Pieśni pogrzebne w Doskonałym kancyonale polskim z 1673 r.
Funeral hymns in the Doskonały kancyonał polski [the great Polish cantional] from 1673

Summary/Abstract: In the Doskonały kancyonał polski [the great Polish cantional] published in the Krzysztof Tschorn’s printery in Brzeg in 1673, are twenty funeral hymns. These pieces were created as a form of opposition to massively extended Catholic funeral rites. Modest Protestant hymns were supposed to be the only right part of the funeral ceremony. The funeral hymns address the problem of faith in the salvation of the human soul after death, provide a great trust of man to God and his plans, raise a question of eschatological truth, remind about the inevitability of the end of human life and the vanities of the world. Moreover, they represent a kind of record of intimate, candid conversations with human and Christ. Many of the funeral hymns find their origins in the earlier old prints and translations of German, Czech and Latin texts. Some hymns have their origin in Catholic texts. The poetic language of the funeral songs is characterized by austerity and a distinct lack of sophisticated means of artistic expression. The most frequent lexemes in the analyzed texts are: body, death, sin, soul, final judgement, resurrection, grave, life. The hymns sung during the funeral rites are not only a farewell to the deceased, but also a preparation for a good death for the living and an elicitation of thoughts about the meaning of life. The texts presented in the Doskonały kancyonał polski are an extremely valuable research material, as well as a testimony of the culture and traditions of the religious practices of the XVIIth century, not only the Protestant, but also the Catholic.

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