XVIII-wieczne utwory bożonarodzeniowe w zbiorach kapeli oo. Paulinów na Jasnej Górze w Częstochowie

Abstract

An especially strong growth in stylistically distinct musical works connected with the liturgical period of Christmas can be observed in Poland in the XVIII century. At the same time this period witnessed the heyday of the best Polish church musical groups - the group of the Paulist Fathers at the Jasna Góra Monastery in Częstochowa which left a rich collection of music. The happy coincidence of these two facts enables us to carry out a fairly representative comparison and analysis of the Polish pastoral music of the XVIII century. The article is an introductory presentation of the material, preparatory to more detailed research. The main source of the XVIII century repertory of the Jasna Góra group is a catalogue of the group's notes which was prepared in 1809 by the conductor M. Zabłocki. In the chapter "Pastoral compositions" Zabłocki names 16 pastoral masses, 30 compositions described as "symphonies and pastoral offertories" (together with some arias, pastorales, cantatas, motets, mazurkas) and 4 "vesperae pastorales". The important thing is that most of the above mentioned compositions are by local composers - musicians of the Jasna Góra group like J. Koblerkowlcz, M. J. Żebrowski, F. Perneckher, M. Orłowski, Zachariasz, I. Rygall, F. Kotricz, L. Mader and F. Gotschalk. The foreign element is represented mainly by the works of Czech composers (F. X. Brixi, J. Kops, C. Just, M. Seyfried, J. Lochelio). It is worth mentioning that Polish texts were used in some of the compositions which can be generally described as pastorales (the compositions by Zachariasz, L. Madera and Figulenti). Thus the Jasna Góra Christmas compositions are perhaps the largest group of this kind of composition to be found in Poland. They represent the kind of music which helps us to follow the changes which were taking place in the character of XVIII century Polish pastoral music.