Despite the combination of carelessness and wars over the past 400 years, an exceptionally large corpus of keyboard music compiled during the 16th and 17th centuries has survived in manuscript form in Poland. It is extremely rich in liturgical organ music, but secular forms are also prominent. To the best of my knowledge, it is a great lacuna that no treatises on performance practice (such as registration, ornamentation, fingering) with or without examples have survived, if indeed any were produced. I am also not aware of any keyboard music being printed in Poland during the 16th and 17th centuries, unlike the many volumes produced in southern Germany and Italy. The following list, in chronological order as far as dates are known, details many of the manuscripts surviving in libraries in Poland. It should be noted that some places now in Poland were previously under the rule of a different country such as the former Bohemia or Germany. This list cannot claim to be complete, but is at least a starting point for further exploration; modern editions published in the past 40 years, where known, are included, although their ready availability, particularly those published in Poland itself, cannot be guaranteed. It should also be noted that music in these manuscripts is not necessarily by Polish composers; indeed, many pieces that are anonymous in the sources may well be by foreign composers who were active in Poland or whose compositions were known there.
Much research remains to be done in cataloguing and evaluating sources, particularly those from the 18th century, which have been preserved in manuscripts in Polish and German archives. Many of the pieces that have been made available show this repertoire to be fully deserving of being played today, either as part of the liturgy or in concerts. Although many modern editions are on two staves, because of large stretches in the left hand and sometimes-awkward crossing of inner parts, the use of the pedals will aid clarity.
Ca. 1425: Sagan Tablature
Breslau Staatsbibliothek (Wrocław, Biblioteka Uniwersytecka), I Qu 438. A single leaf in Old German organ tablature containing three movements from the Gloria has survived; each piece is in two voices only, the lower outlining the chant with the upper consisting of florid figuration based on octave doubling of the chant tones. These pieces have been edited by Willi Apel, in Keyboard music of the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries (Corpus of Early Keyboard Music, vol. 1, American Institute of Musicology).
Ca. 1450?:
Dominican Monastery, Breslau
Breslau Staatsbibliothek (Wrocław, Biblioteka Uniwersytecka), I Qu 42. A fragment in Old German organ tablature containing two short pieces has survived. The first piece is untitled, the second carries the heading Incipit Fundamentum bonum p(edaliter) in c d a. As with the previous manuscript, each piece is predominantly in two voices with the upper voice occasionally containing up to three, the lower outlining the chant with the upper consisting of florid figuration. A further fragment now in Breslau Staatsbibliothek (I F 687) contains five pieces, of which one is a sequence of clausulae. The other four contain a melody in the lower voice beneath a florid upper voice with occasional extra notes added. These pieces have been edited by Willi Apel in Keyboard music of the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries (Corpus of Early Keyboard Music, vol. 1, American Institute of Musicology).
1520
Warsaw, Biblioteka Publiczna m. st. Warszawy, akc.3141. Fragments, 19 ff. Old German Tablature. See Brzezińska, 1987.
1528
Warsaw, Biblioteka Narodowa mus. 2081. One folio in Old German Tablature; see Brzezińska, 1987, facsimile plate 12.
Ca. 1537–48: Johannes of Lublin Tablature
Kraków, Biblioteka Polskiej Akademii Nauk, 1716. This enormous tablature of 260 folios in Old German organ tablature contains pieces across all genres. There is a modern edition 1964–67 by John Reeves White for the American Institute of Musicology, volume six in the Corpus of Early Keyboard Music series, divided into a further six volumes. Volume one: 21 preambula, three organ Masses, and 13 Mass ordinary sections; volume two: 20 introits and sequences and 11 hymn settings; volume three: 38 motet intabulations; volume four: eight German, 13 Italian, and six French intabulations of secular songs; volume five: 36 dances, 11 Polish compositions, and 13 works of uncertain origin; volume six: 19 short compositions based on the tones of the psalms and Magnificat, and a further 26 short examples of fundamentum and clausulae. A facsimile edited by Wydala Krystyna Wilkowska-Chominska was published in 1964 as Tablatura organowa Jana z Lublina by Monumenta musicae in Polonia, Seria B, Vol. 1.
Ca. 1548: KrakЧw Tablature
Warsaw, Biblioteka Narodowa, 564. This manuscript in Old German tablature, from the monastery of the Holy Spirit in Kraków, has been lost but a photocopy survives. It contains some 98 compositions in 362 pages, predominantly intabulations of pieces of a sacred nature, comprising preludes (1–9), fugues (10–15), Mass ordinary compositions (16–24), introits and sequences (25–29), hymns and antiphons (30–40), motets (41–57), and psalms (58–65). The remaining pieces are Polish songs (66–70), compositions of German origin including chorale settings (71–78), of Italian origin (79–82), French origin (83–85), and of uncertain identity (86–98). The great majority of pieces are for manuals only and a number are also included in the Lublin Tablature. Modern edition in two volumes edited by Wyatt Insko for Ludowy Institut Muzyczny, Łódż, 1992.
Ca. 1565
Wrocław, Biblioteka Uniwersytecka contained Magnificat settings and psalm tones but is now presumed lost.
Ca. 1580: Martin Leopolita or Warsaw Musical Society Tablature
Warsaw, Biblioteka Warszawskiego Towarzystwa Muzycznego I/220, now known as the Łowicka tabulature, from the town with which it is associated. This tablature contains some 74 compositions in New German organ tablature, mainly intabulations of motets, antiphons, and introits, but including Magnificats on the eight tones. Pedals are required for several pieces. A modern edition by Jerzy Gołos, published by the Akademia Muzyczna im. Fryderyka Chopina w Warszawie (1993) is a revised and corrected version of the edition previously published as Antiquitates Musicae in Polonia vol. XV (1967). Three intabulations and the Magnificat on the Eighth Tone were edited by Jerzy Gołos and Adam Sutkowski in volume 10, part four, of the Corpus of Early Keyboard Music series, American Institute of Musicology. See Gołos.
Ca. 1591: Gdańsk Tablature
Gdańsk, Wojewódzkie Archiwum Panstwowe, 300, R (Vv, 123). This tablature contains 45 pieces in Italian keyboard notation on two staves, comprising 17 fantasias, followed by intabulations of hymns, motets, and secular songs. Modern edition by Jerzy Erdman (Polski Institut Muzyczny, Łódż, 1993). The 17 fantasias (broadly similar to extended Italian intonazioni, although some open with imitation that soon dissolves into figuration) have been edited by Jerzy Gołos and Adam Sutkowski in volume 10, part three in the Corpus of Early Keyboard Music, American Institute of Musicology. The manuscript is also included in Franz Kessler’s 1988 edition of Danziger Orgelmusik des 16 bis 18 Jahrhunderts (Hänssler Verlag, now available through Carus Verlag), although with a third stave for pedals that is not a feature of the original manuscript (the great majority of the pieces can be performed as manuals only). Cajus Schmiedtlein (or Schmedecke) (1555–1611), organist of the Marienkirche, Danzig, has been considered as a possible author of this tabulature.
Ca. 1593: Organ Tablature “A F M B”
Kraków, Biblioteka Jagiellońska 40115 (formerly in Berlin Staatsbibliothek). Although the great majority of the approximately 80 pieces in this manuscript in New German organ tablature are of German provenance, one piece, a Polish dance, is included in Musica Antiqua Polonica, Renesans 7: Dances, edited by Piotr Poźniak, published by Polskie Wydawnictwo Muzyczne, 1994. This anthology contains 41 pieces, of which 17 are for lute, with seven organ pieces taken from the Lublin tablatures.
Ca.1595: Toruń Tablature
Toruń Archiwum Wojewódzkie, XIV 13a. Tablature
Compiled by Johannes Fischer of Morąg, it contains motet settings and fantasias in New German organ tablature. Two pieces ascribed to Diomedes Cato (Muteta and Fuga) were edited by Jerzy Gołos and Adam Sutkowski in volume 10, part four of the Corpus of Early Keyboard Music series, American Institute of Musicology, and a fuga and fantasia by Cato were included in Musica Antiqua Polonica: Renesans 4: Keyboard music, edited by Piotr Poźniak, published by Polskie Wydawnictwo Muzyczne, 1994, but the tablature still awaits a complete modern edition.
Ca. 1618: Adam z Wągrowiec or Samogitian Tablature
Now preserved in Jesuit College, Kroże in Samogitia, Lithuania (Ms LT-Vn 105-67), contains some 35 pieces by Adam z Wągrowiec (d. 1629), including cadences in different tones or modes, several free pieces including a prelude with obligatory pedal part indicated on a separate stave, nine fantasias, four ricercars, and several liturgical paraphrases that show the influence of Frescobaldi. Three canzonas attributed to Adam are preserved in the Pelplin tablatures (see below). Modern edition by Irena Bieńkowska and Mirosław Perz, published by Neriton, Warsaw, 1999.
Ca. 1619: Oliwa Tablature
Vilnius, Bibliotece Litewskiej Akademii Nauk (Library of the Lithuanian Academy of Sciences), F 15-284 and a fragment F 15-286. This tablature, originating in the Cistercian Monastery at Oliva, near Gdańsk, contains some 329 pieces (the largest portion consists of transcribed unembellished vocal music including motets, mass movements, madrigals, chansons, and lieder, with only four praeambulas, six fugues, five canzonas, and a wide variety of dances), on at least 180 folios, the bulk of which was written by Jacobus Apfell in New German organ tablature. Unfortunately only two slim volumes of the contents have been published to date. The first volume contains 12 pieces, five of which are ascribed to Piotr Drusiński including two praeambula, and settings of Veni Redemptor Gentium, Resonet in laudibus, and Deus in adiutorium. A canzona is ascribed to Diomedes Cato, and the remaining pieces are anonymous (Lemma, two fugues, Melos, and a fantasia). The second volume contains intabulations of pieces by Andrea and Giovanni Gabrieli, Antegnati, Hassler, and anonymous dances. Both volumes edited by Jan Janca (Gdańsk: Wydawnictwo Organon, ca. 1992).
Ca. 1620-30: Pelplin Tablature
Pelplin, Biblioteka Seminarium, 304–8, 308a Pelplin, Cistercian monastery. Among them the six tablatures in New German tablature contain 797 intabulations of vocal works and 91 instrumental compositions by composers from across Europe. A supplement with organ works was copied ca. 1650–80, including chorale settings by Scheidemann, Hasse, and Tunder (these are available in modern editions of the composers’ keyboard works, and some have been edited by Jerzy Gołos and Adam Sutkowski in parts one and two of volume 10 of the Corpus of Early Keyboard Music series, American Institute of Musicology). A small part of the intabulations has been edited in modern transcriptions and published in the series Antiquitates Musicae in Polonia (Graz: Akademische Druck und Verlag), including Hieronim Feicht’s 1970 edition of the 91 instrumental works (volume 8), Jan Węcowski’s 1970 edition of the intabulations of 54 motets by Andrzej Hakenberger (volume 9), and Jerzy Golos and T. Maciejewski’s 1970 edition devoted to the vocal works by Peter Phillips and Melchior Vulpius (volume 10). A catalogue (volume 1) and facsimile of the complete tablatures (volumes 2–7) is included in the series Antiquitates Musicae in Polonia.
Early 17th century
Warsaw, Biblioteka Narodowa, 327 (olim 4577, olim 5229; olim Legnica, Ritter-Akademie 98) [microfilm no. 19, 581]). New German tablature. An intabulation of Schadaeus’s Promptuarium musicum (Strasbourg 1611–17) with a few chorale settings added. No modern edition known. See Gołos.
Warsaw, Biblioteka Narodowa 326 (olim 4579, olim 5231 and D 590–114; olim Legnica, Ritter-Akademie 100) (early 17th century). 328 ff. New German organ tablature. 298 intabulations of vocal works, mostly in skeletal form for accompanimental purposes. No modern edition known. See Gołos.
Kraków, Biblioteka Jagiellońska, 24 (olim Legnica, Ritter-Akademie, 101) (early 17th century). 185 ff. New German organ tablature. Intabulations of secular works by Lassus, Marenzio, Gastoldi, Crecquillon, etc. on ff.137v–142v, 160r–165r. No modern edition known. See Gołos.
Ca. 1626: Vilnius or Sapieha Tablature
Vilnius, Bibliotece Litewskiej Akademii Nauk (Library of the Lithuanian Academy of Sciences), F-30-119. In Italian keyboard notation, in addition to organ works, it includes four vocal works for one or two voices and continuo, as well as 25 engravings that portray the life of St. Francis, with captions in Latin and Polish.
Modern edition 2004 by Piotr Pózniak, Album Sapieżyńskie. Sub Sole Sarmatiae, Volume 9: Wileńska tabulatura organowa z XVII wieku obrazami żywota św. Franciszka zdobiona. Published by Musica Iagellonica, Kraków.
Ca. 1644: Ostrameczew or Polotsk Tablature
Kraków, Biblioteka Jagiellońska Ms 10002 (originally 127.56). In Italian keyboard notation, this tablature contains pieces by many composers including Marcin Mielczewski, and the single preserved piece by Piotr Żelechowski, a Fantasia sopra Primo Tono, edited by Jerzy Gołos and Adam Sutkowski in volume 10, part four of the Corpus of Early Keyboard Music series, American Institute of Musicology, and also by Jan Stęszewski for Polskie Wydawn, Muzyczne 73, Warsaw. No complete modern edition known.
Ca. 1680: The Warsaw Tablature
The original, in Italian keyboard notation, is now considered lost during the Warsaw Uprising of 1944, and its provenance remains unknown, although Aleksander Poliński surmised its origin to be in the Polish province of North Masovia. Originally housed in the National Library, Warsaw (hence its name), a fair copy was made by Adolph Chybiński, which in its turn has disappeared, leaving only a partial copy made by his student Czesław Sikorski. This contains 71 pieces, comprising 19 preambula, 13 toccatas, 17 fugues, three fantasias, a capriccio and its proportio, four canzonas, 12 settings of Christmas pieces, and two untitled pieces; excerpts from Pachelbel and Frescobaldi have been identified. A modern edition by Jerzy Gołos ca. 1990 for Ludowy Institut Muzyczny, Łódż, is a revised and corrected version of Chybiński’s copy. Thirteen pieces were edited by Jerzy Gołos and Adam Sutkowski in volume 10, part four of the Corpus of Early Keyboard Music series, American Institute of Musicology.
1768: Arie z rЧżnych autorЧw zebrine anno 1768
Clarist convent archives Stary Sącz 26. This manuscript on 49 leaves is a collection of arias, which was handed down to a nun in the convent in 1768. Originally comprising 102 compositions, two pages are missing, leaving 97 complete and two incomplete compositions. It is a rare example of an 18th-century compilation that has been made available in a modern edition. In one movement in binary or ternary form, a few have been identified as pieces by Hasse and Zipoli. New edition by Jan Chwałek (Lublin: Polihymnia, 1994).
An in-depth discussion of the 16th century tablatures can be found in Willi Apel’s History of Keyboard Music to 1700, pp. 100ff. An excellent book, in English, is The Polish Organ, which is in two volumes (Warsaw: Sutkowski Edition, 1993). Volume one, The instrument and its history, by Jerzy Gołos, covers the Middle Ages to the 20th century and contains selected documents and comprehensive lists of organ builders, places, location of manuscript sources, and a bibliography of some 36 pages (the majority of the entries are, understandably, in Polish). There is also a map and some 90 black and white illustrations, mainly of consoles and actions.
Volume two, Organ cases in Poland as works of art, originally by Ewa Smulikowska and thoroughly revised by Jerzy Gołos, discusses in detail the organ case in the church, the symbolic and conceptual meaning of the carved subjects according to medieval and Renaissance metaphysics, organbuilders and wood carvers in the regional centers, evolution of the case, and iconographical themes. Part II of the volume deals with many cases by location; over 200 photographs are included, several in color.
Bibliography
Unfortunately, very little material about this repertoire has been published in English, but there are articles in Italian in certain volumes of L’Organo as listed below.
Apel, Willi. The History of Keyboard Music to 1700. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1972.
Brzezińska, Barbara. Repertuar polskich tabulatur organowych z pierwszej połowy xvi wieku. Kraków: Polskie Wydawn. Muzyczne, 1987.
Caldwell, John. “Sources of Keyboard Music to 1660.” New Grove Dictionary of Music, 2001, 24:19–39.
Gołos, G. “Il manoscritto 1/220 della Società di Musica di Varsavia, importante fonte di musica organistica cinquecentesca.” L’Organo ii (1961), 129–46.
———. “Tre intavolature manoscritte di musica vocale rintracciate in Polonia.” L’Organo iii (1962), 123–48.
Sutkowski, A. and O. Mischiati: “Una preziosa fonte manoscritta di musica strumentale: L’Intavolatura di Pelplin.” L’Organo ii (1961), 53–72.
White, John R. “The Tablature of Johannes of Lublin.” Musica Disciplina 17 (1963), 137–162.
The booklets included with The complete Warsaw Tablature and Adam z Wągrowca, Piotr Żelechowski and Petrus de Drusina (Acte Préalable APO164 and APO165, reviewed in The Diapason, September 2014, 18–19) recorded by Rostislaw Wygranienko contain valuable information about the Warsaw and Ostrameczew or Polotsk Tablatures.
For further information: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polish_organ_tablatures .
Photo credit: Marijim Thoene
