Wkład klasztorów w rozwój kultury organowej średniowiecznej i wczesnonowożytnej Małopolski (XIV–koniec XVI w.)
The contribution of monasteries to the development of organ music culture of Małopolska in the medieval and early modern periods (from the fourteenth to the late sixteenth centuries)

Summary/Abstract: The author puts the hypothesis that no references to pipe organs in monastic churches exist in sources from the thirteenth century – a source mentioning an organist in the Dominican church in Sandomierz, allegedly referring to 1259, is open to questions and unreliable (in fact, it dates from as late as the eighteenth century). The first reference to a pipe organ in a monastic setting refers to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Miechów (1376). The need to provide a music setting to religious services for the congregation was an important reason why the pipe organs were constructed in the Dominican and Franciscan churches in Cracow. The pipe organ in the Dominican church in Cracow were built in the first decade of the fifteenth century at the latest. Many references have survived to specific musicians in this church, while in the sixteenth century pipe organs in Dominican churches in other cities are mentioned. Important centres of music culture were located in the monasteries of the Canons Regular. Sources from the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries contain numerous references to names of specific organists employed at the Corpus Christi Church in the district of Kazimierz. In the sixteenth century, organ music was also performed in other churches of this order, most remarkably in the monastic church in Kraśnik (in this case, a complete list of sixteenth-century organists has survived). In the Church of the Holy Spirit in Cracow, the presence of an organist in confirmed in the sources from as early as 1443. The Premonstratensian church in Brzesko-Hebdowo probably had a pipe organ as early as in the fifteenth century, the abbey in Nowy Sącz – in the sixteenth century, the St Mark Church of the Canons Regular of the Penance of the Blessed Martyrs in Cracow – in 1541. A separate subject are monastic churches with a purely conventual function. The presence of a pipe organ in the Benedictine church in Tyniec can be deduced from a reference to the organist – a Benedictine monk named Jan – from 1405. It can be speculated that this church had a pipe organ as early as in the late fourteenth century. The origin of the pipe organ in the church in Łysa Góra are unclear, particularly attributing its foundation to King Ladislaus Jagiello. The pipe organ in the St Catherine Church of the Augustinian Order in Kazimierz, a remarkable centre of music culture, existed before 1436. In the second half of the fifteenth century, the church had two instruments. A reference to an organist in the Augustine church in Olkusz, a branch of the Kazimierz convent, comes from 1494. There are no reliable sources for dating the pipe organs in Bernardine churches in the period before 1600. The same holds for the Holy Virgin Mary Church at Jasna Góra, the conventual temple of the Pauline Order. In contrast to this state of knowledge, we know about a reference to an organist in the Pauline church at Skałka, providing evidence that a pipe organ existed there as early as in 1475. Providing this temple with the instrument so early was undoubtedly influenced by the fact that it functioned as a parish church. As for the Carmelitan church, belonging to an order with a very strict rule and located in the suburban district of Garbary, the pipe organ existed there as early as in the first half of the fifteenth century, which was stimulated by the musical needs of the convent and the fact that the temple hosted an effigy of the Holy Virgin famous for various graces. In Cistercian churches, pipe organs were installed relatively late, which was also connected with the principles of the rule. In Mogiła, a pipe organ was constructed in the years 1522–46 and is the earliest example of a Cistercian pipe organ in Małopolska. The presence of a pipe organ in the Cistercian church in Jędrzejów is confirmed in 1573, and in Szczyrzyc in 1597. In all probability, in the same sixteenth century pipe organs were constructed in the churches in Koprzywnica and Wąchock, but there are no sources yet to substantiate this hypothesis. In female monasteries – Poor Clares in Cracow and Premonstratensians in Zwierzyniec and in Imbramowice – the activity of organists, and therefore the presence of instruments, is confirmed in the second half of the fifteenth century, despite the rules that excluded male presence in the premises. The activity of an organist in the Benedictine female convent in Staniątki is confirmed in 1521, while Poor Clares in Nowy Sącz had an organist in 1568. The instrument in Nowy Sącz undoubtedly existed much earlier. In the monastic churches of female convents, organ music served only as accompaniment to choirs of nuns, because those churches were closed to laymen. If we additionally take into account sources from the late sixteenth century, it becomes possible to calculate that 36 monastic churches in Małopolska (in a territory overlapping with the Cracow diocese) possessed musical instruments. The collected references found in the sources prove that some monasteries (e.g. the Franciscan convent in Cracow) had their own workshops and supplied other churches. On the other hand, we notice that the convents would use the services of various organ-building centres as the builders employed for the purpose of constructing pipe organs were definitely not monks, or when organists employed elsewhere, e.g. in St Mary’s Church, were hired as experts for the procedure of acceptance. References to musicians mentioned by name prove that they were recruited from three circles: the convent itself, non-monastic clergy and lay-organists. It is remarkable that e.g. in Cistercian temples only monks were accepted as organists. Information about the size of the instruments dates back to the sixteenth century and refers to the pipe organ in Miechów, which had 22 pitches, and to the instrument in the Dominican church in Cracow with 16 pitches. Monastic pipe organs were installed in different places in the temple: above the vaulting of the nave, on the side wall of the presbytery, on the wall above the altar, or above the western entry. In Małopolska, monasteries were places were the most precious works of organ music originated. The most famous of them are the Holy Ghost Tablature from Cracow and the Jan of Lublin Tablature. They provide evidence that the monastic circles in Małopolska in the Middle Ages fostered a keen interest in the development of organ-building and organ music.

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