Scan 240
The American history and encyclopedia of music .., 1908
12 lines. Read by computer on 10 September 2026. Printed page 168. See the scan on archive.org.
1eastern character modified by western refinement. It is music decidedly instrumental in style, a sort of vocal counterpart of the Hungarian. It is full of difficult intervals, peculiar and intricate rhythms and syncopations (misplaced accents), and has abundant ornamentation. In this fondness for the ornate it resembles Russian music, but is much more fiery and passionate.
3The oldest Polish music is that of the church. There is record of a hymn, "Boda Rodziga," composed in the year 959 by Archbishop Adelbert. A picturesque custom which prevailed in the olden time was the singing of "Hajnaly" ("Morning Songs") from the church towers in Cracow, to awaken the inhabitants. Special Christmas songs for such proceedings are still in existence. Even in the art lines the first efforts came from the influence of the church, Gomolka (1564-1607), a contemporary of Palestrina, being the earliest of the composers of church music.
5It is in the national dances, however, that Polish music is at its best. The masculine polonaise, and its feminine complement, the mazurka, are the two most famous of these. Of the two, the polonaise is the more stately and pompous. It was first danced at court. Liszt says of the mazurka: "Coquetries, vanities, fantasies, inclinations, elegies, vague emotions, passions, conquests, struggles upon which the safety of others depend, all meet in that dance."
7Other Polish dances are the krakowisk, a lively dance, usually accompanied by singing; and the dumka, literally a "song of sorrow." It is a sort of reverie, very old, and expresses in text, rhythm and tonality great sorrow. The real dumka is written in the harmonic minor scale.
9For accompanying these dances there was the skrzypce or violin; the gusli and rebec, both of the violin type; the pandora, bandura, valalaika, and mandora of the guitar family; and the cytara or zither.
11Following the efforts of the early church composers came the vogue in Poland of Italian music, chiefly operatic. But there has been Polish opera since 1778. At first the
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