THE UPPER SILESIAN ZBIÓR PIEŚNI CAŁOROCZNYCH (1811–1821) [COLLECTION OF CHURCH SONGS FOR ALL THE YEAR] IN THE LIGHT OF THE STUDY OF THE SOURCE

Ancient collections of religious songs constitute a valuable source in research on church song, its genesis and vitality. These valuable resources are now complemented with an unknown earlier, handwritten cantional from the collection of Silesian Library in Katowice entitled Zbiór pieśni całorocznych [Collection of Church Songs for All the Year]. According to the title page, this collection was completed by two organists from Upper Silesia, Jakub Mordan from Tworóg and Jan Damroth from Warszowice in the years 1811–1821. It contains 342 songs, mainly lyrics, all in Polish. Over 50 works are accompanied by music notation, with harmonization in the style of organ accompaniment Many songs are accompanied by references to melodies of other church chants, in the form of contrafactum. The collection contains church chants of various themes grouped in 17 sections arranged according to the structure of the church year. Its outstanding feature is an unusually great number of Christmas carols, Passion songs and songs connected with the cult of saints. The cantional contains also over 50 psalm songs, mainly translated by Jan Kochanowski. A comparative analysis indicates certain connections in the repertoire with the printed Wroclaw cantional from 1734 but at the same time confirms differences and original creativity