Traditional Multipart Singing in Poland in the Perspective of Ethnomusicology

Abstract

The article presents the history of documentation of multi-part singing in Poland and the state of research on this subject. The multi-part singing as the musical and culture phenomenon is regionally limited and can be recorded in Carpathian Mountains and in the north-eastern borderland where the multi-part singing remains in some parishes the common heritage of Poland and Lithuania till today. There are also numerous  examples of spontaneous heterophony in Polish-Belorussian and Polish-Ukrainian musical traditions, but the singing in parallel thirds prevails, particularly among members of the Orthodox Church. The prerequisite of the multipart singing is a slow tempo, not typical of folk songs in ethnic Poland. The review of sources and living practice allow to discuss three historical layers of multipart singing in Poland: 1) the oldest one – heterophony or diaphony in fifths documented since the 15th century, 2) three-part mixed choir influenced by the church practice since the 18th century (north-eastern part of Poland) and 3) parallel thirds in female groups wherever the school-youth-choirs were introduced and the mixed choir movement e.g. in Silesia since the 19th century. Thus the multi-part singing has become both a sign of regional-ethnic specificity and the result of the cultural development.