A Nineteenth-Century Processional from the Archive of Bonifratres in Cracow (Kraków). A Contribution to Research into Latin Monody
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2020
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Abstract
W Archiwum Konwentu Bonifratrów w Krakowie znajduje się rękopiśmienny procesjonał z 1811 roku. Autor artykułu dokonał krytyki źródła i porównał jego zawartość z Processionale Andrzeja Piotrkowczyka z 1621 roku, stanowiącym podstawę wykonywania śpiewów procesyjnych w Polsce przez około 200 lat oraz wybranymi kancjonałami XIX wieku. Egzemplarz krakowski, będący prawdopodobnie jedną z ostatnich powstałych wówczas tego typu ksiąg, jest dowodem wysokiej kultury muzycznej kultywowanej w środowisku, dla którego powstał oraz świadectwem pielęgnowania żywej tradycji organizowania procesji. Potwierdza w tym względzie wyraźną przewagę ksiąg polskich nad rzymskimi, z coraz większym udziałem ludu wykonującego śpiewy w języku polskim. Przedruk znacznej zawartości procesjonału w wydawanych następnie kancjonałach potwierdza ewidentnie wartość i przydatność tej księgi.
The Archive of the Bonifratres’ Monastery in Cracow holds a handwritten processional from 1811. The present author conducts source criticism and compares its contents with Andrzej Piotrkowczyk’s Processionale from 1621 – which furnished a basis for the performance of processional chant in Poland for around 200 years – and selected nineteenth-century cancionals. The Cracow item, probably one of the last books of this type in this period, is proof of the high musical culture that was cultivated in the milieu for which it was destined, and a testimony of a cherished, living tradition of organizing processions. In this respect, it confirms a clear advantage of Polish books over Roman ones, with an increasing participation of the people chanting in the Polish language. The reprint of a greater part of the processional in subsequently published cancionals confirms, as a matter of evidence, the value and utility of this book.
The Archive of the Bonifratres’ Monastery in Cracow holds a handwritten processional from 1811. The present author conducts source criticism and compares its contents with Andrzej Piotrkowczyk’s Processionale from 1621 – which furnished a basis for the performance of processional chant in Poland for around 200 years – and selected nineteenth-century cancionals. The Cracow item, probably one of the last books of this type in this period, is proof of the high musical culture that was cultivated in the milieu for which it was destined, and a testimony of a cherished, living tradition of organizing processions. In this respect, it confirms a clear advantage of Polish books over Roman ones, with an increasing participation of the people chanting in the Polish language. The reprint of a greater part of the processional in subsequently published cancionals confirms, as a matter of evidence, the value and utility of this book.
Description
The processional from the Archive of Cracovian Bonifratres, likely one of the last handwritten books of this type and period, is undoubted proof of the high musical culture cultivated in the milieu for which it was prepared, and by the same token, a significant contribution of the Church in Poland to European religious heritage. The fact of such a collection having been edited still in the second decade of the nineteenth century is irrefutable proof of a cherished tradition which, despite many whirlpools of history, lived on almost unchanged until the Second Vatican Council. Despite the fact that in the nineteenth century the processional was supplanted by cancionals, the repertoire of the latter – as has been shown – has not become obsolete, and moreover, it is largely the processional’s continuation. Also, the Cracow item is testimony of the people being actively involved in processions and chanting in Polish. This is confirmed by a complete inclusion of the lyrics to one of Europe’s oldest church songs, “Chrystus Zmartwychwstan jest” (Christ is Risen), preceded by the rubric “Lud śpiewa Pieśń”, performed at a resurrection procession. Apart from this song, written out in the manuscript’s original part, the beginning and end of the collection includes other added, already mentioned pieces. They testify clearly about the increasing phenomenon of people’s participation in liturgical celebrations.
Keywords
Latin Monody, monodia łacińska, Bonifratres, Cantionale ecclesiasticum, Processionale, manuscript, Cantionale ecclesiasticum; bonifratrzy, rękopis
Citation
"Roczniki Humanistyczne" LXVIII, 2020, z. 12, s. 73-86.