Published: 2019-12-151

Masurian folk songs in East Prussia compiled by Wojciech Kętrzyński

Zenona Rondomańska
Echa Przeszłości
Section: ARTICLES
https://doi.org/10.31648/ep.4840

Abstract

An anthology of Masurian folk songs in East Prussia in Wojciech Kętrzyński’s book About Masurians was published in 1872. In the same year, the book was reviewed by Kazimierz Władysław Wójcicki, a writer and folklore researcher who also collected folk songs. Wójcicki criticized Kętrzyński for disregarding the musical component of folk songs. In his opinion, the songs were not catalogued in a systematic manner, and the author failed to indicate their intended purpose and association with local customs and traditions. Oskar Kolberg’s collective anthology entitled Prussian Masuria (Collected works, vol. 40, PWM, Kraków 1966), which included Kętrzyński’s compendium of folk songs and other hand-written manuscripts, was also limited to song lyrics. As a result, the songs became extinct because their melodies were forgotten, and nobody could sing them. The compendium of 54 song lyrics in the Masurian dialect covers a wide array of topics, including love, romance, nuptials, separation, infidelity, marriage and conflict. Some songs were dedicated to the daily life of craftsmen, soldiers, hunters, servants, and they explored the hardships of war, orphanhood and servitude. Others were based on folk myths and legends; they were sung during folk festivities, and they accompanied folk dances such as the Krakowiak and Mazurka, as well as local customs and traditions. Only a limited number folk songs are still recognized today, including “Let us go hunting, my companion”, “A rabbit in a harvest field”, “My voice carries with the meadow dew”, “Snowball tree in the valley” and “We bring the harvest”.

Keywords:

folk song, Masuria, Wojciech Kętrzyński, anthology of folk songs, lyrics

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Rondomańska, Z. (2019). Masurian folk songs in East Prussia compiled by Wojciech Kętrzyński. Echa Przeszłości, (XX/1). https://doi.org/10.31648/ep.4840

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