Reminiscencje wątków XIX-wiecznych w repertuarze współczesnych depozytariuszy – refleksje w 160. rocznicę wydania zbioru pieśni Juliusza Rogera
Reminiscences of 19th-Century Threads in the Repertoire of Contemporary Depositories – Reflections on the 160th Anniversary of the Publication of the Collection of Songs by Juliusz Roger

Summary/Abstract: In 1863, the Wrocław printing house of Hugo Skutsch published an edition of Pieśni ludu polskiego w Górnym Szląsku z muzyką (Eng. Songs of the Polish People in Upper Silesia with Music). The collector of these songs and the publisher of the volume was Juliusz (actually Julius August) Roger (1819–1865), a doctor of medical sciences from Niederstotzingen in Württemberg. The collecting passion of this Prussian doctor is the reason for the folklore anthology, which is a testimony to the intangible cultural heritage of Upper Silesians, and at the same time a very extensive source of historical threads (including variant threads). This work is the first item of this size printed in the 19th century, in which not only the lyrics of songs, but also their single-voice melodies were documented with great care.In 2023, 160 years passes since the publication of Roger's collection of songs. This year's anniversary is an opportunity to reflect on reminiscences of 19th-century historical threads in the repertoire of contemporary depositories. In the author's opinion, there is no doubt that the collector from Württemberg made a special contribution to preserving the Rybnik tradition and contributed to saving this heritage for future generations.The contemporary reminiscence of historical song themes is clearly evidenced by four phenomena observed and distinguished by the author in reference to the variability of folklore texts and the functioning of their variants, including:– the creation of a variant of a song (or a greater number of them) from a historical variant, which may constitute (in whole or only in part) the archetype of a song known today,– the creation of a new variant of a song from several historical threads (archetypes), when reminiscences influence the process of motif contamination and the consolidation of a new version of the song,– accidental exchange of threads or borrowings between historical texts and contemporary variants,– the presence of song variants with constant and unchanging themes, which are characterized by clear traces of reminiscences of historical texts.The author concludes that the songs from Roger's collection are an important message of folk culture and at the same time a manifestation of regional tradition in the studied area, and their historical reminiscences, present in the repertoire of depositories, are part of the contemporary cultural spectrum of the Rybnik region.

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