of the new singing style of Gregorian chant introduced by Solesmes, the old style of singing was rejected and noticed as „rural” and connected with a kind of disgrace.
The liturgical reforms of Vaticanum II caused general change of musical repertory. The old repertory was again rejected and a lot of liturgical music was newly composed – some even with pop-culture influences.
The only possible way of preserve the old repertory is the survival of the archaic style of singing. The hope for it is the fact of succesful reintroduction of Bogurodzica – it started in 1928 and now that chant is again well known in Poland.
In the first decades of 19th century Polish sacred hymns were considered as eternal, unchanging and without doubt full of sacrum. That repertory was the successor of the Gregorian chant and a significant part of it had genetic relationship with an old church tradition. Although as a repertory which arose through ages, Polish sacred hymns were also heterogeneous. The first attempt of entire codification of that complex repertory was published in 1838 by catholic priest M.M. Mioduszewski.
Difficult political and financial situation caused the recession of church institutions and foundations – including musical ensembles and choirs. The secularization of the repertoire (e.g. introduction into churches the opera musical style) had taken place in the second half of 19th century and caused general ruin of church music.
As a remedy for that situation Polish intelectual and musical elites recognized new trends from Western Europe. The idea of „cecilianism” acquired some influence in Polish churches and at first its effects were encouraging (e.g. founding of mixed-choirs consisting of amateur singers). Finally, in the beginning of 20th century under the influence of the new singing style of Gregorian chant introduced by Solesmes, the old style of singing was rejected and noticed as „rural” and connected with a kind of disgrace.
The liturgical reforms of Vaticanum II caused general change of musical repertory. The old repertory was again rejected and a lot of liturgical music was newly composed – some even with pop-culture influences.
The only possible way of preserve the old repertory is the survival of the archaic style of singing. The hope for it is the fact of succesful reintroduction of Bogurodzica – it started in 1928 and now that chant is again well known in Poland.