History of Polish music

History

The history of Polish music includes the period from the Middle Ages to modern times.

The Middle ages

The first composition in Polish is a wedding song „o Chmielu Chmielu”

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7KOXdT0z4f0

Bogurodzica – first anthem

This is the first written Polish religious song and it was composed in 14th century.

For several centuries it was  the national anthem and was sang during ceremonies of state, church, and before great battles.

https://www.youtube.com/

watch?v=ZgtTapXGWXA

The Middle Ages lyrics

Polish music in Renaissance

Polish composers played an important role in the Renaissance of European culture.

The most significant composers of the Renaissance ("The Golden Age of Polish culture") are: Mikołaj Gomółka, Wacław z Szamotuł, Marcin Leopolita and Jakub Polak.

BaroqueBaroque music is the style of Western art music composed from approximately 1600 to 1750. This era follows the Renaissance and was followed in turn by the Classical era.

The Flute Concert of Sanssouci by Adolph von Menzel.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P67POIA621Y

Opera Baroque music expanded the size, range, and complexity of instrumental performance, and also established opera as a musical genre

ClassicismClassicism in music included years from

1760 to 1820. The main presumption of this movement was balance between baroque and romantic. Classics resigned the Baroque polyphony. The main role belonged to instrumental music. Classical composers created forms such as: sonata, rondo and string concert. Classicism in Polish music was represented by Maria Szymanowska and Maciej Kamienski.

Maria Szymanowska

Maria Szymanowska was a Polish composer, who lived and composed during Classicism. She wrote many pieces for piano, including etudes, nocturnes, waltzes, polonaises, mazurkas. She is known for her many remarkable pieces of music, which became symbols of the Polish classicism.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y0e8q9MHqTQ

Romanticism in Poland

Romanticism in Poland was a literary, artistic and intellectual period in the evolution of Polish culture that began around 1820, coinciding with the publication of Adam Mickiewicz's first poems in 1822. It ended with the suppression of the January 1863 Uprising against the Russian Empire, in 1864. The latter event ushered in a new era in Polish culture known as the Positivism.Polish Romanticism, unlike Romanticism elsewhere in Europe, was not limited to literary and artistic concerns. Due to specific Polish historical circumstances, notably the partitions of Poland, it was also an ideological, philosophical and political movement that expressed the ideals and way of life of a large portion of the Polish social elite.

Polish Romantic musiciansRomantic ideas formed not only literature but also music. The music of Fryderyk Chopin and Stanislaw Moniuszko inspired the development of the Polish Romantic movement in all fields of creativity.

Fryderyk ChopinFryderyk Franciszek Chopin was a Polish composer and virtuoso pianist. He is widely considered one of the greatest Romantic piano composers. Chopin was born in Zelazowa Wola, a village in the Duchy of Warsaw. A renowned child prodigy, he grew up in Warsaw and completed his music education there; he composed many of his mature works in Warsaw before leaving Poland in 1830 at age of 20, shortly before the November 1830 Uprising.He composed : mazurkas; etudes; preludes; nocturnes; waltzes; polonaises; rondos; ballades; impromptus; piano sonatas, etc.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hxz6QZlsAIo

Stanisław Moniuszko

Stanisław Moniuszko was a Polish composer, conductor and teacher active during the foreign partitions of Poland. His output includes many popular art songs and operas, and his musical style is filled with patriotic folk themes of the peoples of the former Polish –Lithuania Commonwealth (predominantly Polish and Belarusian). He is generally referred to as the father of Polish national opera.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kIjiT0IS_PI

Thanks for watching