Piosenka religijna na festiwalu Sacrosong w latach 1969–1978
Religious Songs at the Sacrosong Festival from 1969 to 1978

Summary/Abstract: The ‘Sacrosong’ Festival of Religious Songs and Hymns (1969–1999) was established at a time when the resolutions of the Second Ecumenical Council of the Vatican were gradually being implemented, including the decision to open the Catholic Church up to new forms of evangelisation. With rock music gaining huge popularity worldwide, it also found enthusiasts among Christian musicians, who employed rock to convey a religious message. The 1960s also saw increased interest in the song genre, represented in the field of sacred music by the French Jesuit Aimé Duval, among others.Despite the difficult social and political situation in communist Poland, the fashion for teenage music and religious songs soon reached that country’s youth. The Sacrosong festival was Poland’s first platform for the presentation of religious repertoire. It was created not only to support the composition and promotion of new works sung in Polish, but also to involve artists and youngsters in religious life and thereby counteract the atheisation of Polish society.Over the thirty years of Sacrosong’s history as a nationwide festival, its repertoire included songs submitted for the festival’s competition, as well as songs, cantatas and oratorios commissioned by the organisers. Musical events were accompanied by theatre shows, exhibitions, poetry evenings, conferences and debates. The competition jury featured celebrities like Wojciech Kilar and Stefan Kisielewski, while the commissioned works were written by such artists as Jerzy Bauer and Marian Sawa (music), Roman Brandstaetter, Ernest Bryll and Revd Jan Twardowski (lyrics).This article discusses Sacrosong’s history and repertoire, as well as its social and cultural role. It also includes reflection on the genre of religious song as the ‘chief protagonist’ of the festival.

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