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Catholic Church Song as a Source of Inspiration for Polish Organ Music of the 19th and 20th Centuries on the Example of the Song ‘Whoso to the Safety Shall of his Lord Retire’
Abstract
Polish organ works inspired by religious themes became a common compositional practice as late as in the second half of the 19th century. Many church songs have been elaborated several times in preludes, variations and improvisations. The compositional technique of this type of works has been discussed on the example of the song ‘Kto się w opiekę (Whoso to the Safety Shall of his Lord Retire)’ composed by S. Moniuszko, W. Żeleński, M. Surzyński and J. Furmanik. Their works date back to the period of nearly eighty years, between 1859 and ca 1940. The song source limited and imposed certain technical means. The plainchant-like character of the theme was preserved by particular composers and exposed mainly in the highest voice. Rather simple harmonic transformations included the change of tonal mode (Żeleński, Surzyński). Imitation was used in the smaller extent (Żeleński, Surzyński) and in the fughetta form. These relatively short pieces (32, 93, 102 and 186 bars) have enriched the Polish musical repertoire, presenting also didactic values for future composers and organists.
Keywords:
organ music, catholic church song, Surzyński Mieczysław, Furmanik Józef, Żeleński WładysławDetails
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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.